Freshwater tank 30G to 125G - transfer question

Hello!

I am new here, and actually this is my first ever post in a forum, so hopefully I am doing this correctly. From what I’ve read (so far) most of the transfer questions have been from 10G to 20G or 30G to 55G-75G but I haven’t seen one from 30G to 125G (I may have just missed it though) of course the principles should be the same - just wanted to post in case I was missing something.

I recently just bought a 125 G and am going to be transferring my established tank over. The established tank has had fish in it since 2016 - various kinds over the years but the cycle has never been completely killed (just mini cycled? and such as fish died and new ones added)


We set up the 125 G 1 week ago. We added water, the appropriate amount of API quick start, water conditioner, API stress zyme, and API leaf zone for the 8 plants that we currently have in there (first time I have used anything like that for plants bc I try not to use too many chemicals) We will be adding more plants later. We also mixed approximately 3-4 pounds of crushed coral in the approximately 80 lbs of gravel that we have in there. We don’t like a lot of gravel in our fish tanks just enough to keep our fish happy.

Temp is currently 76, PH is on higher side (7.6 or so) but we don’t have any drift wood etc in there yet. Right now it’s just plants and gravel.

About 3-4 days in, ammonia was about 4-5 PPM and I sprinkled some fish food in there. However last night ammonia was down to .25ppm. No nitrites or nitrates.

Until this morning — I have been reading the forum now for 4 hours so much information!— I had never heard of just transferring everything over to the new tank from the established one. Yes, I understand seeding with the established media - which I did this AM by swapping the filter from the established into the new tank. The established tank was due for a new filter anyway.

However I was always under the impression that any new tanks have to be cycled - the hard way - lol. While reading everything today I now understand that is not the case as long as you’re not adding new fish immediately.

My ultimate question - right now - bc I have many - is since we have already started trying to cycle the 125 G and there is some ammonia present .25 - are we still able to do a whole transfer? Or should I just keep seeding the tank and wait the month or so for the new tank to cycle from what we have already done?

We do not plan on adding new fish until the 125 is fully cycled and stable. We currently have:

7 - black skirt tetras
3 - cory pandas
3 - peppered cory
1 - BN pleco (who we have had for years) the other fish are new within the last few months give or take. Essentially too many, or very close to too many fish for the 30 G but regular water changes have kept them very happy and healthy.

If the transfer can still happen, do I absolutely have to transfer the old gravel into the new tank? Everything else I’m good with transferring but the old gravel is not the color that we have / want in the new tank.

I hope this all makes sense. I’m still learning all of the lingo on here but I will keep reading and hopefully get up to par soon. This is a great place and I am excited to keep learning.

Thank you in advance for any replies! I will check back later.

 

Welcome and congrats on your first-time-ever post.

And thanks for putting a smile on my face:

"We added water, the appropriate amount of API quick start, water conditioner, API stress zyme, and API leaf zone for the 8 plants that we currently have in there (first time I have used anything like that for plants bc I try not to use too many chemicals)"

I'm sure many on this forum can assist you with your cycling questions. Good luck with the transfer.

 

Why would you add crushed coral if you’re trying to lower ph. It will just raise it. And 3-4 pounds is a lot.
This is going to be a problem. Have you checked the ph since you added the coral?

As to starting the tank up. Yes it can be done. For me I added the filter from the old tank and all the gravel. For you just add the filter and move the new fish in slowly. Like half one day and then the other half a week later. Add a filter to the old tank for the week. Being you’ve split the amount of fish the waste load will be a lot less for both tanks.

 

Welcome and congrats on your first-time-ever post.

And thanks for putting a smile on my face:

"We added water, the appropriate amount of API quick start, water conditioner, API stress zyme, and API leaf zone for the 8 plants that we currently have in there (first time I have used anything like that for plants bc I try not to use too many chemicals)"

I'm sure many on this forum can assist you with your cycling questions. Good luck with the transfer.

Thank you!!

Why would you add crushed coral if you’re trying to lower ph. It will just raise it. And 3-4 pounds is a lot.
This is going to be a problem. Have you checked the ph since you added the coral?

