Upsizing From A 3foot To A 6 Foot

[bonez]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone can provide advice on moving from a 3 foot tank to a 6 foot tank. Both are 2 foot high and 1 foot in width. I will need to move my fishys into the new tank almost immediately as I do not have room for both.

My current setup:

1x Red Forest Jewel (1/2 inch)
1x electric yellow (1 inch) will not grow. Had for 7 months any ideas???
1x Clown Loach(2 inch)
1x Lombardi (1.5 inch)
1x silver shark (3 inch)
1x plecto (1/2 inch) ( Not sure which one is brown with white spots)
1x Melanochromis (1 inch) (Black with blue strips)
1x zebrathingy (2 inch) ( White body black strips and red belly) maybe Astatilapia Latifasciata
1x venustus (3 inch long)
1x blue yellow thingy (2.5 inch) blue body yellow fins with black strips could be Oto Lithobates Sulphur

Tank current running 250w Jebo heater aquaclear 50, Undergravel filter with carbon and foam, one air ring and live plants
Tank Size 3ft*1ft*2ft 89.7 Gallons

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[davidblackson]

a 6ft tank takes up to a month to fully cycle enough for your fish to survive i would use the water and substrate from your 3 foot, more heat and filtration will be required good luck though

 

[puppyjess123]

By the way i think clown loaches and sivler sharks are meant to be kept in groups

 

[emzyp]

By the way i think clown loaches and sivler sharks are meant to be kept in groups

yes youre are right, they feel more secure in larger groups

 

[jonny_dw]

Could you not use the filter or filter media from your current tank?

 

[england]

what it sounds like your going to have to do is,
move the 3ft somewhere temp, like your bedroom,hall,anywhere, then set up your new 6ft, you have a new filter?
as your running an undergravel filter you will have to start afresh id say, if you can find anyone in your local area to donate you some mature media, then please do so

 

[bonez]

Thx for the replays

The size foot tank will be brand new new filter ect so yes I will have to cycle it. I guess I will have to move the 3 foot into the study (It will have to sit in the middle of the room while the new one cycles.)

I will be buying some more silver sharks and clown lochs once the new tank is running (Sadly there partners died) Well the silver shark was eaten by an unknowing col-prate hmmm maybe venustus

I do not know anyone that can supply me with media and my LFS's are very hard to deal with. Has anyone tried using the bio grow stuff that is meant to help setup your tanks cycle.

Has anyone used sand in a tank I want a completely new look in the tank and was thinking about sand and natural caves

 

[OldMan47]

Where are you located Bonez? There is a link in my signature to a media donors thread. Read through the whole thing as people came along after the initial post and added themselves to the list of donors.

 

[bonez]

I live in the Hastings, NSW, Australia

I have spocken to the wife and even though she dose not like the idea of there being a tank in the middle of the room for 5 weeks she is happy to let it happen as long as non of her babys die once in the new tank.

what do people think of these undergravel filters
http/cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...y0%3D%26fvi%3D1

 

[fozziebear]

why dont you just go external? UGF is really outdated and plants dont thrive in it, you will do much better with plants if you run internals/externals, also imo they are much less maintenance.

 

[davidblackson]

mate i live in australia also sand looks awsome. i would use a sump filter do you no anyone who can sump and drill your tank defiantly worth it

 

[bonez]

Dose anyone have a recommendation on what type of sand to use for the fish I have listed above or dose it not matter?

Also what type of sand would be the easiest to maintain? I have read allot about big grain little grain, hard to clean ect.

 

[fozziebear]

i thought you couldnt use sand with a ugf? as the filter plate gets clogged? id say just regular normal playsand is the best to use, also you dont vacuum it like you do with gravel, with sand you just wave the vac over the surface to stir up the dirt and poop, then suck it up once its in the water column.

 

[SharonCC]

Play sand has a tendancy to compact, and form anerobic pockets...unless it's stirred periodically.

 

[fozziebear]

now there is a lottt of debate over this issue, i myself use eco-complete planted substrate which is half sand that settles on the lower layer, now i have never had a problem with getting anaerobic pockets, i get some bubbles forming but they havent done any harm at all, a lot of people i know and speak to say not to worry about it as the only way it could be harmful is if a bubble was to rise and bang directly into a fish which the chances of are minimal, i have never seen any anaerobic bubbles come out of my substrate, if you are worried i would just get some malaysian trumpet snails instead of going to the effort of stirring it with chopsticks ever month, but to reiterrate, i myself dont think this is an issue at all as sand is a very good substrate to use, the only problem with sand is the compacting can prevent plants roots spreading as effectively.