[AquaticLife] new tank
I hope you didn’t wash things too much.. unless you are talking about the new gravel. It would have been best to leave the anacharis in the old tank until moving day. Any good live bacteria that would have been living on the anacharis has died off now without an ammonia source for a week… but that’s only a minor issue.
The best way of upgrading a tank is to clone the old tank into the new tank.
The good nitrifying bacteria live on the surface areas of the tank.. mostly in the filter media but also on the gravel, decorations, plants and even the glass.
If the 20G tank is fully cycled, then what you want to do is transfer the filter and everything else that isn’t tied down from the old tank to the new tank and then move the fish into the new tank. This might result in a mini-cycle but it shouldn’t last more than a few days and not have the high ammonia/nitrite levels associated with starting from scratch.
Leave the new filter on the new tank and the old filter on the old tank with the fish. Gravel vacuum the old tank a couple of times while doing 25% PWC’s (partial water changes) every couple of hours until the old tank has very similar or almost identical water parameters to the new tank. Once the gravel is almost completely clean of detritus, you are ready to make the move. At this point, move the decorations and floating plants to the new tank. Then move the fish and filter system to the new tank (You’ll run both filters on the new tank for a couple of weeks… or more). All that should be left in the old tank is any planted plants (if any) and the gravel. Now, get a colander and a slotted spoon (or clean cat litter scoop) and start scooping up the gravel and filling up the colander. If you are using new gravel in the new tank, then you want to put the old gravel into several nylon stocking pouches (or other suitable mesh material) and pour the gravel into the pouches and add the pouches into separate areas of your new tank where they get water circulation.. in other words, not stacked up. If using the old gravel in the new tank, then each time you fill the colander, lift it and let the dirty water drain and then move the colander into the new tank and slowly pour it out. Yes, there will still be some dirty water coming off the gravel but it will settle or be filtered soon. Repeat as necessary.
Now test your water for ammonia and nitrites.. and all other test results and give us the numbers on a daily basis. Do a 25% PWC any time the ammonia or nitrite reaches 1.0ppm.. unless your pH is over 7.5, then do a PWC whenever the ammonia reaches 0.5ppm. Also add a pinch of salt per 10G to help prevent nitrite poisoning issues, should you have a nitrite issue.
Usually, when cloning an old tank into a new tank, I never get much of an ammonia or nitrite reading and do not even have to do a single PWC before the nitrifying bacteria handle any small level of ammonia or nitrite.
Once a week, if the water parameters are staying in good shape, remove one of the pouches of the old gravel (if applicable) and after 3-4 weeks, if you do not want both filters running on the tank (two filters on a 55G is a good thing), take the old filter cartridge/media from the smaller filter system and put it into the reservoir of the newer/bigger filter. Then you can remove the older/smaller filter system.
Tell us your filter system brand and model and I could probably give you more details on proper maintenance for it. I also have a long article on my blog about Filter Maintenance and Cleaning that would give you some good info on keeping your filter properly cycled. This is really important on heavily stocked tanks.. like with a couple of goldfish in a 55G tank.
If you decide to get the little alerts, get the SeaChem brand and get the ammonia and the pH alerts. I have a recent blog article where I compared the SeaChem and Mardel alerts and the SeaChem brand is much more accurate and much less expensive.
You should also get a Master Test Kit. Under $20.00 from WalMart.com and they have free shipping to your local store. Get either the API or the TetraTest-Laborette brand. The API is the better bargain even though it costs a little more up front, it will perform a LOT more tests since the bottles of reagent chemicals are larger.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com (Links to articles referenced above listed on the right side under Archives - Year, Month and under Labels)
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