As to starting the tank up. Yes it can be done. For me I added the filter from the old tank and all the gravel. For you just add the filter and move the new fish in slowly. Like half one day and then the other half a week later. Add a filter to the old tank for the week. Being you’ve split the amount of fish the waste load will be a lot less for both tanks.

Thank you for the reply!

That make sense about splitting them up over the course of a few days.

I added the crushed coral to raise the KH so that there was a buffer in terms of PH changes if they occurred. In our small tank we have a little media bag filled with coral as well.

Yes, we added everything in 1 week ago when we started the 125 G up. The PH is about 7.4 - 7.6 (as of this AM) however we still have driftwood to put in and I believe that tends to lower PH?

*correction on the amount of crushed coral as well - it was 2-3 lbs in the 125 G.*

Hello!

I am new here, and actually this is my first ever post in a forum, so hopefully I am doing this correctly. From what I’ve read (so far) most of the transfer questions have been from 10G to 20G or 30G to 55G-75G but I haven’t seen one from 30G to 125G (I may have just missed it though) of course the principles should be the same - just wanted to post in case I was missing something.

I recently just bought a 125 G and am going to be transferring my established tank over. The established tank has had fish in it since 2016 - various kinds over the years but the cycle has never been completely killed (just mini cycled? and such as fish died and new ones added)


We set up the 125 G 1 week ago. We added water, the appropriate amount of API quick start, water conditioner, API stress zyme, and API leaf zone for the 8 plants that we currently have in there (first time I have used anything like that for plants bc I try not to use too many chemicals) We will be adding more plants later. We also mixed approximately 3-4 pounds of crushed coral in the approximately 80 lbs of gravel that we have in there. We don’t like a lot of gravel in our fish tanks just enough to keep our fish happy.

Temp is currently 76, PH is on higher side (7.6 or so) but we don’t have any drift wood etc in there yet. Right now it’s just plants and gravel.

About 3-4 days in, ammonia was about 4-5 PPM and I sprinkled some fish food in there. However last night ammonia was down to .25ppm. No nitrites or nitrates.

Until this morning — I have been reading the forum now for 4 hours so much information!— I had never heard of just transferring everything over to the new tank from the established one. Yes, I understand seeding with the established media - which I did this AM by swapping the filter from the established into the new tank. The established tank was due for a new filter anyway.

However I was always under the impression that any new tanks have to be cycled - the hard way - lol. While reading everything today I now understand that is not the case as long as you’re not adding new fish immediately.

My ultimate question - right now - bc I have many - is since we have already started trying to cycle the 125 G and there is some ammonia present .25 - are we still able to do a whole transfer? Or should I just keep seeding the tank and wait the month or so for the new tank to cycle from what we have already done?

We do not plan on adding new fish until the 125 is fully cycled and stable. We currently have:

7 - black skirt tetras
3 - cory pandas
3 - peppered cory
1 - BN pleco (who we have had for years) the other fish are new within the last few months give or take. Essentially too many, or very close to too many fish for the 30 G but regular water changes have kept them very happy and healthy.

If the transfer can still happen, do I absolutely have to transfer the old gravel into the new tank? Everything else I’m good with transferring but the old gravel is not the color that we have / want in the new tank.

I hope this all makes sense. I’m still learning all of the lingo on here but I will keep reading and hopefully get up to par soon. This is a great place and I am excited to keep learning.

Thank you in advance for any replies! I will check back later.

Hello!

I am new here, and actually this is my first ever post in a forum, so hopefully I am doing this correctly. From what I’ve read (so far) most of the transfer questions have been from 10G to 20G or 30G to 55G-75G but I haven’t seen one from 30G to 125G (I may have just missed it though) of course the principles should be the same - just wanted to post in case I was missing something.

I recently just bought a 125 G and am going to be transferring my established tank over. The established tank has had fish in it since 2016 - various kinds over the years but the cycle has never been completely killed (just mini cycled? and such as fish died and new ones added)


We set up the 125 G 1 week ago. We added water, the appropriate amount of API quick start, water conditioner, API stress zyme, and API leaf zone for the 8 plants that we currently have in there (first time I have used anything like that for plants bc I try not to use too many chemicals) We will be adding more plants later. We also mixed approximately 3-4 pounds of crushed coral in the approximately 80 lbs of gravel that we have in there. We don’t like a lot of gravel in our fish tanks just enough to keep our fish happy.

