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A thought has ocurred to me, and I was wondering what everyone else here thinks of this.

Let's assume for the sake of hypothesis that I've acquired some money. A fairly wild hypothesis at the moment () but let's run with it anyway. And I decide that I want to spend some of this money by upgrading the Panda Fun Palace™ to a bigger aquarium.

Here's my thought.

Since everything is going to be moved lock, stock and barrel from the established aquarium, including the plants and the décor, would moving the gravel with some care to the new aquarium mean that I kept a decent percentage of the bacteria in the gravel?

The idea is this: set up the new, larger aquarium, with some gravel matching in kind the gravel that is already present in the existing aquarium. Partially fill (say to about 70% volume) the new aquarium and get the filtration system in the new aquarium up and running. Once it's up and running, start transferring the old gravel across along with water from the existing aquarium. Transfer the plants at this juncture also, trying where possible to maintain root integrity and bring a small quantity of the existing mulm to keep the roots fed.

The idea here is to make sure that when the gravel is transferred across, it enters an aquarium with a nice stream of oxygenated water flowing through the UGF plate, and thus doesn't die off from oxygen starvation.

I would contend that moving everything to a bigger aquarium that is already partially set up (with water suitably treated to make it habitable of course - usual dechlorinator routine) and then moving the fishes and the remaining water to the new aquarium (to ensure that the bacteria colony is still being fed as well) would allow the new aquarium to 'hit the ground running' and would not go into a mini-cycle.

Is this reasoning sound? Only if it is, when I do get enough money and I can upgrade the Panda Fun Palace™ to something bigger (say, a 5ft version), it would be a lot less troublesome in the long term than starting completely from scratch.

Any thoughts?


Last edited by Calilasseia at 25-Dec-2005 13:44

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

It depends on the size of the original aquarium and the new aquarium. I have moved my 29 gallon 600 miles before and only had a slight "mini-cycle". However, if you are going from a 29 to a 55 gallon then you are going to have a larger cycle. It would be the same as doing a VERY large water change. Or that's my opinion. I could be wrong

-Josh

-Josh

Theoretically though, if you are keeping the same bioload and transfer all the benefical bacteria you should be fine. Just keep your original tank aerated and your bacteria should be fine. I just kept a battery powered pump in my stuff when I moved everything


-Josh

-Josh

I would say if you also moved filters/filter media you would make up for any bacteria die off. Basically it would be like doing a water change and gravel vac or water change and changing filter media. You'd lose about the same amount of bacteria as that. Giving the tank suitable time to recover before increasing the bioload any you shouldn't see any ammonia or nitrites.
I've actually played out this hypothesis several times but mostly with small tanks. Such as 5g tanks moving to 10-20g or all of the 20g I had setup moving to the 29g. Pretty much the only reason I did a small cycle on my 90g when moving the 55g setup into it was because I only kept 1/4th or less of the substrate from the 55.

You'd have to move everything at the same time... if you just put the gravel in the tank first, the bacteria might die off a bit w/out food. Or are you already doing it that way? I'm half asleep, sorry

You might want to dose the tank w/ New Improved Cycle or Biospira... just to be on the safe side

Have fun/Good Luck

I recently went from a 29 gal. to a breeder 30 gal. You do loose bacteria because you are not moving every thing exactly. (Those lovely sediments you have to let float off a bit you know.) Also you buy a few extra plants to stick in and that can bite you too. LOL
If I was doing it again I would keep a spare filter in the old tank and stack up a bunch of driftwood in it as well to help move good bacteria over.
I did mini cycle for about 2 weeks but nothing like you get when you start with a clean set up. The over all biggest bite to me was the lights. I had two tubes on the new set up and only one on the old and algae began to grow.
In any case you get a better jump start doing it all in one go with everything from your old tank.
The only thing I can add is to be patient. I thought the whole move should take maybe a few hours tops to complete as I was moving the goods maybe two feet. I spent all day at it and made a heck of a mess out of my house as well. LOL
Good Luck
jan

Calli,

I went from a 36G overstocked, planted aquarium to a 125G planted aquarium with the same stock in one day with no cycle. The key to success in my case were two fully seeded filters - an Eheim and an AquaClear - with EcoComplete, a bio active substrate.

Plants and driftwood were removed from the aquarium the night before the shift with the plants stored in a 5 gallon bucket of waste aquarium water. Roots were trimmed and babies freed for swords, stems trimmed for stem plants and the crypts were gently broken apart.

The following day the fish were transferred to two 5 gallon buckets, each with one of the seeded filters. The old aquarium was completely drained and vacuumed using a Python then the old EcoComplete was placed in the 125G from the 36G with an additional 80 or 100 pounds of Eco.

The next step was positioning driftwood and plants before slowly filling the aquarium with tempered and treated tap water to minimize any suspension of mulm from the old substrate that was beneath the new Eco. The seeded filters were added then the stock.

No ammonia, no nitrites, nproblems, no fatalities.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Oh, any new upgraded version of the Panda Fun Palace™ is going to get its fair share of bogwood - complete with Java Moss and Java Fern growths all over it!

In fact, if I ever get a 6ft version of the Panda Fun Palace up and running, it's going to get the bogwood from two separate operational aquaria, which should help matters enormously. Then I'll have fun finding some replacement bogwood for the remaining aquaria which will end up as nurseries.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well, I'll let you know experience... In the next couple of days I'm planning on dismantling my 35 gallon to upgrade with my new 110. I'm planning on using the same gravel, plus new, and some of the plastic plants(switching to chichlids, so no live ones). I'd planned on continuing with using my existing Penquin 350 to "start up", while the new Eheim 2217 gets going. I'll monitor the water quality and see what happens. I had anticipated a full cycle, but maybe not?

Keep us all posted Questor ... I'm sure it'l be an educational experience for us all - especially if you're successful!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

ok...well problem number 1 just encountered (one of many to come, I'm sure).
I just finished dismantling the old tank, but it'll be at least couple of days before I get the new one up and running...so how do I keep the Penquin going? Can't put in on my little 10 gallon (where all the fishies are doing quite happily)...it'll blow the occupants out of the tank! Guess I'll have to try to set it up in a bucket ..know I don't have long before my bacteria start dying off! Going to do right now!

That's one of the big problems when moving filters around. You have about an hour with no oxygenated water running through the media before the bacteria starts to die. I always use plastic storage containers to temporarily store fish and run filters. That way I can get a container of suitable size(usually around 30gallons) to run even my 2 penguin 330 filters without blowing the fish around. It also maintains better water quality and less fish stress than trying to cram all the fish from a bigger tank into a little tank.

Well, getting into glitch number 2...but I'm going to switch this thread over to where it probably belongs...in the "Getting Started" section. See you there I hope