Thought my wife could get the ammonia from the chemist but they are not allowed to sell it any more because it is used for bomb making. Bloody terrorists. My 14 year old daughter had a great idea. Take the filter media and her goldfish out of her tank and put them in the new tank. I would never have thought of that, she is obviously a lot smarter than her old dad, bless her.
Ultra Bowl 500
- Thread starter kaycee
- Start date
The best method is to take some of the filter media (no more than a third) from the goldie's filter and put it in the new one. You are then cycled for an amount of fish equaling one third of the goldfish, but stock less to stay on the safe side.
At 30l, your tank is far to small to have a goldfish in it for more than a day or two (despite what it says on the Sweet Knowle site, goldfish need at least 40l each, with a minimum tank size of 100l), which wouldn't be long enough to cycle the new filter.
If you use this method you must add either ammonia (you can order it online from Boots to be either collected from the shop or delivered), some fish food to rot down or a few small fish straight away, or the bacteria will just die off.
Make sure you test often and feed sparingly in both tanks for a week or so in case of mini-cycles, caused by some of the bacteria dying off while being interfered with.
At 30l, your tank is far to small to have a goldfish in it for more than a day or two (despite what it says on the Sweet Knowle site, goldfish need at least 40l each, with a minimum tank size of 100l), which wouldn't be long enough to cycle the new filter.
If you use this method you must add either ammonia (you can order it online from Boots to be either collected from the shop or delivered), some fish food to rot down or a few small fish straight away, or the bacteria will just die off.
Make sure you test often and feed sparingly in both tanks for a week or so in case of mini-cycles, caused by some of the bacteria dying off while being interfered with.
The problem with the method you're suggesting is either the goldfish's filter is already cycled for their bioload, and there won't be any 'spare' ammonia for any bacteria in the new filter to eat, as it will all be processed by the mature one, or, you will get enough bacteria in the new filter to eat some of the ammonia, but when you move the goldies and their filter back to their original tank, the goldie's filter will only be able to process some of their ammonia production, leading to an ammonia spike.
Also, the bacteria grip onto the media very strongly, so you still have to wait for the bacterial spores to colonise the new filter; they can't move from one filter to another through the water, so you'd have to keep the goldies and their filter in there for at least six or eight weeks.
Moving some of the goldie's media is by far the most efficient and less risky to the fish's health than the way your thinking of and is the way most of us with multiple tanks and access to mature media set up new tanks.
Also, the bacteria grip onto the media very strongly, so you still have to wait for the bacterial spores to colonise the new filter; they can't move from one filter to another through the water, so you'd have to keep the goldies and their filter in there for at least six or eight weeks.
Moving some of the goldie's media is by far the most efficient and less risky to the fish's health than the way your thinking of and is the way most of us with multiple tanks and access to mature media set up new tanks.
You're very welcome; hope your new tank goes well 
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