Converting A Tank From Coldwater To Tropical

[crmpicco]

I have, this morning, moved my two goldfish from my tank to a pond and I am now looking to convert my tank to tropical for tropical fish.

I have a heater that I used last winter to regulate the temperate and I also have a Fluval 3 Plus filter that has served my goldfish well in the time they have lived in this tank.

I probably won't get the chance to get my tropical fish for a week or so, so i'm wondering what I need to do to make the tank safe and habitable for new tropical fish.

Do I need to do a 100% water change? Do I need to replace/renew the filter media? Do I need to take out the live plants (not potted) I have in the tank? (Should I put these in the pond?) Do I need to clean any decorative ornaments/rocks in the tank?

I'm not sure what tropical fish i'm going to get, but as before, I don't want an overcrowded tank and I would prefer to build them up over time rather than spend £50 loading fish into my tank. I have had my two goldfish (one shubunkin and one comet) in my 70ltr tank for a while now and they are doing well and I put that down to a lack of overcrowding. Any recommendations for what fish to get to start me off?

Cheers,
Picco
twitter.com/crmpicco

 

[mattybee]

Water Testing Kit to ensure the waters safe for the fish, this will also tell you the PH and GH of your water so you know what fish are suitable for your water. Also some solution to ensure the tap water you are putting in is free from Chlorine and metals.

A theomomenter as well - if you dont have one

 

[Livewire88]

Hi,

You may aswell do a 100% (or as near as possible) just to give your new fish fresh water to start with, due to dealing with the huge waste producers that gold fish are your filter should be nice and mature and easily be able cope with the bio load created by tropical fish (just keep an eye on water stats to be sure). Just add your heater get the fresh water up to temp and your ready to add some fish.

Depending on what plants you have you may be able to leave them in but they may be plants more suited to cold water, also giving the decor a good clean wont cause any issues.

Good luck

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hi there! Well you don't actually need to do much. The main difference between the two is the temperature of the tank!

Now what is essential here is that you keep the bacteria in your filter alive until you get more fish. So keep your filter switched on and running and also go out and get some household ammonia (homebase carry it) ASAP (like today!) which you will add to the tank to "feed" the bacteria. If they die off, you're going to end up going through loads of hassle lol. Use the calculator at the top of this page to work out how much ammonia to add to get the concentration up to 2ppm.

Regarding the tank, if it were me I would take the oppurtunity to give the tank a good clean. Wash the gravel etc. as goldfish are messy little....

But don't touch your filter media at all, if you want to rinse the filters out, do so in old tank water not tap water, this kills off your good bacteria. Then while you are cleaning the tank make sure you keep your filter soaking in some old tank water until you've refilled the tank with fresh dechlorinated water. Don't let chlorinated water touch your filter.

When you are ready to get more fish, do a very big water change, like 100% and get the temperature up to 25-26c - it'll vary depending on what fish you get.

Regarding which fish to get, I recommend going into you LFS, seeing which ones you like the look of, then coming home and researching them on here. People will give you advice on what and how many you can have in your tank

Edit: I just wrote all of that like you were a complete beginner, just realised that was presumptuous of me - please don't take offence if I was way off-track

 

[Livewire88]

Following on from what Alm0stAwesome has said, if you cant get hold of any ammonia or if you are going to add fish quite soon just pop 1 or 2 crushed up fish food flakes into the tank each day, this will help keep the bacteria fed intill you add fish.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I only wonder about the delay in how long it will take for the food to start breaking down to produce much ammonia. But I know that's getting pretty sciency and there's plenty of debate about how hardy bacteria are - which I couldn't even start to get involved in!

 

[Livewire88]

I only wonder about the delay in how long it will take for the food to start breaking down to produce much ammonia. But I know that's getting pretty sciency and there's plenty of debate about how hardy bacteria are - which I couldn't even start to get involved in!

As long as you give it a headstart by crushing it up it shouldnt take very long to disolve and be carried round the water column.

 

[crmpicco]

Water Testing Kit to ensure the waters safe for the fish, this will also tell you the PH and GH of your water so you know what fish are suitable for your water. Also some solution to ensure the tap water you are putting in is free from Chlorine and metals.

A theomomenter as well - if you dont have one

I do need to get a new thermometer, the last one broke a few weeks ago and I haven't replaced it as yet. I always use Interpet TapSafe to de-chlorinate the water.

Hi,

You may aswell do a 100% (or as near as possible) just to give your new fish fresh water to start with, due to dealing with the huge waste producers that gold fish are your filter should be nice and mature and easily be able cope with the bio load created by tropical fish (just keep an eye on water stats to be sure). Just add your heater get the fresh water up to temp and your ready to add some fish.

