New tank upgrade cylcing

Hello! I wanted to upgrade my betta tank from 5 to 15 gallon. My question is can I put all my filter sponges and filter pump from my old tank to my new tank to cycle it. Or do I have to start a new cycle (adding bb taking around a month). Thank you!

 

Yep, you can, but I'd also move the substrate, as that has a lot of bacteria too.

 

Yep, you can, but I'd also move the substrate, as that has a lot of bacteria too.

Yes thats exactly what I'm going to do. I'm adding my substrate from old tank and all my plants as well as my tank water.

Yep, you can, but I'd also move the substrate, as that has a lot of bacteria too.

With this method, can I transfer my betta emedietly to his new tank? Of course I'll acclimate him first.

 

Yeah, pretty much. If you move about everything, of course you will probably need more fitlration, it will essanitly be a 75% water change.

 

With the same stock, you don't need more filtration. If you add more animals then you'll need more media.

 

Yeah, pretty much. If you move about everything, of course you will probably need more fitlration, it will essanitly be a 75% water change.

What do you mean by 75% wc? Are you referring to adding my 5 gallon tank water to my 15 and then filling the rest with tap/conditioner? I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly

With the same stock, you don't need more filtration. If you add more animals then you'll need more media.

My new tank will its own filter. It's actually really cool! It's commercialized. I will keep my old filter running with my new one to help regain bb

 

Yeah. It would pretty much be equal to a 75% water change on the 15 is all I meant.

 

Yeah. It would pretty much be equal to a 75% water change on the 15 is all I meant.

Thank you for clarifying I appreciate your help

Thank you for clarifying I appreciate your help

Since this would technically be a 75% wc would this shock my fish or affect by bb? (Normally 10-15% wc for a 15 gallon). Thank you

 

Water changes will never affect the bb. As long as all of your parameters match up pretty close it will be fine. You just dont want to go from 80 ppm Nitrate to 5 ppm. 8.2 pH to 7.4. Know what I mean?

 

Water changes will never affect the bb. As long as all of your parameters match up pretty close it will be fine. You just dont want to go from 80 ppm Nitrate to 5 ppm. 8.2 pH to 7.4. Know what I mean?

Yes I get u I have nitrazorb to control nitrates so that won't be issue. Do you think my ph would change by that much when switching to my new tank? My ph is around 8 point something. I'm switching from a 5 gallon to 15 gallon.

Water changes will never affect the bb. As long as all of your parameters match up pretty close it will be fine. You just dont want to go from 80 ppm Nitrate to 5 ppm. 8.2 pH to 7.4. Know what I mean?

Btw I'm so exited to give my betta more room and also this heat wave is making it really hard on my 5 gallon. It keeps fluctuating and that's how I know I need an upgrade.

 

Is your pH the same in the tank as your tap?

 

Is your pH the same in the tank as your tap?

I have been using my tap and conditioner on my old tank always and my ph has remained fairly consistant

 

The you will be fine to just move the fish then. As long as the parameters match it doesnt matter how much water it is.

Also in the future doing bigger water changes will keep your tank levels closer to your tap water levels. You wont need the extra Nitrazorb and stuff like that.

 

I agree with the above^ I usually do about 50% a week on my tanks, it doesn't take much longer than only doing a bit of the water and helps out with the parameters more.

 

The you will be fine to just move the fish then. As long as the parameters match it doesnt matter how much water it is.

Also in the future doing bigger water changes will keep your tank levels closer to your tap water levels. You wont need the extra Nitrazorb and stuff like that.

Okay thank you so much for your help guys!

I agree with the above^ I usually do about 50% a week on my tanks, it doesn't take much longer than only doing a bit of the water and helps out with the parameters more.

So you do 50% regardless of tank size? I didn't know that. I always thought the bigger the tank the less water you take out. I typically do 50 percent a week on 5 gallon. I suppose I can do the same for my 15 gallon

The you will be fine to just move the fish then. As long as the parameters match it doesnt matter how much water it is.

Also in the future doing bigger water changes will keep your tank levels closer to your tap water levels. You wont need the extra Nitrazorb and stuff like that.

I did do half water changes on my five gallon once a week and still experienced high nitrates (40 ppm) and then I got nitrazorb to reduce it

 

Okay thank you so much for your help guys!

