Switching Tanks

Rich0086

Ive been wanting to move my Fan Tail Gold Fish out of the current 5 Gallon tank into a larger one.

But am currently not sure how i can do that.

Do i Just dump the water from the old 5 gallon tank into the new one, transfer filters over to keep the bacteria going, and Add a larger filter for the larger tank.

Im new to fish so i want to be sure when i switch im not ruining my bacteria or having to recycle all over.

OSagent23

Rich,

I have done aquarium upgrades for as long as I could remember. In a 3 month period I went from a 40 gallon to a 55 gallon to a 75 gallon. My wife though I was crazy. I didn't have a single loss in any of the 2 upgrades because I transferred everything into the new tank.

Water, gravel, plants, rocks, wood, and especially the filter media. Transfer as much as you can into the new tank and run the old filter with the new filter together for a week or more to maintain your beneficial bacteria and establish new bacteria in the new filter if needed.

Just make sure you fill the aquarium with dechlorinated water so the chlorine doesn't kill your beneficial bacteria in the new tank.

Rich0086

What i planned on doing was letting the New filter run in the 5gallon tank for a day to get some of the bacteria started in it, Then move everything over to the new tank.

Since i use bare bottoms i have nothing to move over but one decoration and 2 old filters and new one. Im picking up new tank tomorrow and will fill it up 95% with new water using conditioner to kill chlorine, and ill when ready dump the 5 gallon tank in to add in the bacteria.

Thanks for the reply, seems itll be easy enough to do i na days time.

OSagent23

One day is not long enough for a new filter. To get a good colony of bacteria in the new filter it must run with the old one now less than a week. Unless you plan on running the old and new filters at the same time once the new tank is setup.

Rich0086

What i was gonna do tomorrow was get the tank and filter. Run the new filter with the old in the 5 gallon tank just to get new one running with established tank water and bacteria.

Once thats running, go and get the tank setup on the stand, Fill it up and use the conditioner drops. Let that sit over night and then transport everything out of the 5 gallon to the new one. And continue running the old filters with the new for a lil while to insure all is well.

Aurie

When I added a hob to my established aquarium to seed it, I put a couple pieces of gravel behind the filter in a nylon stocking (away from the impeller) so the bacteria could just crawl onto the new filter. There's little bacteria in the water column so it would be crawling and spreading from the walls of your aquarium up the water tube onto the floss... Thats my take on it anyway.. don't quote me on it though. Also - I only did that cause I was comfortable with my filter and it's flow .. and if it broke I had a spare handy.. it was just the cheap top fin one that came with my 5.5 kit

Rich0086

Well heres video of the tank. Upgrade it today and got it all running.

Dumped the 5 gallon tank into the new tank, added nutrafin cycle to get more bacteria establishing in the tank. Used water conditioner as well.

Now its waiting game for everything to settle down and cycle new filter and fish becomes more relaxed.

Rich0086

Finished the tank now, everything has been transferred and new stuff cleaned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IWuo5W3tYc