mcmillanm Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Hi, As my husband refused to let me have a third tank in our lounge (reckons I spend far too much time on my fish already :gigl: ) I have instead decided to trade my smaller 67L tank for an aqua 850 165L tank. My initial reason for this was to get some angels or some sort of fish that may not work in my community tank. In the meantime though I'm just going to divide my fish from both tanks so that they are less crowded. I'm picking up the new tank tomorrow and when I get it will of course wash the pebbles and put in all the ceramic noodles from my old tank. What else can I do to ensure the tank stays cycled? Thanks for your replies :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Using 50:50 tank water to new dechlorinated water will help. Wash your pebbles in tank water, beleive it or not the pebbles also have beneficial bacteria, also if you have ornaments they contain BB as well. If you transfer a majority of the filter media over it will also help. Just don't stock it really quickly HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 i regularly set up fresh tanks & throw fish straight in. i use substrate & water from the established tank & have a filter already running to put on the fresh tank. it would be fine in your case to put the 65L of existing water and the substrate into the new tank and just fill it up. can you put the existing filter into the 850? if so do that and leave it there for a few days until you have the new filter seeded. IMO there has to be alot of the bacteria needed in a tank in the substrate, the only time i had any issues starting a fresh tank was when i didn't put existing substrate in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted October 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Hi, the 850 does have it's own filter which is incorporated into the lid but I thought I would use my ceramic balls from my current tank and maybe even the gunky wool? to help keep the bacteria going and add some cycle. Re the substrate: the guy who is selling me the tank is taking his fish out and cleaning it as I type. I was going to mostly use the substrate from his tank and top up with mine but maybe I should do it in the opposite order and use his to top up with? Also, should his substrate be safe to use? Should I rinse this at home even though it was in his tank today? Thanks for advice everyone :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Hello Providing his tank didn't have any diseases or anything it should be fine, I'd use your substrate and top up with his Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 use as much or all of yours and add his. i would definatly use the bio balls & used wool, just keep an eye on the water conditions and if required do small water changes every second day if the levels start to rise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 You could also just leave some of the old filter material in the tank if you don't have room or don't want to put it in the new filter. I did this with my filter sponge once when trying to clear the tank of silt, I left the sponge in the corner and stuffed the filter with wool to catch the mud. It worked and the tank stayed cycled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted October 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Hi, I've got the new tank - yay! So far I've added: half of my substrate, half of previous owners substrate, My ceramic noodles & wool from old tank, some of the ornaments and plants, filled it with water at approx right temp, Some prime & cycle. Can I start acclimatising some of the fish now or wait until tomorrow? Cheers :cofn: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 I would start now but that's just impatient me :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted October 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Cheers Sophia, I did start yesterday afternoon as I'm impatient/excited too. :slfg: I'm going to add the rest of my substrate this afternoon when I clean the tank with the water that's left in there & I've just tested the water with the results being: pH: around 7, Ammonia around 0 or very slightly above, Nitrite is around 25 Nitrate around 5. I know that even though I used filter media, water & substrate from my old tank that it still needs to cycle but with nitrite at 25ish should I do a water change or add some cycle? Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 I have always just transferred all or most of the media and some of the water (less stress for the fish) when I change tanks and have never had any issues. Most of my tanks are bare bottom anyway and I am not sure how much of the good bacteria actually live in the substrate there wouldn't be an awful lot of water movement through most substrate. I think the most import part about cycling and the whole bacteria thing is to be aware of it, if your aware of it and don't just dump fish around into fresh tanks then you should be fine. You have even more room when your going to a much bigger tank, if you did happen to not transfer enough media and get a slight ammonia spike it would only be small and diluted to safe levels due to the larger volume of water and the filter would sort it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted October 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Thanks, I think I'll just add some cycle and watch and wait today then and see what it's doing tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Thanks, I think I'll just add some cycle and watch and wait today then and see what it's doing tomorrow. Why add cycle when you had a cycled tank to take media from? It would be a waste of time/money, and when you transfer the media you need to transfer the fish at the same time otherwise the bacteria can die off due to lack of food (ammonia). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted October 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 "Why add cycle when you had a cycled tank to take media from? It would be a waste of time/money, and when you transfer the media you need to transfer the fish at the same time otherwise the bacteria can die off due to lack of food (ammonia)." Not sure how to copy and paste properly LOL - I fell for the 'cycle' talk from the pet shop when I first started keeping tropical fish 18 months ago & only recently found out I didn't need it... Now I have a large container of it sitting around & I just figured it could only help the process. I've already wasted the money :roey: . Thanks for your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted October 25, 2011 Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Tip: you can use the quote button to do this. Yeah cycle might help a new tank. Maybe you would be best selling it on TM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmillanm Posted October 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 Tip: you can use the quote button to do this. Yeah cycle might help a new tank. Maybe you would be best selling it on TM? Aha - the quote button, obvious when one points it out. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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