Need advice on switching tanks please

[hsojkrieger]

I need some advise.. I have 2 well established tanks. I have a 55gal community tank with some loaches and I have a 50gal bow front with african cichlids. I want to switch tanks I want to put the cichlids in the 55 because its longer and the loaches in the bow front. What is the easiest way to do this? If the water chemistry as far as ph ends up being about the same could I just switch the fish and not the substrate and the water that they were in? I'm saving up for a lager tank but I would like for my cichlids to have a little more room to swim from side to side. Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Nothing]

As long as the parameters are the same, you should be able to just swap me over easily. I've got three tanks in my room and sometimes if I gotta move a fish I just net it and toss it in the new tank, never had a problem. Just make sure temps and ph are the same. I could be wrong, but in my own experience I've never had an issue

 

[hsojkrieger]

Thanks so much for the reply. I was also wondering about the filters. Both tanks have the same filters but as far as the bacteria built up on them do you think anything is different from one tank to another? And same with the substrate the cichlids have sand and the other is gravel. But when I do water changes the same new water goes into both tanks

 

[Nothing]

It should be fine, as long as there's generally the same amount of fish. Like unless you have just the loaches in one tank and then an overstocked cichlid tank, it should be alright. Moving the cichlids into the tank with gravel will also have more bacteria built up because the gravel harbors it on all it's surface area.

 

[hsojkrieger]

Should I vacuum the gravel really well before putting the cichlids in? I think the loaches will also like the sand better because they are bottom feeders and they could dig and sift thru the sand easier to eat

 

[hsojkrieger]

By having more bacteria in the gravel is that a good thing?

 

[Brookster123]

By having more bacteria in the gravel is that a good thing?

98% of your bb is in your filter..

 

[hsojkrieger]

Well I switched tanks 2 days ago and every one is fine. I know a lot of people change their filters once a month or what not. But I normally don't I usually go a few months if not several months and my tanks stay Crystal clear and the water quality stays good, what's everyone's imput on that? How often do you change filter media

 

[Brookster123]

You're doing it right! I don't change it out until it's falling apart, I just swish it out in a bucket if tank water

 

[hsojkrieger]

Good I'm glad someone else feels the same way, I have friends who are religious on buying new filters and I always say they are wasting their money I never change mine and they are disgusting lol but my water stays crystal clear and the water quality stays perfect

 

[fishyfriends3]

I just check the flow from the filter if it starts to drop. I know it's time to clean the sponges in tank water that I've removed during a water change.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[hsojkrieger]

I have marineland bio wheels and the wheels are still spinning pretty good. But may be doing that today thanks a lot for your input. What kind of filters do you have? I was thinking about switching to fluval down the road a bit if I can't go to a canister

 

[hsojkrieger]

I also have a sterilizer in the tank as well I haven't seen to much conversation on those yet

 

[fishyfriends3]

I have eheim 2034 two of them on my 65 gal and a fluval fx5 on my other tank.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Brookster123]

I rock a marineland on one of my tanks, works fine, I kind of made the guts out of other products though..

 

[Nothing]

I've got an Eheim 2026 (I think) and a Fluval FX6 on my 90g, and a Fluval 206 and Fluval U4 on my 37g (soon to be 55g) and I just clean my sponges when I feel like it's probably time. Like if I'm not doing anything the day I'm doing my water change and I have some extra time. My canister filters I don't clean very often maybe once every 6 months and they are fine. However I found an entire colony of assassin snails at the bottom of one last time I cleaned it...like it literally would have had to climb all the way up the output tube to the bottom, idk what it was thinking. Then it got stuck and had a bunch of babies or something. I can only imagine being at the bottom of a filter for a couple months....*shudder*

 

[hsojkrieger]

Haha that's crazy! I thought about getting snails but never have I wasn't too sure about them.