moving from 10 gallon to 20

[uglygoat]

i have had a 10 gallon tank for over five years now(this tank was also my childhood tank from over twenty years ago) and the fish are also five years in the tank. it only has a small catfish(two inches) and pleco(five inches) in it, but it is time to move to a bigger tank. i have a twenty gallon tank that i should get sunday or monday.

my question is this: can i transfer the gravel and water and filter media to the new tank and skip the cycle, or should i set up the new tank and cycle it, then transfer the fish, and dismantle the ten gallon?

thank you for your time and advice.

tim

 

[Jason123]

I would think you would still need to cycle it, but it should be faster if you put in a used filter and some of the gravel from the old tank.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Congrats on your new tank, it is imperative that you transfer your existing gravel, decor anything in the tank, your filter and media over to the new tank. This will give you no cycle at all (assuming your using the same filter). If its a different filter then just put the media in the new one and youll still be ok. If you do this you might and a very small might, see a mini cycle but thats no biggie. Its basically like doing a huge water change for your fish and the ones you have listed are very hardy.

 

[uglygoat]

thanks guys, i thought it should be ok doing a 'huge water swap.' i want to get these guys established in new tank, and set the ten gallon up for my daughter with something off the wall.

i'll try and post some pics of the new tank.

tim

 

[DragonFish71]

Moving the water isn't really as important as the gravel, decor and filters. Very little of the good bacteria live in the water column. The only reason for moving the old water is less stress on the fish and cutting down the acclimation time. Personally, moving the water is pointless, you're just moving old, dirty water. Put them in a bucket, use a piece of air line tubing to do a drip acclimation for an hour or so and they will be fine. We move all our fish this way. With that being said, as was mentioned above, you might get a mini-cycle which can easily be straightened out with a few water changes to get it back under control.

 

[uglygoat]

w00t! thanks dragonfish71, i appreciate your candor. i'll put the fish in a bucket of water from the old tank and get the new one ready with the old gravel and caves. i assume by drip you mean dripping some of the new water into the holding tank/cell.

edit: i'm also going to be moving the tank from the basement upstairs. it will be getting a bit more sunlight than it did in the past. are there any adjustments to be made, or just wait and see what happens, as i suspect?

 

[mfdrookie516]

be careful about sunlight, could spell A L G A E lol... make sure you dechlor your water before initially filling up the new tank with your old substrate, filter, and decor... chlorine will kill the nitrifying bacteria

 

[DragonFish71]

w00t! thanks dragonfish71, i appreciate your candor. i'll put the fish in a bucket of water from the old tank and get the new one ready with the old gravel and caves. i assume by drip you mean dripping some of the new water into the holding tank/cell.

edit: i'm also going to be moving the tank from the basement upstairs. it will be getting a bit more sunlight than it did in the past. are there any adjustments to be made, or just wait and see what happens, as i suspect?

Welcome.

Yep. Start a syphon with the tubing, like you would with your gravel vac. Let it drip into the bucket. You will have to dip water out so the bucket doesn't over flow.

mfd made a valid point. When filling the new tank, dechlor the water BEFORE putting it in the tank.

 

[uglygoat]

well the twenty gallon tank leaks. glad i found that out before i broke down the ten gallon tank.

now shopping for a bigger tank. bah!

 

[mfdrookie516]

better to find out now than later might as well go for the biggest tank you can afford, it'll save you from doing this later down the road

 

[uglygoat]

it leaked, like a sieve, don't know if it got bumped on the transit over, or it was just old and the joints dried up. anyhoo, i had to quickly drain about 15 gallons of water. it never starts leaking until you get more than half way filled. luckily, my other passtime is brewing fine ales, and i've got kettles and siphon equipment on hand. i calmly went to the basement and gathered up the equipment as the kid got towels and caught the water leaking onto the hardwood floor. she was a trooper, running back and forth. meanwhile, after the siphon was started, i grabbed the 14 gallon shop vac and stuffed it into the tank, only to find the hose had some tears in it, as putrid water poured out... blargity blarg! i snapped briefly as we wrestled the shop vac out of the kitchen.