New tank checklist

[NDininno]

I'm upgrading my current 30gal to a 75gal to accommodate my loach habit. My current tank isn't big enough for how many I want\need. So I basically just want to put together a checklist of things I need to do to make the transition for my loaches as stress free as possible, while keeping water conditions the same. I plan on reusing most if not all of the substrate and decor, which is minimal since the current tank is pretty small.

Edit: I found this information, please let me know if this is missing anything.

1. Place the new tank where you want it. Rinse all the new equipment and the new gravel and decorations in cool running tap water to remove any dust or debris that has collected from manufacturing, shipping, or storage. Set up the equipment and get everything ready to go for the new tank.
2. Drain the old tank by siphoning the water into buckets and net the fish and carefully place them in one of these buckets of water. Make sure that the buckets you are using have no residue from soaps or detergents, to prevent the toxicity of these chemicals from harming your fish.
3. Scoop the gravel out of the old tank and place it in the new tank, then add the water from your buckets to the new tank, leaving the bucket with the fish in it for later. If this is enough water to get the filter started, do so. You should also take this opportunity to set up your decorations in the new tank. Remember, even the decorations in your tank will contain beneficial bacteria for your biological filter, so feel free to use those as well.
4. If this is enough water for the fish to swim freely, gently net the fish out of the bucket and place them in the new tank. If this is not enough water for the fish to be able to swim freely, you will want to add fresh dechlorinated tap water to the tank until you have enough water for the fish to be able to swim around. Once you have introduced the fish to the new tank, add the water that they were in to the new tank.
5. Top off the tank with fresh dechlorinated tap water. Do your best to keep the water you are adding to the tank close to the temperature of the water that is in the tank. This helps to minimize the stress to the fish and the biological filter due to the move. Floating or standing aquarium thermometers are available at most pet stores, and are fairly inexpensive. Also, the average human hand can differentiate between temperatures within 1/2° Fahrenheit (1/4° Celsius), so keeping the temperature close should not be much of a problem. If your water heater runs out of hot water, feel free to let the tank sit while more water is heated.
6. After you have the new tank filled, let it sit for at least half an hour, then plug in the aquarium heater and begin the process of setting the heater to the correct temperature.
7. Feed sparingly and do not introduce any new fish for at least 4 weeks to make sure the tank stabilizes well. This will give the bacteria for the biological filter time to populate your new filters and will allow the fish a chance to get used to the new tank.

[starsplitter7]

I would add that you should buy the filter for your new tank now, and put it on your 30. Let it run a month of so to cycle the filter. That way when you set up the new tank your new filter is ready to handle the biological load.

I am doing the same thing in a month. My new tank is sitting outside. I have the filter running on the old tank.

I am not a big fan of using old water. To me it is like putting in bathroom water. I make sure my new water has the same pH and temp as the old and add new, clean water.

I would rinse the gravel from the old tank, before you put it in the new. I don't mean clean it. Don't remove the biological filter. Just rinse it in the old tank water (so you get rid of old poop and dead plants, . . . .)

I would also fill the new tank with water to make sure there are no problems, before you add fish. I would do this outside.

Good luck.

[bigpow]

I personally would start the 75g independent of the established 30g.
You're going to need a new set of equipments anyway for the 75G, unless your equipment for the 30G were bought over-spec'ed.

[Diana]

Reasonable enough instructions, I would fine tune it a bit:
1) Set up new water ahead of time if needed. I use garbage cans. Add dechlor, minerals, peat... whatever is needed to make the water ready for the fish. Circulating the water for a day or so dissolves whatever minerals you may add, or conditions it with peat moss, if this is what it needs. (I have filled tanks with 100% tap water, added just dechlor then added fish. Not a problem if this is what the fish are used to.) Make sure this water is the right temperature. (An aquarium heater can be suspended in a garbage can)

2) Cover the buckets that hold the fish. Fish jump. Separate buckets for separate species, or aggressive fish. Loaches separate. Stressed Loaches can produce excess slime coat that seems to kill other species in small volumes of water. Keep the beneficial bacteria alive in the filter, and on the decorations by keeping these things damp. The bacteria does not need to be covered in water. It does need high humidity and oxygen.

3) Set up tank, decor, substrate, a few inches of water... then PLANT. Mist the plants a lot.

4) Fill the tank with mostly new water. You could use some reserved water, but it is not necessary if you have followed my step 1. Put a plate or plastic bag over the substrate and run the water in slowly so it seeps into the substrate. This will reduce cloudiness.

5) When it is time to add the fish, DO NOT use the water from their bucket(s). Stressed fish produce more ammonia and stress hormones. You do not want these in the new tank.

