Worrying over nothing?

[nic1]

Hello,
I haven't been on here for a while, but things have calmed down at home now and I have some time... AT LAST!
Anyway, I had to buy a tank quite quickly as my external filter lid broke and I couldn't open it to clean it without being able to close it again, and as the tank is drilled and quite old I thought I'd buy a new aquarium, so what I did was put the new internal filter into the old tank for about a month, moved it over to the new tank with some of the old decor for seeding. I kept the cycle going by adding two fish and a load of snails, I also added some of the dirty water from the old tank I to the new after a clean every other day because the filter is inefficient now (this tank is planted also), then after testing the water everything was good. Ammonia 0, nirite 0, and nitrates 5, I added two more fish and did this over a course of a month, now I have 7 cories and a whole load of platy fry in there, my last danio and the rainbow shark that is temporary till I can find him a home. This morning I tested the water as I always do on a Tuesday and my levels have gone a bit crazy?
My ammonia is 0, my nitrates are 10, but my nirite is 0.25ppm.
I looked in the tank and my last salt and pepper Cory of 8 years is dead i have 6 bronze now.
I'm in the process of doing a huge water change, but I still have 2 sae, 3 glass fish and 5 glo lights to move over.... I don't want to rock the tanks levels again and risk losing anymore old timers, but my old tank is just a wrek and I can't clean the filter so it is just a sitting pool of water.How can I proceed without anyone else dying? My tank Inhabitants have been with me for many years, they have endured house moves and evaded capture from my 4 cats....
Also, on another note, as I am breaking down this old tank, I have some stuff to give away, a massive slate rock, lots of elodea, ramshorn snails, floating amazon frog bit, duck weed. Collection from North Manchester.

 

[seangee]

Is the old filter still running? If so it may be possible to move it across and run in parallel for a while.
I migrated from a drilled tank to a smaller one (not drilled). I bought a new aquastop valve unit and hoses for my Fluval 406 and set them up in the new tank. When everything was ready I simply disconnected from the old tank and plugged into the new one for an instantly cycled aquarium.

You could also move over the floating plants and thin them out (or remove them completely) later.
(Every little helps)

 

[nic1]

I was thinking about doing this, but I don't think the filter will withstand a move.... The lid is held together with duct tape, the pressure from the water forces it upwards so Im on borrowed time with this one.
What I was thinking was getting the media from it and just putting it in the tank for a while until things are settled, bit for the mean time do you think large water changes and more plants will help? (I've fallen out of love with floating plants but I will stick them in)
I've got an added problem of growing the baby platy large enough in the new tank so they can't be eaten by the other bigger fish that's left in the old tank when they go in.
Thanks for your reply

 

[seangee]

Plants will use ammonia and nitrite so will supplement your filter. Fast growing plants are better at it, which is why I suggested your floating plants (but you may be consigning yourself to months of fishing out duckweed ). Just be careful when everything is in balance not to take all the plants out in one hit as your filter will need to pick up the higher bioload. They will also provide additional hiding space for the fry.

Your old media will be much more effective in the filter than in the tank. Get as much of the bio media in there as you can. If your new filter has space for carbon take it out and put the old media in the space, possibly even sponges or wool if the layout allows. Otherwise just mix it in with what is in your new filter.

As for water changes 90% will do no harm as long as its dechlorinated. (Neither will 100 but your fish won't like that ). It may be worth testing daily and changing as needed to get the ammonia and nitrite back to 0.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Floating plants, water changes, and Prime are your friends in this situation...and if you can relocate filter material and/or clean the material in the new tank you can have a nearly 'instant cycle'.

 

[stanleo]

I recently upgraded from 55gl to 120gl. I put new substrate and new water in the tank with a new filter and heater and once the water was heated to desired temp ( about 5 days) I moved plants, wood, rocks, animals and the two old filters all in the same day and didn’t have any trouble. I waited a month for the new filter to catch up before I added new fish and I took one of the old filters out a couple weeks later. (I broke the primer during a routine cleaning) My water quality never suffered and through it all only one cory and one tetra died. I think if you keep up with water changes you will be fine.

 

[nic1]

Thank you all for the advice. I decided to stock slowly, add loads of fast growing plants and do 10% water changes a day, finally the water is stable and I only have a handful of fish to move over, I move them 2 at a time so the biological output doesn't overload the filter and keeps up with the changes.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Just a couple of side notes:
1) I always start a new tank or a tear down by taking filter sponges from my established, healthy tank, and rinsing/cleaning them in the 'new' tank water. This transfers all the beneficial bacteria necessary to seed the new filter/substrate. This 'instant cycle' allows me to add fish right away. Plants, especially floating are a bonus. Note: Even though the above works for me, I do not push the initial bio-load as it's always a good practice to only add a few fish at a time so the BB colony can adjust to handle the increasing ammonia.
2) 10% water changes offer very little dilution. I wouldn't bother with anything less than 25% and 50% is even better.