Adding Fish To A New Tank

[ashleybrown2]

afishdude is correct. The whole point of the cycle is to allow the bacteria to colonize in the filter, once the cycle is over, you add fish and the ammonia they produce feeds the bacteria, and the excess bacteria dies off, leaving enough to cope with the bioload. if you then took out 9 of your 10 fish, leaving just 1, that fish cannot produce enough waste to keep the bacteria alive to treat the waste of 10 fish.

what is the problem with adding all the fish right away? the bacteria is already colonized in the old filter he is putting in...and it matches the bioload because the bioload is identical to what he had in the old tank...

taking your time will just let the bacteria starve to death through lack of ammonia and nitrites. then when you do eventually add the fish, there will be no bacteria and they will start a "with-fish cycle"

Ash

 

[Essjay]

Precisely what I did. Transfered all the fish and filter media at one go. Didn't have any problems at all.

The only reason I waited before adding more fish was to make sure I hadn't damaged the bacteria colony during the move!

 

[crazie.eddie]

But the thing is, even when using media, you don't get all the bacteria. You disturb the bacteria on there and may lose some. Unless you have a microscope to check, you can never know. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I have heard of a person who cycled a tank with neon tetras without any loss. He just setup the tank and put the fish in. Now, does that sound correct? NO. We know neon tetras are sensitive to water conditions. We know to cycle a tank, we should do it slowly and carefully. Seeding a tank with bacteria just helps speed up the process, but does not mean to put all the fish in there.

So basically, for the original poster. If you want to take a chance of maybe losing fish, maybe not, put all the fish at once. Then report back with your findings. Otherwise, if you don't want to stress out the fish much and lose any, do it slowly and carefully. It's his choice.

BTW, do a Google search on Cycling a tank and see your results. Oh wait, I just did and the first hit I got was...

1. Cycling a tank with many fish will produce a lot more waste, which will be stressful to your fish, resulting in higher die-off and greater susceptibility to disease.
2. Cycling with a large number of fish will increase water problems incurred during the cycling process.
3. Cycling with a lot of fish can contribute to a foul smell coming from the tank.

http/www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

As I mentioned, adding bacteria from an established tank ONLY speeds up the process, but is in no way means to skip steps.

 

[Tobigara]

umm...i believe that when you "cycle a tank" you are actually cycling the filter. 99% or more of the bacteria live in the filter. dannym's "tank" is already cycled. all he would need to do is move the filter to the new tank and move ALL the fish over at the same time. Assuming that dannym doesn't allow the filter media to dry or starve everything will be ok for the fish because it's the same bio-load

 

[crazie.eddie]

Please read his original post...

I have just bought a 190 Litre Juwel trigon aquarium, Which im picking up tomorrow. I currently have a 60 Litre tank & was wondering how i go about adding my fish to the new tank for

So the tank is still NEW.

Ummm. Adding bacteria does not mean it's cycled. There are various ways to cycle a tank; fish, fishless (using ammonia) or silent cycling (using plants). Sorry, I'm not making this up. Please do a google search on cycling.

Please find information on the net how much bacteria is retained when you transfer it from one tank to another. But you sure can find ALLOT of information on tank cycling.

Dannym, please do a google search on cycling a tank. Apparently, there is allot of misinformation on your post, so please just read all the info on cycling a tank, which basically states the same thing, add fish slowly. Adding bacteria only speeds up the process of having more bacteria in a tank, but does not mean all the bacteria is in the tank already and colonized.

 

[alessasavoca]

the tank is not cycling-he is transferring bacteria from one tank to another. That is the whole point of cycling-adding ammonia to create bacteria. Except the bacteria is already there.

The whole of the bacteria is retained simply by moving the old, cycled filter into the new tank. The tank is new, but the filter is not. Hence bacteria=cycled filter.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Also is there a quicker way to do water changes?.. I have this suction tube thing & it takes long enough to water change the 60 litre let alone a 190 litre!

Cheers

need a wider tube!!

 

[crazie.eddie]

Again, please do a Google Search. Here is some more information...

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/cycling.htm

There are therefore certain things which should be done to minimise any stress or even fatalities during the cycling period:

* Add only a few hardy fish at first and feed lightly to minimise wastes.
* Test water regularly and perform water changes to reduce the levels of ammonia and nitrite if they become dangerously high. The bacteria are attached to surfaces, so removing water should not slow down the maturing process.
* If possible, obtain some gravel, tank decor, plants or filter media from a mature tank. This will introduce some of the necessary bacteria and may reduce or even eliminate cycling time.

http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/info...cleAquarium.php

Below quote from here...

