Moving to new tank

[Sa1nt]

I am upgrading from my 4ft to 6 or 8ft (yes!) and wondering what is the best way to do it?
My 4ft currently house some African cichlids and I don't have a spare tank.
Can anyone please share their experience?
Thanks.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Is the new tank going where the 4' is? I'm assuming yes in that case I always use a rubber maid container. Leave it bare bottom put in a filter,heater and a few rocks for the fish to hide.

 

[rocksor]

Use 100% brand new water in the 8 footer. No need to transfer old tank water into the new tank.

You can use a rubber maid container or a brand new 35 gallon trash can to temporarily house the fish for a few hours. You should also keep the filters from the 4ft tank running so you don't lose any bacteria.

The hardest thing is to bring the 8 footer up to temp.

 

[garfy]

You could put buckets of hot water into the tank to help bring up the temp.

 

[rocksor]

If your tap cold water isn't too cold (not below 70F), I would use that. People are advice by health officials not to drink hot water out of the tap. This is due to the minerals from your water heater being dissolved into your hot water. If you don't flush your water heater every 6 months, then there is a higher chance of undesirable minerals being dissolved into your hot tap water.

If it is not advise for you to drink the water, then it is also not good for your fish.

 

[garfy]

When you do your pwc's do you just put cold water back in your tank or a mix of hot and cold.I would hazzard an educated guess that you use both.Therefore are you harming your fish?
I think not.

 

[rocksor]

I use cold water and do 50% water changes in the summer months when my cold water tap runs between 75f-83F. In the winter I do more smaller but more water changes so that the temp doesnt drop more than 5 degrees. I am a firm believer of doing up to 100% water changes over a period of 1 week, so I have done 100g to 200g of water changes, depending on the current size of my aquarium.

I've been doing this since 1998 with no loss of fish life or illness due to perceive stress with water temp dropping by 5 degrees. It is not old knowledge, and I learned about during cold water water changes back in 1998.

I wouldn't give advice if I didn't follow it myself.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Ive always done what I said in the second post, they will be fine. I've left fish in there for more than a week, so you'll have plenty of time for everything. You'll have plenty of time to do the swap, if doing sand for it to settle, putting decor in hooking filters and heater up, etc... So the water will have plenty of time to warm up if your using the right watted heaters.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Or in the winter here I fill up a trash can (for water changes) of very cold well water to let it get up to temp, I even throw a heater in

 

[garfy]

I use cold water and do 50% water changes in the summer months when my cold water tap runs between 75f-83F. In the winter I do more smaller but more water changes so that the temp doesnt drop more than 5 degrees. I am a firm believer of doing up to 100% water changes over a period of 1 week, so I have done 100g to 200g of water changes, depending on the current size of my aquarium.

I've been doing this since 1998 with no loss of fish life or illness due to perceive stress with water temp dropping by 5 degrees. It is not old knowledge, and I learned about during cold water water changes back in 1998.

I wouldn't give advice if I didn't follow it myself.

Then I guess we both have our methods.I use a mix of both hot and cold water with no problems.I have been keeping fish of various kinds since the late 70's and this method has worked well for me.To each their own

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Then I guess we both have our methods.I use a mix of both hot and cold water with no problems.I have been keeping fish of various kinds since the late 70's and this method has worked well for me.To each their own

All 3 of us do it different lol hey whatever works right

 

[Sa1nt]

Thank you for all your advice, much appreciated.

I use mixed hot/cold water from the tap every time I do water change, wouldn't prime neutralize the harmful minerals?

I'm going for sand so will need time to let it settle down. The new tank is going where the old 4ft is. I will see if I can move the 4ft aside to temporary house the fish. Putting them in container for long period might stress them out

Maybe I put them in the bathtub temporary LOL

 

[rocksor]

Maybe I put them in the bathtub temporary LOL

Some people do that in a pinch when something bad happens to their tank.

 

[Sa1nt]

My wife would probably kill me if I do that...

But I don't see any issue with that

 

[Spoor3773]

Whenever I ve changed tanks I ve drained the old tank into 3 containers with lids and put the fish in one container with the filters. Didn't bother with the heater. Make sure the fish are in darkness and they ll get less spooked. I then put the new tank in the desired place with substrate and ornaments and filled with the two containers of old tank water and topped up with cold. I gave it up to 12 hours for the water to settle and water to heat up. I then transferred filter and fish into tank. No problems at all.

 

[Sa1nt]

Thanks, is it necessary to keep the old tank water?

I'll transfer all the filter media from the old tank though.

 

[Spoor3773]

Thanks, is it necessary to keep the old tank water?

I'll transfer all the filter media from the old tank though.

I read some where that bacteria is also kept on the water. I don't think it's critical. I was just worried that with moving to a bigger tank the media in the current filters might not be enough.

 

[Spoor3773]

Thanks, is it necessary to keep the old tank water?

I'll transfer all the filter media from the old tank though.

Another idea i tried was a couple of weeks before the new tank arrived I borrowed a filter off a mate and put it in the old tank. The idea was that over filtering the old tank might mean I instantly have the matured filtration level for the new tank, instead of having to wait for new filters to mature. These were just a couple if ideas I thought of when I changed. I don't know if they were all necessary but the fish adjusted to the new tank just fine.

 

[rocksor]

Thanks, is it necessary to keep the old tank water?

I'll transfer all the filter media from the old tank though.

I've always used 100% new water when transferring fish from an old tank to a new tank or moving tanks. I've never had mini cycles in those instances since I used the old filters.

If you do get a new and bigger filter, put all the old media into the new filter, and it will be like an instant cycle.