Moving fish to new tank..

[Silky]

Hi Everyone
I've only been keeping fish for almost a year now and still have so much to learn. I always wanted fish but parents always said no and first husband didnt want to be bothered..said they were a pain in the butt. Well my new fella was cocked and ready when I mentioned it and now I have 3 small tanks up and running and we just bought a 125gal and a 90 gal. My questions are 1, How long and what's the best way to cycle the 125 gal. and 2 how long is it going to be sufficient for my fish? They are as follows: 2 Bala Sharks 3&4.5 in., 4 clown loaches 1.5-2.5 in., 2 silver dollars 2in., 2 Dinosaur Bichirs 4in., 2 Black ghost knives 5.5 &1.5 in., 1 dragon goby 8in., 1 african leaf fish 4.5 in., 2 dojo loaches 4 & 5 in., 2 pictus catfish 3in., 1 elephant nose 3 in., 1 pleco 3 in., 1 peacock eel 6 in., and 1 black shark 1.5 in. I adore these fish. Although when I first started getting them the lovely person that sold most of them to me said that their size would be determined by the space I kept them in. Well needless to say after much research and a little observation..I've come to realize that most of my babies will be of considerable size.
Thanks

 

[Cynic]

Sounds like exactly the same situation I just went through

Are you keeping your old tanks up and running?

 

[Silky]

Oh yeah.. I just plan on keeping one for a hospital or separation tank. I just can't help it.. I love these dang fish. It's so relaxing to just sit and watch them and they fix a bad mood

 

[librarygirl]

That's a lot of fish! lol i Know the clowns alone can get HUGE and would need at least a 150-200+ gal alone to keep a group of adults. What fish were you thinking of putting in which tanks and what tank size are they in now? If you just move the filters over to the new tanks and run them alongside the new filters (or move the media from the current filters into the new filters and then fill the rest up with new media) the tanks should be instantly cycled and you can just move them over. I'm not sure how well they'd do with a 90 and 125 though, I'm not totally familiar with them but it seems like a lot of fish for those size tanks.

 

[Silky]

Right now they are pretty small with the largest one being a bala that is almost 5in. They have all been in a 30 gallon since I got them at about 2-3 in. When I started realiizing how they would grow I set out for the 125 gal and they are just waiting for the cycle to complete. I used the substrate and a filter from the another running tank and also some of the water from water changes but figure that with the difference of volume it will still take a while to be safe. so far my nitrate and ammonia levels are coming up good but I'm still going to do a test run with danios first before I stick my babies in there