Consolidating Freshwater Aquariums

I would like to consolidate my two 10 gallon tanks and its inhabitants into a 20 gallon long. Stock would be:

• 8x Guppy
• 2x Honey Gourami

My Honey Gourami tank is heavily planted with parameters running at ideal ranges. However, my guppy tank (overstocked) is not. Currently, I do 25% water changes 3x/week on the Guppy tank. I tested both tanks this morning and parameters were as follows:

Honey Gourami Tank: Ph-6.6; Ammonia-0; NO2-0; NO3-5.0

Guppy Tank: Ph-7.0; Ammonia-0; NO2-.5; NO3-5.0

My latest water change was yesterday, 10/20. I know the space the 20 gallon provides will greatly reduce my Nitrate levels. Hence, why we’ve purchased a larger aquarium.

At start up, I added 10 gallons of established tank water, about 5 gallon from each tank, then topped the remaining 10 off with tap water. I added API Quick Start, Stress Coat+, and StressZyme+ at the start. The filter was purchased new so I have no bacteria present and I have no idea if adding the established water will do a darn thing for establishing a cycle or not. My plan was to move the substrate from both tanks to the 20 gallon along with plants and deco. Will that help establish a cycle quicker because I need to get this fish in this tank as soon as possible.
Any advice or suggestions?

 

Move the old filters to the new tank, or at least add the old filter media to the new filter.

 

One is an insert style filter, and the other is Fluval Biomax and foam media I modified to fit in an Aqueon internal filter, can I float the filter media in the tank since its to small to be inserted in the new filter?

 

What is your new filter?

 

What is your new filter?

New filter in the 20 gallon is Fluval AquaClear 30, filter in Guppy Tank is Aqueon Internal Power Filter 10 (modified), Filter in Gourami Tank is a Top Fin Silenstream 10. I modified the Aqueon filter by removing the carbon and pad filters that came with the unit and replaced it with Fluval Edge biomax media and foam pad. It's my understanding that they are generally the same as what comes with the AquaClear but they have been cut to fit in the Aqueon unit. Foam was cut to about a 2 or 3 inch cube; Biomax isn't in the mesh bag it comes in and was also crushed.

 

You have plenty of room in the Aquaclear to put all of the filter media from the old filters into the new one. Just put it all in a mesh bag and insert it in the back of the AC30 on top of the sponge it comes with.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the wonderfully obvious idea. {head slaps herself}