Temp is currently 76, PH is on higher side (7.6 or so) but we don’t have any drift wood etc in there yet. Right now it’s just plants and gravel.

About 3-4 days in, ammonia was about 4-5 PPM and I sprinkled some fish food in there. However last night ammonia was down to .25ppm. No nitrites or nitrates.

Until this morning — I have been reading the forum now for 4 hours so much information!— I had never heard of just transferring everything over to the new tank from the established one. Yes, I understand seeding with the established media - which I did this AM by swapping the filter from the established into the new tank. The established tank was due for a new filter anyway.

However I was always under the impression that any new tanks have to be cycled - the hard way - lol. While reading everything today I now understand that is not the case as long as you’re not adding new fish immediately.

My ultimate question - right now - bc I have many - is since we have already started trying to cycle the 125 G and there is some ammonia present .25 - are we still able to do a whole transfer? Or should I just keep seeding the tank and wait the month or so for the new tank to cycle from what we have already done?

We do not plan on adding new fish until the 125 is fully cycled and stable. We currently have:

7 - black skirt tetras
3 - cory pandas
3 - peppered cory
1 - BN pleco (who we have had for years) the other fish are new within the last few months give or take. Essentially too many, or very close to too many fish for the 30 G but regular water changes have kept them very happy and healthy.

If the transfer can still happen, do I absolutely have to transfer the old gravel into the new tank? Everything else I’m good with transferring but the old gravel is not the color that we have / want in the new tank.

I hope this all makes sense. I’m still learning all of the lingo on here but I will keep reading and hopefully get up to par soon. This is a great place and I am excited to keep learning.

Thank you in advance for any replies! I will check back later.

*Edit* 2-3 lbs of crushed coral.
(I’m not entirely sure how to edit my original post.)

 

If you moved the filter move the fish.
They both need each other.
All you may need to do moving forward is change water.
Being a new 6' owner learn to change water efficiently. Welcome to the 6' club!
What filter that comes from a 30 do you plan to use long term in a 125?
You need to be adding a new larger filter ASAP so it can grow into the 125 and make everything easier for you while you seed the tank with existing filter.

 

If you moved the filter move the fish.
They both need each other.
All you may need to do moving forward is change water.
Being a new 6' owner learn to change water efficiently. Welcome to the 6' club!
What filter that comes from a 30 do you plan to use long term in a 125?
You need to be adding a new larger filter ASAP so it can grow into the 125 and make everything easier for you while you seed the tank with existing filter.

Thanks! I’m definitely excited it’s a whole new world.

I moved the filter cartridge with some media from the 30 G to the 125. I already have two filters on and flowing in the 125. The 30 G still has its appropriate filter as well. I just swapped cartridges if that makes sense.

 

The transfer has been completed! Everyone is happy and healthy, however, I have noticed that the panda corydoras keep swimming to the surface and back down (glass surfing?) It is almost as if they are enjoying the new current in the aquarium / they keep swimming in the stream of out bubbler.

However I am worried if it is a sign of low oxygenation / too much CO2?

The tetras and peppered Cory's are acting very happy. Everyone, including pandas, are eating normally and very active. All are full of color and not pale nor do any seem lethargic. It is just the swimming patterns of the 3 pandas that have us worried.

Parameters are
.25 Ammonia (remember we already started cycling before we did the transition and it is steadily going down each day. I am not worried about the ammonia)
0 Nitrites
.2 Nitrates
60 GH
80 KH *both GH and KH are similar to our 30G tank.

Is the activity of the Corydoras normal or abnormal?

I have seen a lot of posts and articles about pandas "riding currents / riding bubbles" however they did not really do that in our smaller tank. I have had goldfish that do that but again, that's from a different time. Just want some of your opinions.

Thank you in advance and Merry Christmas!!

