Tank being drained....help

My tank has been set up for 3 weeks now...it is 31gallons and has 9 zebra, 2 cherry barbs, and 5 tiger barbs in it. I have to empty my tank now cause I am getting new carpet put down. My question is if I should keep most of the water I empty to put it back or if it matters at all?

 

Advice needed!

My tank has been set up for 3 weeks now...it is 31gallons and has 9 zebra, 2 cherry barbs, and 5 tiger barbs in it. I have to empty my tank now cause I am getting new carpet put down. My question is if I should keep most of the water I empty to put it back or if it matters at all?

 

Re: Advice needed!

No it does not matter because there is not many beneficial Bactria in it ,but it would save you money on your water bill .

 

Re: Advice needed!

The water is not of concern when you move a tank, but the filter will have to be kept running or you will lose the progress you have made in the cycle. Could you get a new bucket (cannot have been used for cleaning with detergents or such) and put used water in it and put the filter in there and let it run while the tank is being moved so that the filter can stay running and not lose any bacteria that may have formed in it. The bacteria start to die after about 30 minutes of the filter being off. If you leave it run like I mentioned it should not matter. I did this when I changed my tank decor. Don't use NEW water, use the old tank water for this.

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Rose

 

I replied on the other post. It makes not a wit of difference to the cycle to put the same water back. This is a good time to do a good water change. You do however, need to keep your filter running and the easiest way to do this is to get a bucket, new one or one never used with detergents or soap or cleaning supplies or the bucket you use to mix your aquarium water in and put the used water in it and put the filter so that it can continue to run in the bucket or container. This will protect the progress that the filter has made in the cycle until you can put it back on the tank. If the filter is shut down for more than 30 minutes you will start to lose any bacteria that may have started to grow there and it will set your cycle back. You cannot use new water for this, it has got to be the used water. That is the only value of the used water. After you reset the tank and put the filter back into the tank there is no reason to keep the water and it can be disposed of.

I hope this has helped some. Good luck and let us know if you need any more info.

Rose

 

Re: Advice needed!

Well, it's generally not necessary to save all of the old water. But there may actually be a case where one would need to do this. For example, if your tap water has 0 nitrate and a pH that is very different from the pH of your tank water (and I assume your tap water has 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite), then it would be rather dangerous to dump all of the old water and fill the tank with 100% new tap water. This is because the fish may get a pH and/or a nitrate shock. Suppose your tank nitrate is 30 and pH is 7.5, and that your tap nitrate is 0 and pH is 6.5 - in this situation, when your fish suddenly go from your tank water to a whole tank of 100% new tap water, they could experience a pH and/or a nitrate shock. When I was transferring my 30 gallon tank, I actually saved some 80 - 90% of my tank water in buckets. I put the fish in a bucket with tank water and I hung the filter on another bucket with tank water (and kept it running). Then, I emptied my tank and transferred it to another room. Next, I put all the saved water back in, put all the fish back in, added the 10 - 20% of new water, and hung the filter on the tank and let it run on. The whole transfer must have felt rather like a water change for fish, because I didn't change 100% of the water, but only 10 - 20%. Nothing bad happened to fish afterwards. All was well.

This is a good way to do this if your tap and tank pH and nitrate are very different. If they're not, you probably wouldn't have to save 100% of the old water. You could save only enough for the filter to run and for the fish to swim in, while you're transferring the tank. However, if your tank is large and the tap and tank pH and nitrate are very different, try to save at least 50% of old water. Always remember to keep the filter running on the bucket with tank water during the time when you're transferring a tank - this way the beneficial bacteria will not die off.

 

Fish Lovers, I hope you do not mind - I have merged the two topics into one.