As some of you may know, I was lucky enough to pursuade my parents to let me get a bigger tank than my Juwel Rio 240l 
So after much searching on the internet and deliberating on what kind of tank to choose, I came across ND Aquatics. After reading many positive reviews on here, I went ahead with the purchase.
It arrived in mid December but because I only had a Fluval 406 and a Tetratec EX700 on my old tank, I decided to wait until I bought a bigger filter, which was eventually a Fluval FX5. I also had to buy 2 of the Fluval E300w heaters and for lighting I settled on 1 Arcadia Eco-Aqua Tropical 1050mm LED tube
After much research and planning of how I would go about moving everything over, and in what order, I started the process.
Day 1 - Started working on it at approx 3pm
Because I had previously used Argos playsand without any trouble (and its cheap) I decided that this would continue to be my substrate choice for the new setup, so I bought an extra 15kg bag, cleaned and rinsed it and then added it to the new tank. I then transferred about 80% of the sand from my old 240l too. I used a tip I had seen on this forum too, which came in useful as I placed a bowl/plate on the sand to stop it getting disturbed and stirred when I added water above it. It made a massive difference and was nowhere near as cloudy as I had anticipated.
Once I had moved all of the sand accross I then needed to fill the 500l with water. As I had siphoned the sand out of the old one via a water change, I emptied the water collected into the new tank and then filled it all the way up with dechlorinated tapwater. (30+ 10l buckets later)
I then set up my new Fluval FX5 filter, adding old media from the Tetratec and turned the heater on. At about 8pm I had done pretty much all I could for now, so I left the new filter running overnight and allowed the heaters to warm the water up.
Day 2 - Started at 7pm
The next day the temperature was looking alot better, reading 28 degrees on the digitaal heater display and the LCD thermometer.
All I had to do was add the majority of my old tank water, transfer the Fluval 406 over, and then add the fish and decor.
I removed just under half the water, and then added around 200l from my old tank to the new one, leaving the fish with just enough room to swim in. I also fitted the filter and got it up and running without any problems.
Everything was now running fine and all that was needed was to add fish, after I'd turned off the light on the new tank. Due to the water level being so low on my old tank, it made it so much easier to net them, as the fish had nowhere to hide or escape too. I bagged all my fish and acclimitized them for about an hour just to safe. In the meantime I cleaned algae off my rocks and bogwood, before arranging it in the new tank. I then let the fish out to get used to their surrounding and inspect their new home.
I still need to do some sweaking to the layout and will probably buy some more wood and maybe a couple of Amazon Swords to complete the look (unless my Severum decides otherwise
)
Anyway, I hope I haven't bored everyone to death. I'll be adding lots of photos tonight and tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!!!
Here's some more pics.
So after much searching on the internet and deliberating on what kind of tank to choose, I came across ND Aquatics. After reading many positive reviews on here, I went ahead with the purchase. It arrived in mid December but because I only had a Fluval 406 and a Tetratec EX700 on my old tank, I decided to wait until I bought a bigger filter, which was eventually a Fluval FX5. I also had to buy 2 of the Fluval E300w heaters and for lighting I settled on 1 Arcadia Eco-Aqua Tropical 1050mm LED tube
After much research and planning of how I would go about moving everything over, and in what order, I started the process.
Day 1 - Started working on it at approx 3pm
Because I had previously used Argos playsand without any trouble (and its cheap) I decided that this would continue to be my substrate choice for the new setup, so I bought an extra 15kg bag, cleaned and rinsed it and then added it to the new tank. I then transferred about 80% of the sand from my old 240l too. I used a tip I had seen on this forum too, which came in useful as I placed a bowl/plate on the sand to stop it getting disturbed and stirred when I added water above it. It made a massive difference and was nowhere near as cloudy as I had anticipated.
Once I had moved all of the sand accross I then needed to fill the 500l with water. As I had siphoned the sand out of the old one via a water change, I emptied the water collected into the new tank and then filled it all the way up with dechlorinated tapwater. (30+ 10l buckets later)
I then set up my new Fluval FX5 filter, adding old media from the Tetratec and turned the heater on. At about 8pm I had done pretty much all I could for now, so I left the new filter running overnight and allowed the heaters to warm the water up.
Day 2 - Started at 7pm
The next day the temperature was looking alot better, reading 28 degrees on the digitaal heater display and the LCD thermometer.
All I had to do was add the majority of my old tank water, transfer the Fluval 406 over, and then add the fish and decor.
I removed just under half the water, and then added around 200l from my old tank to the new one, leaving the fish with just enough room to swim in. I also fitted the filter and got it up and running without any problems.
Everything was now running fine and all that was needed was to add fish, after I'd turned off the light on the new tank. Due to the water level being so low on my old tank, it made it so much easier to net them, as the fish had nowhere to hide or escape too. I bagged all my fish and acclimitized them for about an hour just to safe. In the meantime I cleaned algae off my rocks and bogwood, before arranging it in the new tank. I then let the fish out to get used to their surrounding and inspect their new home.
I still need to do some sweaking to the layout and will probably buy some more wood and maybe a couple of Amazon Swords to complete the look (unless my Severum decides otherwise
)Anyway, I hope I haven't bored everyone to death. I'll be adding lots of photos tonight and tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!!!
Here's some more pics.