 

Update:

We lost one of the Cory’s yesterday. He stopped eating a few days in and turned very pale and then we found him yesterday morning. He was one that we had for approximately 2 months in the 30G, however the three that we bought with him (total of four- all died within one week of getting them). Once he lost his mates, he started swimming with our other 2 (they were also the only survivors of six that we bought 6(ish) months ago from our LFS)

A little bummed, however I do not believe they were a healthy stock from the LFS. Since we bought our last batch, they haven’t had any in. Needless to say we won’t be buying Cory’s from there anymore.

I do have a few questions, if anyone still sees this thread.

1. The ammonia that was present when we transferred, slowly seems to be decreasing - although still not zero. I would say .25 or a little less. No nitrites and possibly 2-3 ppm nitrates. (I will attach some pictures of the test I just took.)
I know we went from 30G to 125G and we do not have many fish in there.

How long do you think it will be before we start to see higher nitrates? I imagine it may be a while so until then, WC shouldn’t be necessary?

2. When we bought our Peppered Cory’s, we also got a very small fish with them. It’s definitely a cat fish of some sort however it’s incredibly tiny. It’s about the size of a thumbnail right now. Any ideas as to what it is? (Pictures also below)

I’m thinking a bronze Cory? It does not swim with any of the others though. Always off on its own doing its thing. I’ve named it Persephone (lol) however no idea if it’s a male or female. Just very independent and a definite busy body around the tank.

 

I came to this thread a bit late, but also wondered why the coral. I have very low KH but never had a pH crash (to my knowledge).

When I moved fish from a 63 gallon to a 220 gallon tank, I just moved all the fish and their existing canister filter at the same time. The substrate was new. I added a second new canister filter (both flow into additional top filters before returning to the tank). I had water lettuce on top and added some new fish gradually, I did not have any problems with ammonia or nitrites at any point. I have read that you often get a reading of .25 with the API tests so I do not think that is anything to be concerned about.

Your nitrates may not increase much as there are not many fish for the size of the tank. In my 220 gallon tank the nitrates are always below 1 (stocking is still quite low and the water lettuce eats them up.).

 

I came to this thread a bit late, but also wondered why the coral. I have very low KH but never had a pH crash (to my knowledge).

When I moved fish from a 63 gallon to a 220 gallon tank, I just moved all the fish and their existing canister filter at the same time. The substrate was new. I added a second new canister filter (both flow into additional top filters before returning to the tank). I had water lettuce on top and added some new fish gradually, I did not have any problems with ammonia or nitrites at any point. I have read that you often get a reading of .25 with the API tests so I do not think that is anything to be concerned about.

Your nitrates may not increase much as there are not many fish for the size of the tank. In my 220 gallon tank the nitrates are always below 1 (stocking is still quite low and the water lettuce eats them up.).

Thank you for the reply!

In hindsight adding the crushed coral (based off of the replies) may have been a rookie mistake in terms of maybe I just had no idea what I was doing lol. However our tap water (what we use to fill our tank) is around 40-50 GH (pretty soft) so that is why we added it in our 30G. Prior to adding the coral in there, the PH was very low (roughly 6.4 and lower) but once we added it, it bumped the PH up to around 7.0.

So we added it to this new tank based off of our previous experience with the 30G.

The PH in the 125G is right around 7.0, approximately 80 KH, and approximately 100 GH.

You are probably correct about the .25 for the ammonia not being that bad. I’ve seen that referenced many times across other threads, however I always kinda freak when I see any because our other tank didn’t have any but it’s still a new set up. I may just be delving waaay to much into the threads on here lol.

With your nitrates so low in your 220G, how often do you do WC’s?

 

I do 40 - 50% weekly water changes on the big tank anyway, even though the nitrates are low and TDS usually around 20. I just think there may be other things that build up and new water replenishes minerals etc. For the smaller tanks, that are lightly stocked, it varies more, usually between 30-50% weekly. I have KH 0-1, GH 1-2, pH varies around 6.6 - 6.8, I have never used any coral and even using leaves and wood the pH does not go down (it probably would if I didn't do the water changes).

 

Yes, those were my thoughts also on the WC’s thank you for the info!

 

Also late to the party and kind of wish I'd see it sooner.