Depending on what plants you have you may be able to leave them in but they may be plants more suited to cold water, also giving the decor a good clean wont cause any issues.

Good luck

Cool, i'll ensure to do a 100% water change just before I put them in. I think it's likely to be next weekend at the earliest, maybe even longer than that before I get a chance to get to P@H to buy fish. I've just taken out one of the ornaments to give it a clean, i'll do the same with the rest. I assume a full API kit water test before adding the fish is vital?

Hi there! Well you don't actually need to do much. The main difference between the two is the temperature of the tank!

Now what is essential here is that you keep the bacteria in your filter alive until you get more fish. So keep your filter switched on and running and also go out and get some household ammonia (homebase carry it) ASAP (like today!) which you will add to the tank to "feed" the bacteria. If they die off, you're going to end up going through loads of hassle lol. Use the calculator at the top of this page to work out how much ammonia to add to get the concentration up to 2ppm.

Regarding the tank, if it were me I would take the oppurtunity to give the tank a good clean. Wash the gravel etc. as goldfish are messy little....

But don't touch your filter media at all, if you want to rinse the filters out, do so in old tank water not tap water, this kills off your good bacteria. Then while you are cleaning the tank make sure you keep your filter soaking in some old tank water until you've refilled the tank with fresh dechlorinated water. Don't let chlorinated water touch your filter.

When you are ready to get more fish, do a very big water change, like 100% and get the temperature up to 25-26c - it'll vary depending on what fish you get.

Regarding which fish to get, I recommend going into you LFS, seeing which ones you like the look of, then coming home and researching them on here. People will give you advice on what and how many you can have in your tank

Edit: I just wrote all of that like you were a complete beginner, just realised that was presumptuous of me - please don't take offence if I was way off-track

No, don't worry about that In terms of tropical fish i *am* a complete beginner. I've been keeping fish for a number of years, but these have been more or less limited to Black Moors, Comets and Shubunkins.

I'm actually going away for a few days, so if I don't get the chance to buy ammonia before going away will the odd pinch of goldfish flakes suffice to keep the bacteria fed and alive. As advised, the filter will be running 24/7 as normal.

P@H do a traffic-light system for fish selection, where green fish are safe community-like fish...those are the fish i'm interested in. I'm not keen on having to replace fish on a regular basis as they are not sociable and are causing harm/stress to others.

Following on from what Alm0stAwesome has said, if you cant get hold of any ammonia or if you are going to add fish quite soon just pop 1 or 2 crushed up fish food flakes into the tank each day, this will help keep the bacteria fed intill you add fish.

Cheers - do you think the goldfish flakes will suffice in the absence of ammonia? I'll be sure to crush it up before adding it in.

 

[crmpicco]

When doing my 100% water change should I be de-chlorinating the water that is added in?

 

[crmpicco]

Also, what temperature should I set the heater to once the new water is in?

 

[fluttermoth]

When doing my 100% water change should I be de-chlorinating the water that is added in?

Yes, absolutely! Chlorine will kill off your filter bacteria.

Also, what temperature should I set the heater to once the new water is in?

Depends on what tropicals you want to keep, but around 24°C/76°F is good for most. Fish food takes a few days to rot, and carries on rotting for a few days as well, so should feed your filter while you're away.

 

[crmpicco]

When doing my 100% water change should I be de-chlorinating the water that is added in?

Yes, absolutely! Chlorine will kill off your filter bacteria.

Also, what temperature should I set the heater to once the new water is in?

Depends on what tropicals you want to keep, but around 24°C/76°F is good for most. Fish food takes a few days to rot, and carries on rotting for a few days as well, so should feed your filter while you're away.

I have just done a full water check test with my API tester kit and these are my readings:

pH - 7.6
(High) pH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm

I am looking to put my tropical fish in over the next few days. Do these readings suggest that my tank is in a habitable position for them?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A 0 nitrate reading suggests lies, by either you or your more likely your test kit.

You literally need to bash the nitrate bottles to hell and back before adding the reagents to the test tubes, as the active ingredients fall out of suspension and settle on the bottle floor.

 

[crmpicco]

Ah, ok. I'll re-test the nitrate and see what the reading is. I did shake it vigorously but if I need to try again I will.

Do you think there could be an issue with the cycling?

I've been feeding the tank/filter a pinch of flakes every day.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Hmmm, the "adding fish food" cycling technique is not that reliable...

You don't know how long it will take for the food to break down and release ammonia or how much ammonia it will release.

Adding bottled ammonia gives you a known concentration to start with, enabling you to guage where your tank system is at much more accurately. Dosing ammonia to maintain ~4ppm is typical.

The water in your tank during the cycling phase needs to be dechlorinated, chlorine kills bacteria.