Hello everyone,
I am in the process of upgrading my brackish tank. I have an overstocked 55 gallon and am moving everyone up into a newly acquired 150 gallon. I have cycled the 150 gallon with 10 assorted mollies and by seeding with gravel from the mature tank. Ammonia and nitrite have been reading 0 ppm for several days.
To transfer the fish from the mature tank to the new tank, is it better to:
I know that pretty much all of my fish except the mollies (see stocking list below) are especially intolerant of "mini-cycles", so I would like to avoid that for them, as much as possible. I also know that temperature, SG, pH, hardness, etc... all need to match right-on for either method to work. Here is the relevant info on the two tanks:
Mature tank (~4 years old):
55 US gallon w/ Eheim 2215 canister filter ("certified" 164 gph with media)
Inhabitants:
2 Silver Scats (Scatophagus Argus?)
3 Mono Sebae
3 Mono Argenteus
3 juvenile Archerfish (also T. Jaculatrix)
1 adult Archerfish (T. Jaculatrix)
SG 1.013, pH and hardness high (very hard tap water here)
Except for the young archers, all of the fish are 2+ years old, but none are close to reaching their full adult size (hence the bigger tank). Still, they represent a very significant bioload, and I think that even small groups of them would match or exceed the bioload of the mollies currently in the new tank.
New tank (~3 weeks old):
150 US gallon w/ Aquatop CF500 (I measured it at 295 gph with brand new media)
3x powerheads (total flow 565 gph) driving undergravel filters and agitating surface
15 gallon wet/dry filter w/ 500 gph pump
SG also 1.013, all other parameters (pH, GH, KH) same as mature tank
I plan to add a protein skimmer soon, as well
Inhabitants:
10 assorted mollies
Once all is said and done, I intend to use the Eheim filter from the mature tank on the new tank either way. The way I see it, both moving methods involve some risk. I know that not all of the BB in the mature tank live in the filter, so moving them all at once would probably induce a small mini-cycle, even with the addition of the fully-loaded Eheim filter, which would then be stressing all of the fish at once. I do think that this plan would reduce territorial-ism/possible aggression, as none of the fish would be "established" before the others.
On the other hand, moving them over a few at a time would probably cause a smaller mini-cycle with the addition of each new set of fish, as the BB would have to grow up to the entire new load. The fish that move over first would go through multiple successive mini-cycles, which is not appealing. Additionally, the BB in the mature tank's filter would gradually die down as I removed the bioload from that tank, meaning I wouldn't be taking full advantage of the lovely existing large population of BB in that filter.
So, which would you recommend? If you think that I should pace myself and spread the moves out, what order would you recommend? The Archers are my favorite, so I would prefer to move them last for their sake. The Mono Sebaes (one in particular) are kind of surly, though, so I may want to add them last in order to prevent them from feeling established enough to pick on the others.
If you can recommend the all-in-one approach (which I am leaning toward more and more), should I try to move all of the tank water from the mature tank, as well? I will be bringing over all of the decorations, but none of the gravel, so it would be fairly easy to coincide a 50 gallon waterchange in the new tank with the draining of the old tank and the addition of the fish and water (just out of curiosity - what would be the principal benefit of moving the water? I know that very few BB are actually found in the water column, but the same is not true of lots of other micro-organisms, etc...). Still, it would barely be 30% of the new tank volume, so maybe it's not enough to make much of a difference?
Well, I'm sorry I went so overboard on the background info - this post has become much longer than I had planned. I look forward to any insight you can offer.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
I am in the process of upgrading my brackish tank. I have an overstocked 55 gallon and am moving everyone up into a newly acquired 150 gallon. I have cycled the 150 gallon with 10 assorted mollies and by seeding with gravel from the mature tank. Ammonia and nitrite have been reading 0 ppm for several days.
To transfer the fish from the mature tank to the new tank, is it better to:
- Move a few fish at a time to allow the beneficial bacteria (BB) population to grow with the bioload
- Move all of the fish at once AND their canister filter, which is fully stocked with the BB?
I know that pretty much all of my fish except the mollies (see stocking list below) are especially intolerant of "mini-cycles", so I would like to avoid that for them, as much as possible. I also know that temperature, SG, pH, hardness, etc... all need to match right-on for either method to work. Here is the relevant info on the two tanks:
Mature tank (~4 years old):
55 US gallon w/ Eheim 2215 canister filter ("certified" 164 gph with media)
Inhabitants:
2 Silver Scats (Scatophagus Argus?)
3 Mono Sebae
3 Mono Argenteus
3 juvenile Archerfish (also T. Jaculatrix)
1 adult Archerfish (T. Jaculatrix)
SG 1.013, pH and hardness high (very hard tap water here)
Except for the young archers, all of the fish are 2+ years old, but none are close to reaching their full adult size (hence the bigger tank). Still, they represent a very significant bioload, and I think that even small groups of them would match or exceed the bioload of the mollies currently in the new tank.
New tank (~3 weeks old):
150 US gallon w/ Aquatop CF500 (I measured it at 295 gph with brand new media)
3x powerheads (total flow 565 gph) driving undergravel filters and agitating surface
15 gallon wet/dry filter w/ 500 gph pump
SG also 1.013, all other parameters (pH, GH, KH) same as mature tank
I plan to add a protein skimmer soon, as well
Inhabitants:
10 assorted mollies
Once all is said and done, I intend to use the Eheim filter from the mature tank on the new tank either way. The way I see it, both moving methods involve some risk. I know that not all of the BB in the mature tank live in the filter, so moving them all at once would probably induce a small mini-cycle, even with the addition of the fully-loaded Eheim filter, which would then be stressing all of the fish at once. I do think that this plan would reduce territorial-ism/possible aggression, as none of the fish would be "established" before the others.
On the other hand, moving them over a few at a time would probably cause a smaller mini-cycle with the addition of each new set of fish, as the BB would have to grow up to the entire new load. The fish that move over first would go through multiple successive mini-cycles, which is not appealing. Additionally, the BB in the mature tank's filter would gradually die down as I removed the bioload from that tank, meaning I wouldn't be taking full advantage of the lovely existing large population of BB in that filter.
So, which would you recommend? If you think that I should pace myself and spread the moves out, what order would you recommend? The Archers are my favorite, so I would prefer to move them last for their sake. The Mono Sebaes (one in particular) are kind of surly, though, so I may want to add them last in order to prevent them from feeling established enough to pick on the others.
If you can recommend the all-in-one approach (which I am leaning toward more and more), should I try to move all of the tank water from the mature tank, as well? I will be bringing over all of the decorations, but none of the gravel, so it would be fairly easy to coincide a 50 gallon waterchange in the new tank with the draining of the old tank and the addition of the fish and water (just out of curiosity - what would be the principal benefit of moving the water? I know that very few BB are actually found in the water column, but the same is not true of lots of other micro-organisms, etc...). Still, it would barely be 30% of the new tank volume, so maybe it's not enough to make much of a difference?
Well, I'm sorry I went so overboard on the background info - this post has become much longer than I had planned. I look forward to any insight you can offer.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
