Upgrading to a bigger tank eek!

[Ravenskai]

Hi all, having started fish keeping six months ago with two 30 ltr tanks we are upgrading to a larger 160ltr tank. We want to combine our inmates in one freshwater tank. We have 3 platties, 5 white mountain minows, 6 armino shrip and snails in one and 2or3 greenfire tetra and 5 barbs with 4 cherry shrimp and snails in the other... all their gravel, live plants bog wood and filters can be placed in the new tank at least till the new filter has cycled... how much fresh water can we put in with the water from the old tanks if we had to change over all in one day or is there a better/safer for the fish way to change them all over?

 

[Baker]

Haha inmates... you keep your fish prisoners

Ok so one issue you might have in terms of combining everything is that the platys might prey on some shrimp. Idk how you're keeping them at the moment but cherry shrimp are usually a lot smaller than amano shrimp so they might get eaten, they might not.
Idk what kind of barbs you keep but they might also prey on your shrimp. Also, barbs can get quite nippy towards other fish if they don't have a large enough school to establish a proper pecking order within their own species so that is a concern to think about as well.

In terms of the water quality with setting up a new tank: idk how you have your filtration set up but if you're going to use a separate filter for your new tank you will need to seed it with your established beneficial bacteria from your older tanks you can either put the old filter media in the new filter for around a week or two, let the old media sit on the substrate in your new tank for around a week, or run the new filter with both or at least one of the old filters in the same tank for about a week or two as well to ensure that the new tank doesn't have to go through an entirely new cycling process.

The plants, wood, etc from the old tanks will contain BB as well as long as you don't wash it off or let it dry out before placing it in he new tank.

I think that answered all your questions, let me know if you need any more in depth information. Good luck

 

[Ravenskai]

Thanks, we have had our cherry reds for six months so they are a bit bigger now, they haven't been bothered by the tetra but we are aware the platies might be more inclined to try to eat them, not sure what the alternative is as we will only have the one tank... we haven't had any trouble with the barbs yet they don't seem to mind the green fire tetras and they haven't bothered the shrimp yet. We where planning to put some of the old filter medium in the new filter and run the old filters for a few weeks till the new filter cycles as it's worked well in the past, we where just unsure how much % of fresh new water we can get away with putting in, we plan to use one water change about 14ltrs from about three days before the change and all the water from the tanks on the day of the change i.e. About 64 ltrs, that still leaves about 116ltrs of fresh water, is that to big a change should we do 50/50 then top up the rest over a week or so, or do it all at once? Thanks for the advice so far... so many variables I think my brain is creeking.. lol...

 

[Baker]

Ok so as far as the BB in the water is concerned, water really doesn't harbor enough bacteria for it to make a difference on the system as a whole, in my opinion it really doesn't matter how much of the old water you reintroduce into the new tank, you could honestly just use fresh water from the tap and the fish aren't really going to care.

That being said, it is possible that the PH difference between your tank water and tap water is drastically different depending on how long the system has been established, you can test both waters and if the pH is more than a few points difference then it would be important to equlibriate that difference as closely as possibly so that the fish aren't shocked by pH change. You also obviously want to make sure the temp is as even as possible.

You do, however, want to make sure that any water going into the the tank has been dechlorinated so that you don't kill off the BB. All that being said, there are people out there who will disagree and say that you should mix the old water back in with the new water. I don't personally believe that to be true and I know many hobbyists who don't even acclimate fish besides just a rough temperature acclimation. Also realize that some fish are more sensitive to changes than others, but you have generally hardy fish and invertebrates and I don't think you will have any issues doing this, if you are worried, rest assured you can recycle as much of your old water as you see fit.

 

[Ravenskai]

Thanks, as our plate tank has corral sand to soften the water, we have very hard water here. I think using the old water as well will be a good idea but I'm not so worried about it now. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Logic]

eh...

 

[Ravenskai]

lol... platie tank... auto correct... corral sand was recommended to change the PH by our local fish store, can't remember which way round soft to hard or vice versa... bound to get it wrong... so much to learn... by the way we decided to cycle the new tank for a few weeks before moving the fish, better safe than sorry...

 

[Logic]

true

 

[Essjay]

Coral sand increases hardness and pH. It won't dissolve very much if the water is already hard and alkaline, but it can be used in soft water to increase the levels of both.
Hard water is water that contains a lot of calcium and magnesium. Coral is made of calcium carbonate, and when it dissolves it puts more calcium into the water increasing the hardness.