How long do i wait before putting my fish in a new aquarium?

[vjeffv]

My tank recently started leaking, it was old so i got a new one and set it up. My question is do i have to wait days to put them in the tank, even if i am using different chemicals, or do the chemicals eliminate the waiting process? I have a 55 gallon tank. If anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rich311k]

Are you using the old filter and gravel? If everything stayed wet and you are moving from the old aquarium to the new. You can just do it all at once. If you are restarting from scratch you will need to cycle the tank.

 

[TomK2]

Keep the old filter's colonized biomedia moist, and move it and the fish over to the new tank with heated and dechlorinated water as quick as possible. If you were putting the tank in the same place, I would put the fish in buckets, empty old tank, install new tank, fill it with water near 80 degrees, dechlorinate it, install the old filter, put the fish in. For any time the filter was not running, I would keep the biomedia moist.

 

[rippin17]

any water, filter media, or rocks fromt he old tank being put in the new tank can help quicken the process of a tank cycling.

 

[malkore]

any water, filter media, or rocks fromt he old tank being put in the new tank can help quicken the process of a tank cycling.

Just gotta dispell a myth...water doesn't contain hardly any beneficial bacteria. Teh bacteria has to grow on a surface, so really only filter media (and the filter itself), rocks, decoractions, fake plants (or real), and gravel from an existing, cycled tank are what will help you speed up the cycling process.

Bio-spira works reasonably well too, but it is the ONLY proven cycling aid. Cycle, Stress-Zyme...these don't really work.
SeaChem 'Stability' has been gaining some praise, but its still not a miracle in a bottle. (and i've seen bio-spira fail to work too...even it isn't perfect)