You can use the filter media from the 30 gallon in the 125g, the catch is that colony is established for the 30 gallon and it's stocking level, not more than that. you will need to be careful stocking.

another option is to use the filter media to jump start a fishless cycle and dose pure ammonia to the 2ppm level and wait for the colony to size up to the new water volume clearing the 2ppm ammonia all the way to nitrates in 24 hours. then you can fully stock the 125G. you'd be running the 125g new filter in parallel with the filter of the 30g, so you have the circulation and flow necessary for the appropriate oxygenation levels.

Hope this make sense. I jump started my 72g off a 20g a few years back now. you just have to keep in mind what that small tank bacteria colony is capable of, it can't do the work for a full stocked 125 immediately, so either you stock slow to avoid spikes, orrrrr you use it as a jump off point, a head start to get the colony up to speed for the larger tank.

The bacteria will multiply roughly every 15 hours with a pH above 7 and a temp of around 78F. the more you start with, the more multiplication it will do to get up to speed.

I'm not surprised there is a little ammonia hiccup so far, if you rush out and stock it like a 125g, that little hiccup will be bad. just keep this in mind.
there's two ways to get up to speed, 1. stick with the 30g stocking level until it's only nitrates showing on tests, then slowly add to it over time never more than a quarter of the stocking level it currently has and give it a couple days of testing to see how it goes.

or, 2. use it as a jump off and then fishless cycle the rest of the way, when it's a large colony already, it multiples quickly then you won't have to worry about how much you can stock without a spike.

you test is pretty useless with the little bit you have going on for results. it's really not eough to get a good feel of whats' happening or not happening.

If you can take a step backwards, and go back to fishless cycle, and dose 2ppm ammonia, it won't be such a guess and you will be able to see exactly what's happening and how long it takes to process to nitrates. If it takes 4 days to process 2ppm ammonia, then you tank is clearing roughly .50 ammonia in 24 hours. if it goes in 24 hours, then it could be fully stocked, but you should get some age on it for a month anyways, let some of the natural processes really get going in there first.

 

Also late to the party and kind of wish I'd see it sooner.

You can use the filter media from the 30 gallon in the 125g, the catch is that colony is established for the 30 gallon and it's stocking level, not more than that. you will need to be careful stocking.

another option is to use the filter media to jump start a fishless cycle and dose pure ammonia to the 2ppm level and wait for the colony to size up to the new water volume clearing the 2ppm ammonia all the way to nitrates in 24 hours. then you can fully stock the 125G. you'd be running the 125g new filter in parallel with the filter of the 30g, so you have the circulation and flow necessary for the appropriate oxygenation levels.

Hope this make sense. I jump started my 72g off a 20g a few years back now. you just have to keep in mind what that small tank bacteria colony is capable of, it can't do the work for a full stocked 125 immediately, so either you stock slow to avoid spikes, orrrrr you use it as a jump off point, a head start to get the colony up to speed for the larger tank.

The bacteria will multiply roughly every 15 hours with a pH above 7 and a temp of around 78F. the more you start with, the more multiplication it will do to get up to speed.

I'm not surprised there is a little ammonia hiccup so far, if you rush out and stock it like a 125g, that little hiccup will be bad. just keep this in mind.
there's two ways to get up to speed, 1. stick with the 30g stocking level until it's only nitrates showing on tests, then slowly add to it over time never more than a quarter of the stocking level it currently has and give it a couple days of testing to see how it goes.

or, 2. use it as a jump off and then fishless cycle the rest of the way, when it's a large colony already, it multiples quickly then you won't have to worry about how much you can stock without a spike.

you test is pretty useless with the little bit you have going on for results. it's really not eough to get a good feel of whats' happening or not happening.

If you can take a step backwards, and go back to fishless cycle, and dose 2ppm ammonia, it won't be such a guess and you will be able to see exactly what's happening and how long it takes to process to nitrates. If it takes 4 days to process 2ppm ammonia, then you tank is clearing roughly .50 ammonia in 24 hours. if it goes in 24 hours, then it could be fully stocked, but you should get some age on it for a month anyways, let some of the natural processes really get going in there first.

Thank you so much for all of this information! Since this post everything has settled and the parameters are good. 0,0, and 5.