Oh, crap. *Need quick help please* *Updated*

[bunebop]

I woke up this morning to find that my corner tank (my 12 gal) is leaking pretty quickly. The only other tanks I have are a couple ten gallons and one 15 gallon w/ a large crack in the back which doesn't leak, but after this I'm thinkin' prolly don't want to risk it. I'm going to go out and get a 20 gal or so right now. My question for when I get back is how to move the fish w/ minimal stress and w/ mimimal cycling. Thanks guys! (I have 4 bettas and a tetra)

 

[Gena575]

If you move over your filter, gravel and plants/decorations, you should see little if any cycling. I would try to save at least some of the water too so it isn't much different than if you did a really big water change.

 

[bunebop]

yeah, that's what I was thinking. I might put the gravel in a container and put it in the bottom. I actually found another tank in my basement that's big enough so now I'm in the process of cleaning it out and praying it has no leaks. I got it from someone used. =/ Wish me luck!

 

[jcarlilesiu]

keeping all the gravel and media wet is the key (not tap water wet, old aquarium water wet) this will keep any bateria from dying off.

As far as moving the fish.. get them in some sort of bucket with their old aquarium water by netting them out of the old tank. Move all your gravel, decorations filter, basically set up your new tank. Move as much old water as possible to the new tank. Net them from the pot/bucket to the new tank and then pour the water in. Good luck

 

[bunebop]

Alright, I just finished setting up the other tank. it took forever to clean and I left it out on the porch for about an hour filled w/ water to make sure I don't have repeat leak situation. I put my fish into a big bucket and emptied out the rest of the water in the leaking tank and moved it out of the way. I had to put up a 20 gallon because it was that or a 10 gallon and that tank was on the edge of being overstocked anyway. I ended up buying new gravel for the 20 gallon, I didn't really have enough for it from the old tank anyway cause it was a hexagon and only had like 10 lbs of gravel. I set up the new tank w/ the new gravel put the old gravel in a big bowl and put the bowl into the tank. I kept the filter wet on the bucket that had the fish and took out the biowheel and just stuck it inside the bucket w/ the fish because I wasn't running the filter on the bucket anyway and I know that shouldn't dry out. I got the tank set up and ended up filling it 1/3 of the way with water from the outside hose, plus put in 2.5 gal of distilled, and then got it about 2/3 of the way full w/ my tap water. The other third was water from the old tank. Hopefully it was enough. The different kinds of water has a long story behind it and I won't go into that here. Anyway, because the old water was from the inside tap only I decided to put the fish into a smallish container and did the drip method for probably close to an hour since the water is going to have a different hardness and pH and I didn't want to shock them (once again, long story). All the fish are in there now and they seem to be doing fine. Hopefully since I have the same filter and nearly all of the old gravel in there the tank won't cycle too much.

I do have a couple questions though. (1) how long do I have to leave the container w/ the gravel in the tank before the new gravel gets seeded or whatever. and (2) I'm running two filters on it at the moment, one is the one from the leaking tank and the other is a bigger filter I had just sitting around from a different tank that's been down for a while. How long should I wait till I can take out the smaller filter? Thanks guys.

 

[IceH2O]

Is it the same color gravel? If so just spread it in the tank with the new gravel. If not most people would say about 3 weeks to be safe.

Same on the filter 3 weeks. I run, and it seems alot of others do too, 2 filters on my tank anyway. As long as the current isn't to strong for the fish its a better setup. Twice the filtration, twice the bacteria and if one goes out you still have one running.

 

[trotty]

If you can leave both filters on the tank.IMO cant have too much!

 

[bunebop]

Nah, different color gravel. otherwise I woulda just spread it around. I was getting tired of the color anyway. lol I could leave both filters on for now. but when I move I was hoping to set up another tank and that's my "spare" filter. It's only a 20 gallon and it has enough filtration on it for like a 50 gallon lol. I also have bettas in there and a baby guppy and they're getting blown around a lot by the currents. I guess I'll see if they get used to it first though. I have two filters on my 55, but that's only cause it's so big. I figured I didn't need it on a 20. But like I said, I'll see if the fish get used to it and if they do I'll leave em both in. Thanks guys!