Switching From A 75 Gallon To A 125 Gallon

So I recently made the decision to upgrade my tank from a 75 gallon to a 125 gallon, and I thought I would post how I did it step by step on the off chance it might help someone else some day. First of, the setup I had prior to the upgrade. The 75 is on the left, and the 20 on the right is going to be their temporary home while I am making the switch:








And here is the tank I am upgrading to. I chose on this tank to try my hand at painting the back of the tank instead of the typical backgrounds you can purchase:




Here is the new tank on the stand. Had my next door neighbor help me lift it up there. The tank weighs in a 180 pounds empty. You can see I have started to put the substrate in as well.


For the substrate, I used pea gravel from Home Depot. This stuff makes a great substrate, and it's cheap, less tha $4 for a 50 pound bag. I purchased two bags, plus the 2+ bags I had in the 75 already. The only down side to using this is it is dirty, and cleaning it is time consuming. I used a wire mesh colander and rinsed it thoroughly:



This is where the fish will be housed temporarily while I make the switch. It's a 20 gallon tank. If you don't have an extra tank, I would imagine you could get an inexpensive plastic container from Walmart, and that would do the trick as well:



So then I removed most of the decor from the 75 and started draining. Makes catching the fish a lot easier:




Fish transferred and remaining water drained. I also have removed all of the existing substrate. That will get a quick rinse before going into the 125. Oh, and I would suggest having plenty of 5 gallon buckets available. They are invaluable, from holding old substrate to decor as you pull it out of the tank::





Also found about half a dozen baby peppered cories when draining the tank. Not fun at all to try and catch:




To be continued....

 

So here is the new tank in place, and all the cleaned substrate in the tank:




Might as well clean both canisters while I have everything broken down:




Decor starting to go in. Don't mind the ship. Not my personal cup of tea, but the wife insisted lol:




All decor and plants added. Went with all silk plants:




Filling the tank. Took about an hour with a python:




And finally, the finished product, filled and with filters hooked back up:




A long day. It started at about 10:00am and the fish were in their new tank at about 8:30 that night. Now I just have to decide what else to put in there!

 

Looks like a fun but exhausting project! How exciting to get the new larger tank. A few months ago I switched from a 46 to a 65, and used an existing 16 to house the fish during the transfer. You're right about the buckets, I had 5 or 6 of them from Home Depot and Lowe's, they're really cheap. Your new tank looks great! Are you going to keep the 75 and set it up somewhere else? I was going to give my 46 to a friend, but she decided it was too big. Then I was going to give it to anyone who wanted it, but my friend and sister talked me into setting it up again. So now I have three tanks set up, the 65, the 46 bowfront, and a 26 bowfront.

Oh, and I love all your photos! And I like the shipwreck! LOL

 

Looks like a fun but exhausting project! How exciting to get the new larger tank. A few months ago I switched from a 46 to a 65, and used an existing 16 to house the fish during the transfer. You're right about the buckets, I had 5 or 6 of them from Home Depot and Lowe's, they're really cheap. Your new tank looks great! Are you going to keep the 75 and set it up somewhere else? I was going to give my 46 to a friend, but she decided it was too big. Then I was going to give it to anyone who wanted it, but my friend and sister talked me into setting it up again. So now I have three tanks set up, the 65, the 46 bowfront, and a 26 bowfront.

I actually sold the 75. Just don't have the room for it, plus it helped defray the cost of the 125!

 

Makes sense.

 

So no live plants? What are the fish you have in there?
I wish I could get a nice big tank like that

 

So no live plants? What are the fish you have in there?
I wish I could get a nice big tank like that 7]

No live plants in this tank. This is just a community tank. I have 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 platys, 10 neon tetras, 10 red pencilfish, 6 red minor longfin serpae tetra, a clown pleco, and of course the peppered cories, which started out with 4 and now I have 10.

 

Nice on the upgrade !
Well done .

 

Excellent write up !

Congrats on the upgrade.

 

So here is the new tank in place, and all the cleaned substrate in the tank:

View attachment 625622

Might as well clean both canisters while I have everything broken down:

View attachment 625623

Decor starting to go in. Don't mind the ship. Not my personal cup of tea, but the wife insisted lol:

View attachment 625624

All decor and plants added. Went with all silk plants:

View attachment 625625

Filling the tank. Took about an hour with a python:

View attachment 625626

And finally, the finished product, filled and with filters hooked back up:

View attachment 625627

A long day. It started at about 10:00am and the fish were in their new tank at about 8:30 that night. Now I just have to decide what else to put in there!

Tank looks beautiful! As far as the ship.... happy wife, happy life!