Cycling A New Tank *another Update*

[CruX]

Hi, I currently have 2 24X12X15'' tanks (not 18'' as I said previously, the clank that I am) with neons, cories, black widows, 3 Odessa barbs and a lone molly. I plan to upgrade to a bigger tank very soon and obviously want the new aquarium up and run ASAP. After doing some research and consulting a couple of LFS owners and an elderly fish keeping mentor I have formulated the following plan.

1. Remove the occupants of the top tank into the bottom tank.
2. Set up new aquarium's background, substrate and ornaments etc.
3. Set up the filter from the old top tank into the new tank and syphon the water from the old top into the new, dechlorinate the top up water (this will be a lot of top up as I hope to get a 350L tank)

4 Wait for the tank to cycle nicely then transfer the occupants to the new home, I am reluctant to add more occupants until I am sure the current stock are settled in nicely although my LFS suggests that because of the vast upgrade less can go wrong and adding a few more occupants immediantly would not cause a spike, I am wondering if he says this to make me buy more fish sooner. He has offered to test the water first and has said he won't sell me any fish until he is happy with it.


My question is : Will this plan work? Am I carrying out activities that will actually have no effect on the speed of cycling the tank?

The reason I ask is I am under pressure to have the new tank in and running ASAP as we have a 4 day old baby, a 2 year old toddler and a 5 year old, so the 2 setups side by side would take a lot of their play space (apparantly)

Any advice would be greatly recieved.

Information that would help you help me:

New tank (possibly): Juwel Trigon 350

Inmates: 8 Neons, 5 Cories, 3 Odessa Barbs, 5 Black widows, and a lone Molly


When I am set up, I plan to have lots of small fish, no monsters for me (unless I am sure they won't munch my stock) I am happy with Tetras, Dannios and non fin nipping Barbs as well as assorted cories. I may also replace my poor bristle nose catfish that got himself wedged to death.


Again, many thanks for the assistance.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The only problem I see is with item 4 "wait for tank to cycle nicely". It will only cycle with a source of ammonia, you know. I would do stage 1-3 then transfer the occupants straigthaway before the bacteria you have moved into the new tank start dying away from lack of food. Leave tank to settle for a couple of weeks, and then add new fish slowly.

 

[CruX]

Excellent, well that would please the Mrs. Is it definitely worth while using the old filter and the water to start off with? Or will that not aid it?

Thanks for the speedy reply.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Is it definitely worth while using the old filter and the water to start off with? Or will that not aid it?

Yes, certainly. And any gravel that might still have bacteria in it. But the filter is the most important.

 

[CruX]

Is it definitely worth while using the old filter and the water to start off with? Or will that not aid it?

Yes, certainly. And any gravel that might still have bacteria in it. But the filter is the most important.

Excellent cheers, another question, the new tank comes with a built in filter, do I run the new filter the same time as I put the old one in? Or do I let the old one run for a few days?

Thanks again for the info.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Is it definitely worth while using the old filter and the water to start off with? Or will that not aid it?

Yes, certainly. And any gravel that might still have bacteria in it. But the filter is the most important.

Excellent cheers, another question, the new tank comes with a built in filter, do I run the new filter the same time as I put the old one in? Or do I let the old one run for a few days?

Thanks again for the info.

Run the two together.

 

[CruX]

Is it definitely worth while using the old filter and the water to start off with? Or will that not aid it?

Yes, certainly. And any gravel that might still have bacteria in it. But the filter is the most important.

Excellent cheers, another question, the new tank comes with a built in filter, do I run the new filter the same time as I put the old one in? Or do I let the old one run for a few days?

Thanks again for the info.

Run the two together.

As I thought, but I am glad I checked anyway. Thanks again for the info.

 

[CruX]

So I got my 2nd hand Trigon 350, it is immaculate and exactly what I want. Unfortunately all the filter media did not come with the setup. I think everything is there apart from the carbon and the white spnges. My problem is this. How does it all fit together once I get the sponges? What parts should I have, is there an online step by step guide to setting it up.

Currently my internal filter from the old tank is filtering the tank as planned but idealy I needed the juwel filter to run too.

Many thanks

 

[cs091]

So I got my 2nd hand Trigon 350, it is immaculate and exactly what I want. Unfortunately all the filter media did not come with the setup. I think everything is there apart from the carbon and the white spnges. My problem is this. How does it all fit together once I get the sponges? What parts should I have, is there an online step by step guide to setting it up.

http/www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/trigon.htm download the manual - it should tell you all you need to know!

By the way don't bother with the carbon sponge unless you are clearing medications from the water. Put another blue sponge in instead.

CS

 

[CruX]

So I got my 2nd hand Trigon 350, it is immaculate and exactly what I want. Unfortunately all the filter media did not come with the setup. I think everything is there apart from the carbon and the white spnges. My problem is this. How does it all fit together once I get the sponges? What parts should I have, is there an online step by step guide to setting it up.

http/www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/trigon.htm download the manual - it should tell you all you need to know!

By the way don't bother with the carbon sponge unless you are clearing medications from the water. Put another blue sponge in instead.

CS

Cool, I was told to put it in to clear metals from the water.

How many should I have in there in total? If this question is answered in in the manual please ignore me as I haven't gone to read it yet.

Thanks for your help.

 

[cs091]

Cool, I was told to put it in to clear metals from the water.

How many should I have in there in total? If this question is answered in in the manual please ignore me as I haven't gone to read it yet.

Your water dechlorinator/conditioner should deal with metals.

I've got a Rio 180 and there's room for 6 sponges (plus the thin white pad) in that, but I've got 4 in plus some ceramic media from my little hospital tank to keep it cycled. There's stacks of room.

CS

 

[CruX]

Just an update and a request for opinions.

I have been cycling the tank as above, and my readings were all reading 0. I had to order a new kit so I have been using teststrips (not good I know) Yesterday I decided to pop into my not so LFS for a look round and a chat. I was advised that my new tank would have been technically cycled fairly quick due to using water and filter media from my old tanks and big water changes, I was then told the thing to do now is get some more fish in there to get the levels rising. I was then put under pressure by the mrs as she objected to driving an hour and coming home empty handed, next thing I know we are on the way home with a load of fish.

Tested the levels now and while the ammonia reads 0, my NO2 reads .25 PPM and my NO3 reads 160PPM.

I am totally gutted and annoyed with myself for letting this happen, I plan to do a large water change very soon but I have a nasty feeling I will wake up with a bunch of floaters in the morning.

Any advice apart from don't bow to peer pressure?

 

[CruX]

OK, 100litre water change which is just over 25%, an hour wait and now it reads:

Ammonia 0 PPM
No2 <0.25 PPM (the colour shows between 0.25 and 0 so I am guessing that means somewhere in the middle)
No3 20 PPM

PH is now 6.9 from 6.8. I have checked my water and it stands at 6.9. We live in a lime stone area so I don't know if that makes a difference. I have bogwood in the tank so I am guessing that might lower the PH slightly?

I plan to do another large water change tomorrow, possibly as much as 50% hopefully things will look better after that.