Possible New Tank Setup With Pre-existin Fish

Possibly upgrading from a 10 to 55 gal tank in the next few days. I have some questions regarding the transition and more fish with my setup. so I have a female betta who is only a couple months old. 2 mollies, 3 neon tetras and about 6-10 neon tetra fry that are no more than a week old. every fish is a week new into my 10 gal besides the female betta. if I get a bigger tank I would like a catfish or some type of bottom feeder. but due to the kind of fish I have I add aquarium salt to my current setup. about 1 tbsp for my 10 gallon. is there a bottom feeder around that can handle small amount of aquarium salt? That will get along with my current fish? My new setup that I'm hopefully getting will have 2 or more live plants...hornwort and anacharis are more than likely. I currently have 2 betta bulbs in my tank. Also I'm wondering about the transition...what I can do to less shock the fish (maybe add my current rock and water to new tank?) and the closest water is the outside spigot...is that safe for anew setup and using a hose, do I need a certain hose that is free of something like lead or anything else and do I need certain chemicals to make the water safe? when doing water changes I will be using the faucet in my laundry room like I have with my 10 gal just by filling up jugs if that does anything. any advice would help, maybe a step by step for setting up this new tank and getting it ready before my fish are added. the tank is used but has never had fish added, just filled to make sure it doesn't leak. so I'm basically starting from scratch here. it comes with filters and heaters. I would most likely be moving my fish over to the new tank and putting my male betta in the 10 gal which is currently in a small 3 gal unfiltered tank that I change 25% every couple days. I have been premixing all my chemicals in each gallon of water. so I fill up cold tap water in each gallon...and put ammonia detoxifier, water conditioner, aquarium salt and one other product that looks the same as the ammonia stuff but its blue in color. can't remember the name at the moment. any advice would be great...any questions I can answer to my best abilities! Thanks!!!

 

First question, is your tank cycled? Your best bet is to move the media in your current filter to the 55's filter and add new fish slowly so that the BB has a chance to keep up with the waste output.

Next question, what temperature are you planning to keep the new tank at? Bettas and neons have different requirements.

Also, stop adding salt. None of your fish need it and it will cause most of them unnecessary stress.

 

yes my tank is cycled. I keep hearing media, what does that mean? and BB? My current tank has a 100 watt heater that is non adjustable...so 78 degrees. and I read that mollies and bettas like the slight aquarium salt and neon tetras do okay with it...

 

What are your water parameters?

Media is the stuff you put in your filter.

BB=beneficial bacteria

Mollies are capable of handling brackish water but Bettas are entirely freshwater as are the Tetras. A tiny amount probably won't kill them but it is an irritant and therefore stressful.

 

my PH is between 7.2 and 8. I just ordered a API mater kit so as of now I do not know the ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels. I don't add anything to my filter...its just a bio petco 10 gal filter.

my ph test only goes to 7.2 and the color is slightly above the 7.2

is the 100w 78 degrees okay?

I did have 5 tetras but a coupled died...I thik it was because of the stomach disease or something because I have 5 tetras 2 mollies and a betta in a 10 gal tank with no extra oxygen. the only oxygen it was getting was frm the filter. so I bought a pump to hook up to my led bubbler light. but for all I know my ammonia is too high. the tetras before dying would swim upwards then start to turn on their bellies and only turnoer if frightened. almost swam drunk. but the other fish seem to be acting normal so I'm not sure why the other tetraas died. I mean the tetra fry seem to be doing just fine,

 

If you have any ammonia your tank isn't cycled. What is inside the filter you have? Is it wooly-looking stuff or pellets or...?

Also how do you clean your filter?

It's good that you have ordered the master test kit, we can give you better guidance once we have some numbers

 

petco power filter with 3 stage filter...its white filter with pellets on the inside

 

Black pellets sandwiched between layers of white "wool" or are they big, white pellets in a bag and separate from the wooly stuff?

 

and like I said I don't know my ammonia levels. I'm just assuming my tank is cycled cause all fish haven't died except the new couple tetras. my female betta went from the 10 gal to a small 1 gallon for a couple weeks cause I had the two male and female bettas together. they were fine until the male got bigger and started picking on the female. then I put her back with the new fish and she is actually swimming around vs when she was with the other betta and alone she was very timid and would hide or stay at the bottom of the gravel

and yes black pellets between white layers

 

How do you clean your filter again?

As for Bettas, I really don't recommend putting males and females together. If the female is in the community tank what happened to the male?

Do you know about the nitrogen cycle? Click on the words in blue if you need to read up on it

 

Yes I've read about it...and I put him in a 3 gallon tank by himself weeks ago

 

OK, so as long as the 10 is cycled (we'll know for sure when you get the test kit) and you don't rinse your media in untreated tap water and you don't replace the media cartridge regularly as the instructions suggest then you can move the whole filter media and all onto your 55. Or, if there's time before you set the new one up put the 55's filter on the 10. The current might be a bit strong but it will help it to begin cycling.

Outside tap should be the same source as inside, just be sure to treat the water and match the temperatures and your fish will be fine