ex goldfish 2 ft tank cleanup to put tropicals

[aquadude]

Hi everyone

We Have decided to put my wifes goldfish in another tank ( she came up with this 8) )

Apart from using the tank vaccum do I do a complete water change

Any other hints

Using as suggested in another posting taht I can use a 50w heater for this tank size {60x30x30}

As getting a BN do I need to bother cleaning the algae off the tank to get it ready for transferring the tropicals?

1 Angel Fish

1 Platy

20 approx guppies ( 8 females heavily pregant )

4 neons

3 Danios

Thanks

[Caryl]

OK, if I have read your post correctly, you have a 2ft cold water you want to convert to tropicals?

I would do a thorough substrate vacuum (just to clean it up as goldfish are messy) then add the heater. No need for a complete water change. When I set up my African tank I cycled it using goldfish then threw them out in the pond and added the heater to the tank. Once it was up to temperature the Africans went in.

Leave the algae for the BN. If it doesn't like your particular algae, you will have to clean it off but, if you're lucky, the BN will do it for you.

[twinkles]

if i was you i'd grab the chance to give the tank a full clean out while its empty. Stick the filter on the other tank while you do it, then empty it and give it a good scrub, take a good look at the substrate and decide if you want to change it, then set it up nice and clean for your tropicals.

And don't clean it with anything but water and elbow grease

[aquadude]

As you suggested that it doesnt need a complete water change, would I do a 50% water change..?

Thanks folks I am learning heaps here on this site :lol:

[Caryl]

If you are doing a thorough clean of the substrate you will probably end up doing 50% anyway by the time you have finished siphoning

It doesn't really matter since your filter is already cycled (and that is where the majority of the good bacteria are) and new fish are being added straight away (I assume).

[Jennifer]

If it were me, I would siphon off 50% of the undisturbed tank water into a bucket or clean chilly bin and then I would remove the fish and thourougly stir up the gravel with my hands to disloge all the mucky bits while also scrubbing everything with a bit of sponge or filter wool (no chemicals or soap) then siphon out the totally mucky water that remains, rinse with clean water and repeat until happy. Then when ready add the clean siphoned water back to the relatively clean gravel and top up with new water. Replace the filter and add the heater and you are good to go!

[Cricketman]

^^^ +1

thats what id do too.