ToxicChloe

ok, so I just bought a new 90 gallon surfline tank. I'm moving my fish from my 29 gal into it. I'm using same filter (along with a new one) and also the old sand (and new) and decorations. I let the tank sit for a few days before putting any of my fish in it. Today I put in 3 of my mollies. Could I put the rest of my fish in or should I wait? I still have 6 mollies, dwarf gourami, 2 clown plecos, & 4 mystery snails that aren't in it yet.

MizRamzi

Did you by any chance us any of the water from your 29? If not test the water, see what your readings are. Your tank may go through a mini cycle in which case be ready for WC. I'm going to assume that you *need* to move the fish.

ToxicChloe

I was having problems with the water from the 29 so I didn't really move a lot of that. 15 gallons of it are in two other tanks though. I have my fish in a 10 gallon and all the baby fish are in a 5 gallon for now. I'm testing my water right now so I'll post the results in a few minutes.

test results:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: between 0 & 0.25
nitrate: 5.0

jdhef

I'm fearful that the good bacteria starved off, while the tank was sitting empty the last few days. So you may experiance a mini cycle.

Shawnie

wow congrats !!!!!! thats a GREAT upgrade!... Im with JD....moving everything EXCEPT the water is what should have been done..water doesnt hold too much bacteria needed...its the pH differences that would be a worry..but now that you have it going , its in a mini cycle and shouldnt take too long to come out of it with partial water changes everyday with some prime or amquel+..but id move all the fish with all the subtrate, filters, and deco..even if you arent using the old stuff, you can put it in a nylon stocking and just sit it in the tank....share pics when you can!

ToxicChloe

The only water that was moved over is what little bit was left in the sand. other than that it's all new water.

aquarist48

Hello Toxic and congrats on the new tank. Great advice above. Keep an eye on your perimeters and water changes until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and below 20 nitrates. Sounds like you're on the right track. I would suggest moving all of the inhabitants over as well, don't wait. If you're going to be doing daily water changes it should be done with all of the fish in the tank. Building the cycle back up for everyone and not just a few. If not, you may end up with another mini cycle. Hopefully your mini cycle won't last long at all.
Best wishes and I hope you can share some photos once things have settled down for you.
Ken

ToxicChloe

ok, great. thank you

ToxicChloe

ok, couple of new questions.

Since I still had a tank setup with old aquarium water I tested it and my new tank. Old tank had very bad water quality. 4.0 ammonia, 5.0 nitrite, 40 nitrate. New tank water is perfect though, no ammonia or nitrites and nitrates area bout 5.0. But my question is regarding the pH. In my old tank the pH was 6.0, new tank it's 7.6 and my tap is 8.8. The old tank hadn't had a water change in about a month so that's probably why it was so bad.
But my question is, is the pH in my new ok for mollies, danios, dwarf gouramis and german blue rams, and swords? if not how should I go about fixing it?

eiginh

You need to properly acclimate your fishys to get used to your new tank water parameters. You can put them all in a bag/bucket with the water from their original tank and make sure its the same temp as the new tank and then remove 10ml from the old tank water and add 10ml from the new tank water every 10-15 minutes for at least an hour but to play safe I would make it 2 hours.