So you do 50% regardless of tank size? I didn't know that. I always thought the bigger the tank the less water you take out. I typically do 50 percent a week on 5 gallon. I suppose I can do the same for my 15 gallon

I did do half water changes on my five gallon once a week and still experienced high nitrates (40 ppm) and then I got nitrazorb to reduce it

Less bioload does mean less waste so you could do smaller water changes, I just find it easier to do 50% anyway. Also, if you had high nitrates in the 5 gallon, then 50% changes in the 15 could be just what you need to keep them under control

 

Less bioload does mean less waste so you could do smaller water changes, I just find it easier to do 50% anyway. Also, if you had high nitrates in the 5 gallon, then 50% changes in the 15 could be just what you need to keep them under control

Thank you! I'm so exited to upgrade! I will post a pic when it's done. I'll have more room for betta and my live plants

Thank you! I'm so exited to upgrade! I will post a pic when it's done. I'll have more room for betta and my live plants

This is randall now lol

 

Ok for me I like to do this overtime and not in one move. As in set up your 15. Water filter heater and get it running and at the right temp. Most of your bb is in your filter. Some is in the substrate but next to none is in the water. So what I would do is set up the 15 with all its new stuff. Add some of the substrate out of the 5 to the 15. Let it run for 2 days as is. Add the filter from the five to the 15 and let it run for about 12 hrs. But a bubbler in with the betta. Than add the rest of the substrate to the 15 let it run another hour and than move in the betta. All should be good. Next if adding new fish do it slowly. Like 2 fish at a time. Good luck .

 

Ok for me I like to do this overtime and not in one move. As in set up your 15. Water filter heater and get it running and at the right temp. Most of your bb is in your filter. Some is in the substrate but next to none is in the water. So what I would do is set up the 15 with all its new stuff. Add some of the substrate out of the 5 to the 15. Let it run for 2 days as is. Add the filter from the five to the 15 and let it run for about 12 hrs. But a bubbler in with the betta. Than add the rest of the substrate to the 15 let it run another hour and than move in the betta. All should be good. Next if adding new fish do it slowly. Like 2 fish at a time. Good luck .

Thank you! This is a smart way to go. I will do this and thank you

Thank you! This is a smart way to go. I will do this and thank you

I have some filter sponges too. When do you recommend I add those? I quite a few, at least 5 pieces. Maybe I can do half of the filter sponges in new tank along with transferring half old substrate then do other half of filter sponge when I transfer other half of substrate.
By removing that filter from old tank to new one even if it only 12 hours I worry about making making by betta sick because I'll be losing a lot of bb

 

I have some filter sponges too. When do you recommend I add those? I quite a few, at least 5 pieces. Maybe I can do half of the filter sponges in new tank along with transferring half old substrate then do other half of filter sponge when I transfer other half of substrate.
By removing that filter from old tank to new one even if it only 12 hours I worry about making making by betta sick because I'll be losing a lot of bb

If you're asking when to put new sponges in the new filter, you can just do those all at once, they won't affect anything.
In regards to moving the filter, I don't know how quickly bb die w/out food when the filter is running, but I would just move the fish and the old filter at the same time. Personally, I don't think there's much benefit in moving the filter before the fish, but everyone does things a bit differently.

Also, when you move the fish and the old filter, make sure you put some old media physically inside of the new filter. If you don't, bacteria will take forever to grow in the new filter (and might not grow much at all).

 

If you're asking when to put new sponges in the new filter, you can just do those all at once, they won't affect anything.
In regards to moving the filter, I don't know how quickly bb die w/out food when the filter is running, but I would just move the fish and the old filter at the same time. Personally, I don't think there's much benefit in moving the filter before the fish, but everyone does things a bit differently.

Also, when you move the fish and the old filter, make sure you put some old media physically inside of the new filter. If you don't, bacteria will take forever to grow in the new filter (and might not grow much at all).

Okay will do! Thank you for your help

 

BB doesnt die in a day, it will be fine. No matter how you do it.

 

This is how I would make the move.

With just one little fish in the 5 gallon tank there is not going to be a great deal of bacteria. The amount of bacteria depends on the bio-load in the tank. In this case I would go ahead and move everything including water and fish all at the same time.

I would set the bigger tank up to make sure it doesn't leak and all the equipment works. (heater filter anything else you will be running in the tank) and run it for a couple of days. By then you should know if everything is working as it should. I do this with any new tank I set up.

The bigger tank is going to need more substrate than the 5 gallon so rinse it well and go ahead and add it while setting up the tank. If you are planning on using the same color/kind of substrate you can just spread the substrate from the 5 gallon across the top of the new substrate you've put in the 15 gallon when you make the move. If you plan on using a different substrate put what you have in media bags and move it this way. The media bags can be removed once you are sure the cycle is stable in the new tank.

When you are ready to make the move remove 10 gallons of water from the 15 gallon tank. Once done move your Betta to a holding container filled with water from the 5 gallon. Be sure to cover whatever you put him in. More than once it has been reported the fish has jumped out of the holding container during this process. We don't want that to happen to Randall.

