Going From 20Gallon To 60 Gallon

[Stoty]

Hi. I currently have a planted 20gallon community tank. I wanna transfer the fish into a 60 gallon. What steps could i take to get this done? the filtration for the new tank is a biowheel and takes totally diff media than my current power filter. Thanks.

 

[Stoty]

oh. i also have gravel now and am converting to sand.

 

[Geoff-]

if you can't cut the media up to seed the new filter, run the old filter in the new tank for a month or two to give the bacteria a chance to populate the new biowheel.

i would also dose the biowheel directly with a bacterial supplement to help it along eg stability.

 

[Stoty]

actually i can cut it up. i didnt think about that. thanks! The biowheel comes with 2 empty cartridges for optional media. I also changed my mind about sand. I dont want to scratch my glass when scraping algae. so how should i go about this? Do i put all of the water and substrate and fish from my 20 gallon into my 60 gallon along with 200% new water and new substrate? Will that be too much of a shock for the fish?

 

[Stoty]

could i just plug in the old filter and run it along with my biowheel? I want to make sure I am doing everything right. I dont want to stress the fish or have them die.

Contents of old tank:
1 pair of fully grown swordtails
3 juvi swordtails
9 neons
5 peppered corys
2 ottos
4 gold barbs
1 young mystery snail
1 baby mystery snail

java moss
banana plants
creeping charlie
anarichis (sp?)

3 pieces of slate
1 med driftwood log
2 greco statues
2 rock caves


I would like to get this done asap because i dont have enough room for two tanks in my apartment. Thanks!

 

[@ombomb]

could i just plug in the old filter and run it along with my biowheel?

yes, that would work well

 

[Stoty]

Thanks. So what is the exact procedure in doing this?

 

[laura120381]

only thing i would say is that corys prefer sand!! other than that, sounds good!!

 

[Stoty]

yeah i know. I am just afriad i may scratch the glass with sand while cleaning algae off of the glass. sand is much cheaper as well. Thanks.

 

[@ombomb]

Thanks. So what is the exact procedure in doing this?

exactly what are you tanking from the old tank to the new one (besides fish and filter)

if you are using new substrate i would just get the new tank filled and up to the right temperature, move the old filter across to the new tank, bag the fish and acclimatise them as normal

 

[Stoty]

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP AND INPUT PEOPLE!

I would like to use some if not all of the old substrate with new substrate as well. My substrate is currently gravel. Would like sand but i know it is more work and i am afraid of scratching the glass. I am not sure what to do with the plants and how they would hold up in a new tank (and root in sand). I have creeping charlie (jenny), anacharies (sp?), banana plants, and java moss. I am also somewhat concerned about my ottos as i know they are fragile fish.

I may just keep the fish in the 20 gallon ,now that i think about, it and use old media to help the cycle. I want this 60 gallon tank to be the home of a green terror when the water is right. I guess i will use some of the substrate from my current tank as well as the driftwood and some other decor i have in there. I could also buy a few hardy tetras to help speed things up. Would feeder goldfish be a good cycle fish? I can get them for 10 cents each. lol. just curious.

 

[Tizer]

Whats the rush? going to die soon?