Going from a 29G to 75G, help

[CoryFan]

You may want to stir your sand periodically so that it does not get compacted. I have seen this.
When that happens it turns gray underneath and stirring it smells horrid. I have seen this.
Not stirring it means that at some point an air pocket may form. When it releases it can theoretically trap small fish in the pocket in the sand. I have not seen this.

I vastly prefer sand! I like pool filter sand better than play sand because it sinks better.

 

[gabessdsp]

When I move the filter for two weeks though should I have my fish in the new tank or keep them in the old one for the two weeks?

Also thanks for the stirring sand tips. That makes it seem like a pain though to have to stir the sand, especially if I have a lot of decoration in my tank

 

[Luananeko]

Move the fish into the 75 gallon at the same time as the filter. This will prevent any cycling and you wont have to run both tanks at the same time while getting your new filter seeded.

 

[meegosh]

Sorry about that, polyfill is what you stuff pillows with. I got a huge bag for a couple of bucks years ago. I use it to polish the water a little more. It seems to do better at trapping fine particles.

As far as stirring the sand, I never do it. I do have a lot of geos (earth eaters) that will dig pits all over my tank. Even when I didn't have the geos I never stirred the sand and didn't have any problems. I think that really only becomes an issue if you have a deep sand bed (3"+).

Throw your old filter on the tank too and throw your fish in. When doing it this way you only experience a minicycle, if anything. Just watch your parameters and do water changes accordingly.

As far as media, I honestly don't think you'll need to buy anymore. The only things you should use that is included is the big foam pad, biofoam, and biomax. All can be rinsed in tank water and used for an eternity. Same with the polyfill that is ran in place of the carbon.

I do not see myself buying any media for this thing for at least another couple months. Everything is reusable given proper maintenance.

 

[CoryFan]

Meegosh has a good point on the sand. We use deep beds because I read that was better for plants. I added Malaysian Trumpet Snails recently to help stir it.
I notice it is not an issue in open areas, for me. But where I keep large ornaments/wood set down into the sand, I have to stir it.

 

[gabessdsp]

Sorry about that, polyfill is what you stuff pillows with. I got a huge bag for a couple of bucks years ago. I use it to polish the water a little more. It seems to do better at trapping fine particles.

As far as stirring the sand, I never do it. I do have a lot of geos (earth eaters) that will dig pits all over my tank. Even when I didn't have the geos I never stirred the sand and didn't have any problems. I think that really only becomes an issue if you have a deep sand bed (3"+).

Throw your old filter on the tank too and throw your fish in. When doing it this way you only experience a minicycle, if anything. Just watch your parameters and do water changes accordingly.

As far as media, I honestly don't think you'll need to buy anymore. The only things you should use that is included is the big foam pad, biofoam, and biomax. All can be rinsed in tank water and used for an eternity. Same with the polyfill that is ran in place of the carbon.

I do not see myself buying any media for this thing for at least another couple months. Everything is reusable given proper maintenance.

Awesome thank you so much for your help in this

 

[gabessdsp]

Meegosh has a good point on the sand. We use deep beds because I read that was better for plants. I added Malaysian Trumpet Snails recently to help stir it.
I notice it is not an issue in open areas, for me. But where I keep large ornaments/wood set down into the sand, I have to stir it.

Maybe I will invest in some of those

 

[abstract373]

You should try some kuhli loachs i have them they stir up sand under rocks wood ect plus there a clean up crew that shows up at night

 

[meegosh]

Kuhlii's will not burrow far enough into the substrate to efficiently stir the sand. They barely burrow a 1/4" under the sand. MTS is a good choice if you are worried about compaction issues but once you add them, you'll never get rid of them.

 

[abstract373]

In my case its for under decor they tend to go in and out so it stirs it up enough that its no worry but thats why i have 2 10 inch weather loachs.they can kick it up good plus my eel joins in on that

 

[gabessdsp]

So according to this article
Malaysian Trumpet Snails in a Planted Tank : Yamato Green
MTS's seem to be beneficial, they won't eat my fish(unless dead and on the ground), and they won't plauge my tank as long as I don't overfeed. Does the information in this article cover everything or is there more to having MTS's?

 

[meegosh]

That's basically it. They are nocturnal, you won't see them during the day. The all burrow in your substrate and come out at night to graze. The overfeeding part is the key, you don't want to get 1000's of them.

They leave fish and plants alone unless they are dead. Like I said, be sure you want them, don't buy them just for stirring sand. Once you add them you will never be able to get rid of them all.

 

[CoryFan]

I believe horned nerite snails stir sand as well, and do not breed in freshwater.

I do not have experience with those.

I like snails, but HAVE seen an overfed explosion of ramshorns and did not enjoy that at all!

 

[meegosh]

Yeah I never got into the other types of snails either. All mine were hitchhikers that came in on plants I got. Most were common's and MTS.

 

[gabessdsp]

I only snail I've ever had in the tank is the Zebra snail, just what they had in the per store, I've had 5 and then after a couple years they died off for some reason, never bred.

 

[gabessdsp]

I realized I forgot to ask the most important question, how should I go about actually moving the fish? I assume I would net them all and then just transfer them over...but there has to be a more effective way, but also a handful of my fish are pregnant(well because they are guppies and I've never owned guppies were some weren't pregnant), I don't want to stress them out to much, and I hate to say it but I know I won't be able to get all of the mini babies out of the tank but I believe that will be a small loss as there are more mothers. But I just thought there had to be a more effective way than netting so many fish? Also I have a pleco, about 4-5 in I guess. I've never successfully been able to net him so I usually work around him, but in this case I cannot do that. Is there any good way to get the pleco transferred?

 

[CoryFan]

I shoo mine into a small pitcher or large plastic bag!

 

[bigbanker]

In the old tank drain the water to about two to three inches. This will make it way easier to catch this fish.

Some people will also use two nets to catch. A net to guide the fish into the other net

 

[meegosh]

I shoo mine into a small pitcher or large plastic bag!

I do the same thing with my angel fish. She is too large to fit in my nets and it just seems uncomfortable for her so I just put a 2qt pitcher in on its side and gently and slowly shoo her in.

Draining the water down low and removing all decor will help better your chances of catching everyone. Just go slow and don't stress them out too much!

Just be glad you don't have any kuhlii loaches in there! The three I have literally took me 30 minutes to net out of my 30g. My clown loach on the other hand will just swim right into the net anytime I put it in the tank, he's kind of weird though! Hopefully some of your fish are like my clown!

Good luck!

 

[gabessdsp]

I do the same thing with my angel fish. She is too large to fit in my nets and it just seems uncomfortable for her so I just put a 2qt pitcher in on its side and gently and slowly shoo her in.

Draining the water down low and removing all decor will help better your chances of catching everyone. Just go slow and don't stress them out too much!

Just be glad you don't have any kuhlii loaches in there! The three I have literally took me 30 minutes to net out of my 30g. My clown loach on the other hand will just swim right into the net anytime I put it in the tank, he's kind of weird though! Hopefully some of your fish are like my clown!

Good luck!

Haha that's entertaining

So now that you mention angelfish....I absolutely love angelfish, I used to have some, then I missed some tank maintenance and ran out of supplies, I had no money to get what I needed and then my two Angelfish died but I was looking to buy in major bulk this time so I wouldn't run out, but after I transfer the fish etc....when do you think it would be appropriate to add new fish? I would naturally just wait 2 weeks.