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Hi
I'm thinking of getting a bigger tank mainly taller and deeper as I would like to allow my plants to grow out a bit and have a bit more room for aquascapeing.
My current tank is 36"L 14"W 18"H Because of the space I will keep it 36 long but plan on 25" high and 18" wide.
What i plan to do is put my fish in a 35Litre bin for the night with heater and aeration and strip down the old tank reusing the gravel and adding more as needed and reuse the filter (fluval305 1000l/hr)I figure it will probably take around 6-12hr to get the temp of the water ok I will try to add it at the right temp.

do you think my tank will be okay? I assume as I have reused everything from the old there will be enough bacteria to support it. WHat do people think.

I have never had any ammonia or nitrites in my tank since it was set up a year ago. Nitrates usually 5-10 and have never got higher than 20. ph6.2-4
11rummynose
7cardinals
4trin corys
1zeb danio
1 bristle nose
1golden panchax

Hi there if you swap most of the material over to the new tank things should run smoothly. THE most important things to so though is keep the filter in tank water and plugged in if you can. Bacteria from the filter can start to decrese after an hour out of the tank but after 24 quite a lot can disapear. Is there anyway you could put the filter in the bin with the fish and attach it somehow?

You have a nice sounding tank I love rummynoses ^^ but try to get some freinds for the danio (y)

I used new gravel, EcoComplete, in setting up a new, planted 125 gallon tank using an Eheim that had been used on a 36 gallon tank. I did the tank setup with tap water tempered to 84F for the discus that were in the 36 gallon then added the Eheim and the fish.

The tank showed no sign of ammonia or nitrites during the following weeks.

I was confident that the success of the process was the mature cannister filter. When my neighbor asked for help in setting up a 75 gallon for discus I suggested that he give me his filter about 3 weeks before he wanted to setup his tank. He gave me a large Hagen AquaClear that I placed on my 125 gallon in addition to the existing filtration.

Three weeks later we used washed pea gravel from the local landscape supply, tempered tap water and the seeded AquaClear to setup his tank and immediately add 5 adult discus. We tested the tank daily for two weeks. No ammonia, no nitrites and measurable nitrates within a week.



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

The best way is to fill the tank up 1/2-3/4 full with water a day ahead of time to get the temp right and aerate it. You can just run a sponge filter or airstone if you don't have an extra filter and then put in an extra heater. If you can't setup the tank because it's going in the same spot then run the new water in a storage container overnight before setting up the next day. Then on the day you move them all you have to do is put half the old water into the new tank with the new water, move the gravel, plants, and filter immediately, add new gravel, and move the fish in less than probably 2hours. You will have no cycle that way and minimal fish stress. If any of the gravel or filter media is left without oxygenated water running over it for more than an hour it may start to turn anaerobic and will at least not have as much good bacteria but could requiring rinsing to use again. Leaving the gravel or filter media sit for 6-12hours with minimal water flow or putting them on a tank with a considerably lower temp(20-30F less) or poorly oxygenated water will kill some bacteria and may cause a small mini cycle. My wellwater comes out at 55F and full of co2 so whenever I'm moving or setting up a new tank it's just standard to fill a container or new tank with the water I need a day or 2 ahead of time so it's immediately useable for the fish when I start to move them.

If I have to do a tank swapout I generally do it quickly. All this leaving stuff overnight seems like a needless chore and it allows temps to go off keel.

I use a 50 gal jiffy tub,( gotta admit a handy thing to have in case of tank breakage anyway) and basically drain out most of the water into the tub and catch the fish and put them in said bucket at the same time, the stress of the catch is unavoidable, so you might as well use the chance to make catching the fish easier in less water, and move the water too. The idea is that because all the water is recently roiled by moving it into a bucket, the saturated oxygen is high, and that gives you up to around an hour to work before oxygen gets lower without needing to give them oxygenation, and the temps since youre moving such a large volume of water , wont start to change too much.

Obviously the new top up water will have to be ready,or can be made to go quickly,and if you have a quality water conditioner that deals with copper etc, you can cheat for once and use a little water from the hot tap to get it ready to perfect temperature. Think of it in terms of a 50% emergency water change or something.

I use a dustpan and brush to dump out the gravel very quickly indeed and put the new tank in place, put the gravel in and the 50% of the water from the existing tank and then top it up with a bucket or two so the depth is enough and get the filters connected up, and the heater up and running. The filter will have been offline for only about 5 minutes so there should be no real damage whatsoever, the temps will barely have had a chance to change so the fish need not be bagged.

I use a large plastic jug or plastic bags to catch the fish and transfer them over directly with some water from the bucket, in this timeframe theres no need to float the fish.
Thats the panic stage over, and hopefully you took no more than 30 minutes. You can then cease panicking, and top up the tank gently with original tankwater or conditioned new water if need be. The filters will be running unharmed, the fish will be in situ, and the heater will be leveling the tiny temperature change off, since more than a degree or two change will be unlikey in that time. Certainly the effect should be no worse than big WC. Its a multitasking hell that needs to be performed quickly, but if youre the alert and fast moving type, its easily done.

Then you can faff about to your hearts content gently arranging plants and decor and any remaining tank equipment.

It all sounds chaotic, but when handled deftly, its a one off experience, not something that drags on for days, the thermic shock risk is almost zero, as is the chance of killing the filter, and the fish will, within an hour be in their new home filled with familiar sights and smells, and they should destress quickly. Move fast and hit it quickly, and you dont have to worry so much about the acclimation shock as you would from a long journey, or mail order situation.

Youll be sweaty and knackered, but the fish will be fine, and you wont need to do further water changes for maybe a couple of weeks.

Its a choice, two stressful moves over two days, plus filter damage risk, and acclimation issues or all done in a stressful half an hour with no filter issues. I prefer the quicker option. The fear of shocking the fish can actually lead you into a way of thinking that will cause them more stress. Sometimes speed is an advantage over stealth as long as you get the temps for the top up water right. I prefer to keep the stress period as brief as possible, and doing it over 2 days is anything but brief.

If I was prepping a 100 gal or more I might use the slower method, but for a tank around 30 gal mark, its not so big that you cant just do it fast.

The only thing I suggested leaving overnight is the new water since for me new water comes out at 55F and full of gasses. It usually can't be useable in less than 12hours and they did say they were leaving it for 6-12hours in order to even out the temp. If you do it the night before while leaving all the fish undisturbed in the original tank then you can do the transfer all in less than a couple hours. You can even move the fish directly from the old tank to the new tank most of the time. Otherwise they spend only a few minutes in a bucket while you lift the old tank down, put the new tank up, and dump the water in the new tank. For alot of people they can't just fill a tank with brand new tap or well water and expect it to be liveable for the fish right away. Even with water conditioners there can be temperature or degassing issues that can't really be rushed. I hooked up 3 heaters(over 500w total), 2 sponge filters, and an hob on a 29g with only 50% new water and still couldn't get the water aerated and heated to an acceptable level in less than 8hours. That's too long to have to leave the filter and fish sit.