binskiboi

Hi fellow fishlorers. Today I finished cleaning my 30 gallon aquarium and purchased a new heater and filter. I originally have a 10 gallon. I'm assuming i can almost treat the transfer of the tanks like a 60% water change? I planned on using the new 30 gallon filter and the old 10 gallon at the same time for a few days so the bacteria from the old filter can harvest more into the new tank. Would this work? I hope it does dont want to recycle!


btw i'd be using the same gravel and plants and accessories which would help the algae and bacteria spread easier and harvest in the new tank

Bent72

your off to a great start!!! however your going to have to run your new filter with your old fiter for atleast 4 weeks to allow for bacteria to seed.. if you take the old filter away to soon you will be cycling your tank wich wont be good for your fish. hope this helps

binskiboi

so i can put my fish in soon as long as i keep the old filter in!

Bent72

yep!! i did that same exact thing when i upgraded from my 55 to my 125 and had no problems!!

Lucy

Yep, I agree. It's a great way to quick cycle your new tank.
I've always had luck leaving the seeded material in for 2 weeks, but 4 weeks like Brent suggested would be great.

binskiboi

Thank you sooo much! so glad i dont have to recycle. I made a mistake of putting a rainbow and a redtail in together do to LFS advice now they can be happy. thanks!

Bent72

always glad to help

Lucy

Your duplicate thread has been deleted. It's only necessary and less confusing to have one thread per question.

peacemaker92

Great info and advice above. Congrats on the new tank and the upgrade Hope to see some photos along the way

michaelb323

I think it may be also worth a note that transferring water from an established tank is a waste of energy.

aquarist48

Good morning BinSkiBoi. I agree with most of the above statements. Moving your filter from the old tank to the new tank will give you the instant cycle. Once you move the filter move the fish and all of the ornaments you want to move. It would help too, if you added some of the gravel from the old tank to the new tank. You can place some in a "never seen soap" nylon hose and place it in your tank for the few weeks as well. (at least 2 weeks and as stated 4 is better ) Keep all of your filter media wet and your gravel and ornaments wet too.

As for transferring your water. Michaelb is partially correct. The good bacteria in your tank needed for the cycle is not free swimming but attached to all surface areas of your tank. That is why it's suggested that you "not" transfer the water. However, I suggest transferring enough water so that your fish can go into the new tank without having to acclimate them all over again. If your water chemistry, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are where they should be 0 0 5-20 in the 10g tank then I would use some of it as I mentioned above. (If not then I suggest acclimating your fish to the new water.) Add the old water first if your readings are good, then the fish, then the new water. Dechlorinate the new water first before adding it to your tank. Check your pH levels and temperatures and try to make sure they are as close together as possible. (compare the old tank pH and temp to the new water ph and temp).

Congrats on the upgrade BinSkiBoi. Welcome to Fish Lore! Keep us posted on your progress and I hope you can share some photos with us along the way.
Ken

jdhef

Just one quick note: If your old filter media will fit into your new filter, you wouldn't really need to run both filters.

michaelb323

True, but rule 17 clearly states: "There is no kill like overkill."

There is no such thing as too much filtration, ever. In a perfect world we would have a 100% efficient protein skimmer pulling all the liquid waste out of the water in our tanks.