Water placed in a new aquarium will be changed quite radically. It takes time for the aquarium to balance, to be able to remove all of the waste material (ammonia) to a less toxic substance (Nitrate). New aquariums generally take about 5 - 7 weeks to able to sustain a full biological load. Thats why you shouldn't just shout "Weeehay!" and chuck in tons of fish at once, it should be a gradual change.

 

[afishdude]

that is if you are starting a cycle. the cycle is already complete in this case.

why do you keep trusting google? does google own fish tanks?

 

[starrynightxxi]

sorry crazy eddie, all the information you are posting is referring to starting a cycle from scratch. if that is the case then you definately should NOT add many fish at once. However because the bacteria is in the filter, and is well established to take care of the waste produced by dannym's fish, then moving it over to the new tank with all the fish will, in fact, cycle the tank immediately. It's common practice on this forum and has never caused any problems. Even if some of the bacteria were lost, it would not be much and would not cause any more problems than if dannym added, say, one or two new fish to his current stocking.

in fact, from your own search...

If possible, obtain some gravel, tank decor, plants or filter media from a mature tank. This will introduce some of the necessary bacteria and may reduce or even eliminate cycling time.

ta da, instant cycle!

 

[afishdude]

lol i was right all along!!!!! score one for the fish dude!

 

[crazie.eddie]

sorry crazy eddie, all the information you are posting is referring to starting a cycle from scratch. if that is the case then you definately should NOT add many fish at once. However because the bacteria is in the filter, and is well established to take care of the waste produced by dannym's fish, then moving it over to the new tank with all the fish will, in fact, cycle the tank immediately. It's common practice on this forum and has never caused any problems. Even if some of the bacteria were lost, it would not be much and would not cause any more problems than if dannym added, say, one or two new fish to his current stocking.

in fact, from your own search...

If possible, obtain some gravel, tank decor, plants or filter media from a mature tank. This will introduce some of the necessary bacteria and may reduce or even eliminate cycling time.

ta da, instant cycle!

It's common

Don't forget, bacteria resides on the substrate. When you only have bacteria in a filter, the tank is not fully cycled. This is why you NEVER want to clean your filter the same time you perform a gravel vac. Why? Becuase you disturb/remove the bacteria colony.

It's very common to use a established filter and/or media from another tank, but you should never just stock the tank fully.
DannyM, sorry for this. Please do your research. Allot of people here are giving misinformation. As we know, this is very common on the net. Do your research, do a google search. Be careful what you hear and ask for them to back up their information if it sounds "fishy". LOL

I've been in the hobby for a long time and I'm sure allot of people here have, but we hear allot of misinformation on the net. Also, be careful what an employee from an LFS/LPS tells you at the store. Allot of their info is usually misinformation.

It's best to research, research, research. Never jump into things as the results can be bad. If unsure, take your time. It will never hurt to take your time, especially when stocking a fish tank.

 

[ashleybrown2]

talking of misinformation, why are you trying to encourage him to eliminate most of the bacteria he has colonized by starving it? We can all cut and paste pages upon pages of how to do a cycle, but the fact is it is cycled. a MINIMAL amount of bacteria colonizes in the gravel, and even if you lost some from the media transferring it, it wont be anywhere near enough to kill a fish. the whole point of cycling is to colonize bacteria on the filter, if you move the filter, you move the bacteria. it will do NO HARM to add all the fish at once in a new tank with an old filter, but it will do harm to not add the fish right away, as adding them later starts a new cycle to replace the dead bacteria.

Ash

 

[alessasavoca]

talking of misinformation, why are you trying to encourage him to eliminate most of the bacteria he has colonized by starving it? We can all cut and paste pages upon pages of how to do a cycle, but the fact is it is cycled. a MINIMAL amount of bacteria colonizes in the gravel, and even if you lost some from the media transferring it, it wont be anywhere near enough to kill a fish. the whole point of cycling is to colonize bacteria on the filter, if you move the filter, you move the bacteria. it will do NO HARM to add all the fish at once in a new tank with an old filter, but it will do harm to not add the fish right away, as adding them later starts a new cycle to replace the dead bacteria.

Ash

exactly what I was gonna type but Ash got there first!

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

- You should fill up a new tank and let it run before adding fish simply to make sure everything is running properly and there are no leaks, and to make sure the heaters etc are adjusted properly.

- Check the water parameters differences between your old tank and the new one to minimize stress.

- The whole bacteria in the substrate thing? Yeah that was mostly back when people used Under Gravel Filters. Yes some bacteria lives on all the surfaces of your tank, but it only takes about 24 hours for the colony to double..so it is fine to just transplant the old filter along with your fish. If gravel was so important for bacterial colonization then please explain how bare bottomed Discus tanks work.

Tanks MATURE, Filters CYCLE. It should be noted however that it may take some time for your new filter to equalize in bacterial population to the old filter so you should wait several weeks before removing the old filter.