Now just move everything left in the 5 gallon including as much of the water as you can over to the 15 gallon tank. Be sure to keep plants and all decor wet while making this move. We don't want to let any of the bacteria dry out. Once everything is moved over and situated just as you want it pour Randall and the water he is in into the 15 gallon. Just tip the container over on its side to allow some tank water to come in and mix with the water in the container. Slowly tip it and let Randal come out along with all the water.

By removing the original 10 gallons of water from the 15 gallon you should now have close to 10 gallons in the tank. 5 gallons of fresh water plus the water you moved from the 5 gallon. Randall will just feel like he had a 50% water change. You can now finish slowly filling the 15 gallon up.

You will have left some bacteria on the walls of the tank but it shouldn't have been enough to affect the cycle you just moved over. Keep an eye on the parameters but I don't expect you will see any spikes since there will still be just the one little fish in this tank.

 

I feel that with all this advice I should just quickly add: don't stress too much about doing every little detail exactly right. From my experience, stressing about making a mistake does nothing but shift your focus and make mistakes even more likely!
Make a plan that you feel comfortable with and stick to it. If something comes up that requires immediate attention or a shift in the plan, deal with it then instead of worrying about it all now. Bettas are relatively hardy fish and Randall looks healthy, so a slight hiccup shouldn't really have an affect on him (aside from a bit of short-term stress, which will subside as he settles into his new home).

 

This is how I would make the move.

With just one little fish in the 5 gallon tank there is not going to be a great deal of bacteria. The amount of bacteria depends on the bio-load in the tank. In this case I would go ahead and move everything including water and fish all at the same time.

I would set the bigger tank up to make sure it doesn't leak and all the equipment works. (heater filter anything else you will be running in the tank) and run it for a couple of days. By then you should know if everything is working as it should. I do this with any new tank I set up.

The bigger tank is going to need more substrate than the 5 gallon so rinse it well and go ahead and add it while setting up the tank. If you are planning on using the same color/kind of substrate you can just spread the substrate from the 5 gallon across the top of the new substrate you've put in the 15 gallon when you make the move. If you plan on using a different substrate put what you have in media bags and move it this way. The media bags can be removed once you are sure the cycle is stable in the new tank.

When you are ready to make the move remove 10 gallons of water from the 15 gallon tank. Once done move your Betta to a holding container filled with water from the 5 gallon. Be sure to cover whatever you put him in. More than once it has been reported the fish has jumped out of the holding container during this process. We don't want that to happen to Randall.

Now just move everything left in the 5 gallon including as much of the water as you can over to the 15 gallon tank. Be sure to keep plants and all decor wet while making this move. We don't want to let any of the bacteria dry out. Once everything is moved over and situated just as you want it pour Randall and the water he is in into the 15 gallon. Just tip the container over on its side to allow some tank water to come in and mix with the water in the container. Slowly tip it and let Randal come out along with all the water.

By removing the original 10 gallons of water from the 15 gallon you should now have close to 10 gallons in the tank. 5 gallons of fresh water plus the water you moved from the 5 gallon. Randall will just feel like he had a 50% water change. You can now finish slowly filling the 15 gallon up.

You will have left some bacteria on the walls of the tank but it shouldn't have been enough to affect the cycle you just moved over. Keep an eye on the parameters but I don't expect you will see any spikes since there will still be just the one little fish in this tank.

Thank you very much for detailed info. Yes I do tend to stress a lot about these things because I love Randall so much!! I shall incorporate this when moving my betta. I love the idea of letting it run first and removing some new water. I want to give him more room to swim around and more space for my plants to grow.

 

My advice is bring everything over that you can, you may see a mini cycle, I had a similar issue when I upgraded from a 1 gallon to a 10. I brought my gravel, I ran two filters for a bit (I upgraded my filter) decorations and I still added some biospira for freshwater. I still got a mini cycle for about a week.

 

Hello all! I would just like to give an update on Randall's new tank! He loves it! Thank you stargirl for all the wonderful suggestions.

 

Looks great! I bet he loves hanging out in that big anubias, must have taken a long time to grow that (or it was pretty expensive)!

 

Hello! I wanted to upgrade my betta tank from 5 to 15 gallon. My question is can I put all my filter sponges and filter pump from my old tank to my new tank to cycle it. Or do I have to start a new cycle (adding bb taking around a month). Thank you!

Most would say yes unless you had an illness. It would actually be beneficial to the setup of the new tank as you will have good bacteria in the filter sponge, etc.. It goes without saying you never want to wash your filter sponges in local tab (chlorine will kill the healthy bacteria). Draw a little water out of the tank and gently clean the crud and larger waste from the sponges. I recently changed tanks and also used the bottom gravel to help kickstart the process. I was forced to do a total water change (long story) but so far everything is progressing well. No fish yet but I have been having success with live plants which I have been able to grow from bulbs. This will certainly help in keeping a good well rounded tank. Good luck to you.