Tomorrow's the BIG day!!!

[Nina7777]

Hi everyone-
Tomorrow(saturday) is the BIG day! I'm getting my 55 Gallon Tank! (I've been waiting for 4 months!)
I just want to make sure that my plan is going to work!
Here are my plans:
I have been running my Emperor 400, on my 30 gallon tank for about 3 months now. The bio wheels are dark and fully cultured!

So tomorrow(saturday) i plan to set up the new tank, put in new gravel, then transfer half of my old gravel and mix it in. Then add decorations (some new some old) Then I am going to transfer my filter and heater, and half the water from the 30 gallon. I was told that as long as the water if the same temp I can move my fish over the same day!
I just want to make sure that is ok, and that hopefully there will be no fatalities.

Then I plan to add new gravel to the rest of the old stuff that is in the 30 gallon, put in decorations and heater and filter......Now my question is, I plan on getting Mbuna's (Trust me I've researched alot and am going to give it a try with confidence) Should i get them on sunday or should I wait longer than that? I mean i dont want the bacteria in the gravel to die. So is it ok to go out the next day and buy the fish?!?!? I have been soaking the "new" filters sponges in the 30 gallon for about a week or so.

Please Help! I want this upgrade to go as smoothly as possible!

Thanks soooooooooo much!

 

[Paradise_Gourami]

Awsome!

 

[silver]

I would wait 7 - 10 days for your mini-cycle to be over. You will probably still have one regardless of all the stuff you are doing.......I did!! It was a VERY small cycle but still a cycle none-the-less. At least wait a few days...........


Just My Opinion....

Good Luck!

Silver

 

[Bol]

Sounds like a good plan. The only suggestion/reminder I might add is if your new gravel and old gravel are the same color, you may want to spread all your old gravel on top of the new gravel, rather than mixing it in. May not matter, but it might help a little bit, keeping as much bqcteria near the water as possible.

I don't know much about cichlids, but if you do decide to wait to put them in the new tank, then (as you probably already know), you should have some sort of fish in the tank, so the bacteria doesn't die.

 

[lucky62]

sounds like a good plan ,we just did something similar yesterday as a mater of fact [ hope it works ], do you have any fish you could leave in to keep the biofiltration going if you can't get your fish right away ?
Just keep testing your water for a while anyway . Be ready for water changes if need be .
It is like bol said probably a good idea to put the gravel from your existing tank in after the new gravel , on top of the new gravel .As long as your 30 was healthy you didn' need to rinse anything , isn't that great . Good Luck !!

 

[jams.alaskan]

You've done some great planning. And looks like you are getting some pretty great advice. I'll leave you to it and best of luck. Send us pictures soon!

ALASKA

 

[JAYJT]

I have done the same kind of thing on a much smaller scale! and I put new tank mates in the new aquarium the same day as setting it up and that was 4 months ago and there all still healthy!

 

[DrOizo]

Sounds like good precautions. a mini cycle might occur because of all the crud you will stir up when you move the gravel. Good luck! I really want to upsize my poor little 10 gallon

 

[Nina7777]

Thanks for all the great advice! Trust me i'm prepared for the mini cycle and will be checking readings often. I am not using the same colored gravel, however I do not mind putting old gravel on top of the new, has the new gravel is black and will look quite cool with my old blue gravel.
And I will definately leave a bucket with sihpon hose near the tank, in case of any unexpected speedy water changes need to be done.
Thanks again for all the encouragement and I will definately let everyone know it goes, and also try to get some pics up as soon as possible!

This is sooo exciting! Its like getting 3 new tanks!!!!! hehehehe (my 10 gallon is still cycling)

 

[Doggfather]

good luck with it!!!

 

[jams.alaskan]

If you don't want to mix the gravel you could "seed" your new gravel by putting old in nylons and tying them off, add them to the tank for a month or so and then remove them when the new gravel has established it's own bacteria. Just a thought.

ALASKA

 

[lucky62]

Sooo ,did you make your move , we did a 30 and 55 , used plants , rocks , pvc pipes{gaves], water and some gravel from various established tanks mixing old with new . Been checking for amonia 2 times each day , with any luck we may be fine . Each day I add a few more things from the other tanks . I hate to sound negative but if we expect the worst , at least we'll be on guard . Good luck Nina

 

[Nina7777]

Hey everyone- Well we bought the tank and stand yesterday! unfortunately the stand took 6 hours to put together so the big move is this morning. I have butterflies in my stomache though because i am nervous about my balas! They are skiddish and scaredy cats that i am afraid something is going to happen to them and i can't decide wether or not to leave everybody in the tank with the filter running while i remove the gravel or to put everyone in buckets! Any suggestions on that one?

 

[lucky62]

If you can work around them , without scaring them too much , why not leave them in ,Your hands and arms will be clean [exept for fish water ]Just make sure that any heavy decor , if you have won't fall over possibly on a fish , flat fish not funny.
Are you going to use the water from the established tank as well[ oh , I see you are] , if so use as much as you can . Add to to preconditioned water , I think that would be best for bacteria colonies .

Oh , you might want to take your heater out first , if you have'nt done so already , The glass kind can break , If it's plugged in ............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz not good . I always look at the bright side . Lotsa luck .

p.s If your are using the established filter don't do any thing to it , not for a while any way .

 

[Nina7777]

well so far so good. I ended up being able to move the filter heater decorations and plants over without scaring the balas too much. But i had to move them to the new tank before removing some of the gravel. I ended up putting the old gravel in 4 stockings spread over the tank. I also ended up leaving only the old gravel in the 30 gallon. so there shouldn't be much of a cycle over there. I went to the lfs and bought 4 cichlids. they are seemed extremely healthy at the store and are exploring their new tank happily.
my old fish are all acting normal except for my convict wo lost alot of her color, and is hiding alot. Hopefully she will be ok though. My balas seem much mor ehappier in the new tnak and arent as skidish whenever someone approaches it!

I just hope everyone will be ok! I tried to take pics, however my camera is broken so i will have to wait untill i can get it fixed! Thanks again to everyone who put in their input and best wishes!