Tank Upgrade

[FishyWishie]

After my first 6 months or so of fishkeeping me and the missus are well and truely bitten by the bug

We have

1 x 240L tank (Community)
1 x 155L tank (Guppies)
2 x 60 L tank Fighter and small green neons



Now as part of the living room being redecorated were planning to move the 240L into the dining room and replace it in the living room with a 360L custom made tank (same width just higher and a little wider.

Here in lies the problem Ideally due to the layout of my downstairs the easiest way would be remove fish drain tank down move tank readd fish then when new tank/cabinet arrive move the fish over to there new home.

Whats the easiest way to do this ? theres a fair chunk of fish in the tank although I do own 14 buckets lol I would have friends to help move the tank so the out of tank time could be kept to a minimum.

 

[Uriel]

Personally i would wait till the new tank arrives then I would

1. Drain old tank down to 50%. Then remove all decor plants rocks ect and put them in one or 2 of those buckets.

2. Catch all your fish and either put them in buckets you have or Plastic bags you can get from most LFS if you ask nicely.

3. Finish draining the old tank.

4. Move old tank once empty. If your removing the substrate from bottom of tank a new dustpan and brush is a god send about £2-3 from asda or similar.

5. Put your new tank in place. Add substrate(properly washed), decor and water. Ideally you want the water temp as close to old tank as possible as your heater won't have time to heat it up. Make sure to use a good dechlore on water

6. Put filter from old tank into new tank or transfer media if moving filter is not viable.

7. start acclimisation of fish like you would if they had come from shop.

6. Add your fish an away to go.

It is possible to save water from old tank in a water butt but as long as you have done regular water changes this shouldn't be neccasary.

 

[FishyWishie]

Many thanks Uriel

I do have a second dilema

At the moment the 240L has

Golden Wonder Killie's
German Blue Rams
Keyhole Cichlids
Cardinal Tetra's
Silvertip Tetra's
Diamond Tetra's
Cory/Khuli Loaches

Given the new main tank will be 360L Im debating which fish to keep in the main tank and which to keep in the 2nd tank

Scape will be jungle type using crypts swords Enchindorus Java Fern Dwarf Sag Etc Etc. Im open to doing something different special with the new main tank so hit me with any/all ideas !

 

[waterdrop]

Sure sounds like the two tanks are going to be nice FW (but I'm too sleepy to come up with anything creative ) WD

 

[Aqua Tom]

If the tank is going to be same dimensions as the old one just a lot taller then go for some tall fish. Angels or Discus spring to mind.

 

[OldMan47]

Let me toss in a new thought for you. It is not your question but something I have had to face myself. I find that a larger tank that is simply deeper is not an ideal solution most of the time. A taller tank does look better and definitely puts on a better showing of the fish but a serious drawback is that you can no longer reach the bottom for routine chores. Unless you have been up to your armpits in water and still not reached the bottom of a tank, this may not be an obvious problem to you. I find that I must wait for a water change on one of my tanks simply to plant new plants or to move decorations around because otherwise I simply cannot reach the bottom with my hands. I am aware that tools are made for remote handling of plants and decorations but I find them a poor substitute for my own hands in most situations.
The advice about how to move things has been good from what I have read through but I thought I owed you that insight about considering your ability to reach the bottom.

 

[FishyWishie]

A very valid point OM47 and one I had indeed not fully considered.

The reason for the tank change really wasn't so much to gain volume as opposed to the other half wanted a cabinet that looked more like a piece of furniture than a tank stand and my fav LFS had great deal on custom made tank/stand with the 4ft (120cm) size tank happening to be 360L v the current 240L. The 240L though is to new to discard or sell cheap so its going to become the 2nd main tank

Old is (all in cm)(L)120 x (W)40 x (H)55
New is (all in cm)(L)120 x (W)46 x (H)66

 

[waterdrop]

Well, for FW it sounds like the plan is pretty fixed and there'll be no turning back. Perhaps as a couple though you are at the peak of enjoying the hobby and will have the energy to sustain the extra work for for a period of time and enjoy it! The tanks in your blog certainly are quite a pleasure to look at.

I just want to throw in, for any other beginners reading this though, how much I agree with OM47 on this point! The crossover from "sort of" being able to reach the subsrate, to "no way can I reach the substrate with my hand" causes a lot of moments of despair. Of course you reach for the tools, or you wait for the water change and you have the little step ladder handy but it really does add a dimension of extra work I think. It's one of those things for beginners that's really good to know about from the experience of others rather than being caught in a very expensive surprise!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[FishyWishie]

I agree very much with OM47 and WD's comments and in truth if it wasnt for the fact it will be jungle scaped requiring less (but certainly not no) maintenance I may well not have gone for it. Part of the decision also the lights being on the underside of the wooden lid and not requiring a pendant etc. It has been ordered so indeed no turning back now Im upgrading my filtration to Eheim and using a better planting (non leaching) substrate.


We will be investing in a Python to assist with water changes and we're pretty disciplined with water changes. I have a nice set of aquascaping tools that I get on well with but I agree with OM47 in the fact that while very handy these are not quite as good as placing by hand. I certainly would not have tried this depth of tank as a 1st tank but I do go into this very much with my eyes open as to the additional problems a tank of this nature throws up.

Once the new tank is here I'll revamp my blog (I need to do it anyway in a major way)