Graduating to a 55 Gallon Tan

[bkmdano12]

Started out with a bag of carnival goldfish my son-in-law brought home for the grand kids. 4 years later we have 1 left that has out grown 2 fish tanks. We added 2 Lionhead Goldfish and 1 has survived. The common and the lionhead have survived together for 4 yrs now. The common is too big for the 25 gallon tank so I bought a used 55 gallon tank with a Fluval 306 cannister.
I'm in uncharted territories as far as setting up a larger tank with a cannister filter. Been on You Tube a lot in the last couple of days!! Decided to join up here and get some opinions before I put my 2 gold fish in the new tank.
Started up the tank last Sunday and have been letting it run for almost a week now. Added 2 1 oz. bottles of Turbo start freshwater 700. Added some aqua plus too. Also added about 25% of water from the 25 gallon tank. PH level is 7.2, Nitrate level is 15 ppm. The ammonia level 2.0 ppm.What do I need to add to lower the ammonia ppm level? 0 ppm would be ideal!

 

[elizae]

Do you know about the Nitrogen cycle? Your tank needs to build up the bacteria it needs to convert the ammonia into nitrite, and then into nitrate. You do not need to add anything, but instead let the tank mature. You should add ammonia to the tank everyday and watch the water parameters as it cycles. It will take 4-6 weeks. You fish tank is ready when you can add ammonia, and in 24 hrs your ammonia and nitrite readings are 0 and your nitrate readings are 5ppm or above .

Canister filters are basically just big normal filters that sit under the aquarium and are a lot more customizable, but a little bit harder to clean.

 

[bkmdano12]

Nitrite level is at 0 ppm. So add Ammonia every 24 hrs and check daily? Ideal is Nitrate above 5 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm and ammonia 0 ppm.

 

[elizae]

Yup! The best way to add ammonia is to either dose with pure ammonia or putting shrimp into a stocking and letting it rot (Gross but it does it's job).

There are a lot of resources on cycling or maturing a tank, you can just google "Nitrogen cycle".

You can also move your old filter into this new tank, and then you can instantly move this fish in. Your filter houses most of the bacteria the aquariums needs. After a few weeks you should be able to take your old filter out if you wish.

I recommend investing in a bottle of Seachem Prime, if you do not have it. It removes chlorine from tap and detoxifies ammonia and nitrite up to 1ppm.

 

[bkmdano12]

I do have a bottle and will add some today. Thanks for the advise! I feel safe now transferring my 2 pet gold fish into the new tank tomorrow morning.

 

[elizae]

If the ammonia is still to high by then, you can do a 50% water change, which will cut your ammonia in half, and if the fish are not in there yet you can do more. (We don't recommend more than 50% changes at once when fish are in the tank, because we don't want to stress them out too much or change the water super drastically. If you ever need to change a lot of water, change 50%, wait a few hours, and do another water change.)

You're welcome! I'm sure your goldfish will absolutely love all the new space!

 

[earhtmother]

Transferring gravel and any decor from the old tank to the new (rinse in tank water NOT tap water if you want)will help jump start the cycle too as next to the filter media it is where the majority of the beneficial bacteria lives