Old Aquarium -> New Aquarium, Do I Need To Cycle?

[BrassMan]

Hi,

I'm about to purchase a new 40G tank, I currently have a mature 10G tank with 18 small fish in and I'm wondering if it's possible to speed up cycling the new tank by transfering everthing from the old tank (except the gravel as I want sand in the new tank to keep my Cory's happy) or do I need to keep the old tank going while the new tank cycles.

What I'm thinking is that if I transfer all the water and the filter from the old tank across to the new one then that might do the job as all those good bacteria will come with the filter, this means I'd then be moving the fish in at the same time, I guess I'd need to run the old filter along with the new tanks filter as the old filter will be too small for an 40G tank.

Does this sound reasonable or should I do the full cycle on the new tank before moving the fish from the old?

It's probably an absurd idea but I'm very new to all this so any help would be much appreciated

Thanks.

 

[pkillur]

You might be pushing it a bit. I'd definitely at least do a 3-4 gallon dump of old tank water that you siphoned out of the gravel. It'll help move some corroding crap and bacteria into the new sand. I'd also get some pre-cultured bacteria from your LFS (make sure it stays semi-refrigerated!) and squirt it into your sand. But, I would let it go a week or two just to be safe.

 

[BrassMan]

You might be pushing it a bit. I'd definitely at least do a 3-4 gallon dump of old tank water that you siphoned out of the gravel. It'll help move some corroding crap and bacteria into the new sand. I'd also get some pre-cultured bacteria from your LFS (make sure it stays semi-refrigerated!) and squirt it into your sand. But, I would let it go a week or two just to be safe.

Thanks, when you say dump 3-4 gallons from the old tank do you mean dump it into the new tank, still getting my head around all the jargon here

 

[Tolak]

I do this with bare bottomed tanks all the time. 10 gallon full of fish, transfered to a 29, later split up between a pair of 29's & so on. The only difference is you have gravel.

Set up the new tank, filter, and heater, & fill with fresh dechlored water, making sure it is the same temperature, pH & so on as the old tank. Add the old filter & fish, and put a good amount of the mature gravel in an old stocking, making sure to place it in the tank where there is water circulation. This will help to prevent any ammonia or nitrite spikes, and help transfer nitrifying bacteria to the new filter.

 

[BrassMan]

I do this with bare bottomed tanks all the time. 10 gallon full of fish, transfered to a 29, later split up between a pair of 29's & so on. The only difference is you have gravel.

Set up the new tank, filter, and heater, & fill with fresh dechlored water, making sure it is the same temperature, pH & so on as the old tank. Add the old filter & fish, and put a good amount of the mature gravel in an old stocking, making sure to place it in the tank where there is water circulation. This will help to prevent any ammonia or nitrite spikes, and help transfer nitrifying bacteria to the new filter.

Thanks Tolak,

It's going to be a fun weekend, hopefully I'll be picking the tank up in the morning, then I'm anticipating an afternoon of sand washing. With any luck by Sunday evening I'll have it all setup.

 

[alanchown]

Hi,

I'm about to purchase a new 40G tank, I currently have a mature 10G tank with 18 small fish in and I'm wondering if it's possible to speed up cycling the new tank by transfering everthing from the old tank (except the gravel as I want sand in the new tank to keep my Cory's happy) or do I need to keep the old tank going while the new tank cycles.

What I'm thinking is that if I transfer all the water and the filter from the old tank across to the new one then that might do the job as all those good bacteria will come with the filter, this means I'd then be moving the fish in at the same time, I guess I'd need to run the old filter along with the new tanks filter as the old filter will be too small for an 40G tank.

Does this sound reasonable or should I do the full cycle on the new tank before moving the fish from the old?

It's probably an absurd idea but I'm very new to all this so any help would be much appreciated

Thanks.

Your old filter has the bacteria to cope with the existing fish load. I can't see any problem doing what you suggest. Don't add any new fish for a while. If possible it may be possible to reduce the flow of the old filter over a few weeks as the new filter matures and picks up the load, sort of a gradual swap.

Alan

 

[BrassMan]

Thanks everyone,

I got it all set up last weekend and so far the fish seem happy, Ammonia is staying at 0 so I guess the filter from the old tank is doing it's job. I had a small NO2 spike ( 0.8mg/l ) a couple of days ago and did a 50% water change which dropped it back to around 0.3mg/l. I'm a little worried that the NO3 levels don't seem to be rising, maybe the plants are sucking it up as soon as it's produced?

Here's a picture, the tanks a Fluvel 1200, 216 ltrs (48 gal, 57 US gal), Fluvel 4+ filter (new), Fluvel 1+ filter (from old tank) and 300W heater.

Paul.

 

[samyboy]

looks real nice anyway and really clear you must of done a good job washing the sand

 

[shelaghfishface]

that looks lovely paul ditto the bit about washing the sand