Transfering From T10 Gallon To 28 Gallon!

[Johndus656]

Hello, i am transferring my fish from a 10 gallon tank to a 28 gallon tank. My problem is i need to keep the 10 gallon running because i am gonna give it away to my gf. And i dont want to have to cycle the whole 28 or 10 gallon because of media transfer. What should i do?

 

[Tolak]

What type, make & model of filter are you running on the 10 gallon, as well as the 28 gallon? What type, and how many fish do you have, and plan on transferring or keeping in each tank?

 

[Johndus656]

i have an aquaclear 20 in my ten gallon and i am just running a little 10 gallon terta to clean up the dust from the gravel in the 28 gallon. i plan on getting a aquaclear 50 for the 28 gallon. I was wondering if i cut the sponge in half from the aqua clear 20 and put it in the 28 gallon, if that would work and maybe some gravel. i plan on putting 1 pleco, 3 tetras one molly and platy. thats all for now. all the fish are moving to the new tank and my gf wants to put goldfish in the ten.

 

[Tolak]

There are a couple of things you could do. You could move everything from the 10 to the 28, fish, existing AC20, and decorations, and let the new AC50 run along side the old for a few weeks. At this point remove the old smaller AC20, keep the media wet, and put it back on the 10 gallon when you are ready for fish. Before you do this, don't feed the fish for 20 hours, and feed lightly for the next week, about 1/3 normal. This will prevent any spikes.

If you are itching to get the 10 gallon up & running you could use half the sponge, again, the same fasting & feeding routine would apply. Remember to keep the media wet, if it dries out you will lose nitrifying bacteria.

Goldfish are actually cold water pond fish, get quite large and are very messy. A 10 gallon is way to small you need 30 gallons for the first fish, and 10 gallons for every additional fish beyond that. Platys look similar to goldfish, don't get anywhere near as large, and come in a large variety of colors. A fish such as this would be more suited for a 10 gallon tank.

 

[Johndus656]

thanks a lot i will do this starting tonight, i will put everything in the 28 gallon tonight, i was just wondering, is it ok if i put the fish in the 28 gallon, there have been no fish in it but the ammonia is around 1, if i put everything in it tonight except the fish will the fish be ok with no filter running for one night? or should i put them all in there tonight. Just letting you know also is that the water in the 28 gallon inst the same temp as the 10, about a 8 degree difference. I'm not sure but wont this harm the fish?

 

[Tolak]

Do not move the filter wihout moving the fish. Unless you have ammonia in your tap water, or have chloramine treated tap water the ammonia level in the new tank should be zero if there haven't been any fish in there. If you are using a water treatment that deals with chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia the level of ammonia you are seeing is actually ammonium, and nothing to worry about. If the water treatment doesn't deal with ammonia, either get one that does, as you will be needing it, or do move the filter over without the fish for a couple of hours.

You need a source of ammonia for the nitrifying bacteria in the filter, moving the fish or filter independently will result in no ammo to feed the filter, and no bio filtration for the fish. The fish may or may not be ok overnight, I wouldn't risk it if at all possible.

Remove some water from the 28 gallon, and add hot or cold water accordingly to match the temperature they are coming from more closely. Don't forget to add dechlor to the water treatment.