Comment about the nitrifying bacteria:
The current fish mass support just so many bacteria. It does not matter where the bacteria are living. If you add more acreage (new filter) for the bacteria to colonize, they will, but this is not all the bacteria that the fish will need in the new tank. A lot of the bacteria stays alive in the substrate, and in the old filter. There is a small population in the new filter. There are a couple of ways to get more of the bacteria into the new tank.
A) Move most of the decor, substrate and old filter to the new tank, as well as the new filter.
B) Set up a fishless cycle using the new filter on the new tank, or any other container, and raise a new population of bacteria using ammonia. (Then the smaller tank can stay running, too, and you can add more fish... some to the new tank, some to the old )

Other ways to get around this issue:

Split all the fish into the two tanks, and move some of the bacteria with the fish in the new tank, and leave some bacteria in the old tank.
Example: Put the old filter media in the new filter, and a nylon stocking with some cycled gravel in the new tank. Add roughly half the fish mass from the old tank.
Remaining in the old tank will be a lot of bacteria in the gravel and on the decorations, but you will add new filter media (no bacteria) but that is OK, you have removed some fish.

Live plants are a very good biological filter. Heavily plant both tanks, as well as splitting up the bacteria the best you can to match the split population of fish. Live plants need good light to be efficient filters.

Add Dr. Tim's One and Only or Tetra Safe Start to both tanks, after splitting fish and bacteria the best you can.

Approximate bacteria populations and where they grow:
A well cycled filter has about half, perhaps more of the total population, especially if you are using an Aquaclear or one of the canisters that have lots of sponges and other media that is not thrown away. Rinse and reuse! Conserve the bacteria!
The upper layer of gravel where there is the best water flow has about 1/3 of the bacteria. If you are running a UGF properly then there may be more bacteria deeper in the gravel.
Convoluted decor such as Texas Holey Rock, Lava rock, drift wood, and similar things with LOTS of square inches of surface may have as much as 1/4 of the bacteria, but usually not even this much. Smooth rocks, plastic plants, ceramic merpeople and other decor with little surface area have very little bacteria. Some; enough to jump start a fishless cycle. Not much when you are looking for bacteria to support a population of fish.
Live plants have both a good population of microorganisms, AND are bio filters themselves. If there are enough plants that you cannot see the back of the tank then there are enough plants that they can probably deal with the ammonia from a reasonable load of fish.
Smooth glass or acrylic tank walls, heaters and other equipment does not offer much surface area for the bacteria, and are usually exposed to the light. The bacteria that we are trying to conserve do not grow so well in direct light.

When you are moving fish also remember to balance the bacteria, and add some insurance by adding some extra bacteria and some live plants.

[newshound]

if you have a sponge over the intake of the old filter put it on the intake of the new one.
i'd get the new filter going in the old tank pronto!
it takes way longer to go from 1 bacteria to 1 billion than from 1 million (just guesses but you get the picture) in the new filter. The time it takes bacteria to double in population numbers is short but give them a head start in the new filter.
I never worry about bacteria in the substrate, just make sure the water is the same (but on the better side) and do large water changes/or a few more than normal in the weeks after the tank switch up and under feed.
I'd have the new tank set up and running b4 you move the fish. NOTE-the bacteria need a constant supply of food so don't move the filter until the day you move the fish.
You can also move half the fish wait a week and then the rest.
Personally I side with the semi established filter and a couple of extra water changes.

[Diana]

I agree with newshound, a very good point about getting a starter population of bacteria going in the new equipment. While the methods we use are not intended to separate the species and just grow one type of bacteria, if this was possible I would go with getting the nitrite removing bacteria going the best I could. These are the slow growing ones.

The fishless cycle could also be done by starting with a nitrite source for about 1-2 weeks, then add the ammonia. The ammonia removing bacteria will catch up very quickly. It is getting the nitrite removing bacteria up to a good population that takes the time.

[NDininno]

Thank you all very much for the valuable information. I'm picking up the new tank today. I forgot to mention 1 thing though. The person giving me the tank is also giving me the filter and everything else he has. The catch is the tank was a saltwater tank, so i probably have to get new media for the filter and start brand spankin new right?

[NDininno]

WOW this new tank is taking way more work than I thought it would. It and all its parts (plumbing, sump, refugium) all have lots of calcium based nastiness all over them. I had to replace most of the plumbing but luckily the guy that geve me the tank is a chemist so he gave me a gallon of 25% acetic acid to dissolve the stuff. I got the tanks clean. My next step is to refinish the stand and replace parts on that as well. The stand's hinges all need to be replaced since they were corroded badly. Once my fiance saw the stand she was like 'um I hope yoy plan on painting that'... Some of the wood on it needs to be replaced too.. I'm not sure what the wood is called but its basically tiny particles glued together, which normally makes really strong wood but this stuff got so much salt water on it that its fluffy. Fluffy is nice but not so much when it's describing wood. Maybe I'll start posting pix like everyone else does and show my progress. This is going to probably take a few months to get going.

[NDininno]

I agree with newshound, a very good point about getting a starter population of bacteria going in the new equipment. While the methods we use are not intended to separate the species and just grow one type of bacteria, if this was possible I would go with getting the nitrite removing bacteria going the best I could. These are the slow growing ones.

The fishless cycle could also be done by starting with a nitrite source for about 1-2 weeks, then add the ammonia. The ammonia removing bacteria will catch up very quickly. It is getting the nitrite removing bacteria up to a good population that takes the time.

Diana,

When you say add ammonia, is it possible (with no fish in the tank) to just grab a capfull of regular cleaning ammonia and drop it in? Or should I be using aquarium specific stuff?