The great migration...

[Skyrmir]

I've finally saved up enough brownie points with the wife and managed to talk her into letting me get an 80 gallon tank from a friend of ours.

I just talked to the guy at the new years party and it looks like I'll be picking the tank up tomorrow. So once I finish cleaning it (It's had turtles living in it for a few years, HUGE water lines). I have to figure out how to move all the fish from my 30, 20, and 10 gallon, into the 80.

The 30 currently has 7 almost full grown swordtails, 5 Panda Cories, 5 zebra danios, a harlequin rasbora and a 5 inch common pleco.

The 20 gallon has 6 juvenile swordtails, 1 full grown swordtail and a mystery snail.

The 10 gallon has about 15 swordtails that are just a bit too small to be safe around the adults.

Now at my disposal I have 2x5 gallon buckets and the tanks themselves. Bearing in mind that one of the caveats of getting the 80 gallon is that I have to get rid of all the other tanks. And also, the 80 gallon is going to sit where the 30 gallon is currently at (big fluffy chair gets shoved outta the way of me seeing my tanks from the couch )

My final challenge is that I will have to install a tank seperator, so that we can keep the swordtails seperate. The swords in the 20 gallon are my wifes, the ones in the 30 gallon are mine. I don't want them mixed because we're breeding them for different colors/finnage. (I'm going for Lyre-tailed merigold, the wife is going for a two tone white belly, orange look) and I plan to also put the 10 gallon tank IN the 80 gallon as a safe haven for fry/breeding tank for the danios at a later date.

I figure I'll have the 80 gallon cleaned and ready to be brought in by Monday night. I just haven't figured out how I'm going to bucket all the fish to get everybody moved. I'd also like to re-use the sand from the 20/30 and add more obviously for the extra size.

So am I just confused, or am I short a few buckets? With all the options for extra fish dancing in my head I can't think straight.

 

[DeFeKt]

2 buckets perfect, 30g and 20g inhabitants into a bucket each with as little water as possible and an airstone, dump all the decore in together in the 80 including as many filters as possible.
Pump as much water over as well to keep as much of the cycle as you possibly can, then just top up with fresh water as you would a normal water change and start acclimating the fish in the buckets.

Great score though, and hope it goes well whichever way you go !
Admittedly I'd tend to keep the other tanks for fry raising but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Matt.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I wouldn't worry about keeping the water since it doesn't hold bacteria. Run the filters from your old tanks on the new one and you'll be fine. You shouldn't really have a cycle. Run them for about a month or so at the same time with the new filter. I'm not exactly sure how you're going to keep the swords seperate except for tank dividers. I'd just put the fish from the 30 in one bucket and the fish from the 20 in another bucket. You do have a Python, right? If not, with an 80 gal tank, I'd definately recommend one.

 

[Zagz]

Run your old filters on the tank as long as possible with the new filters, assuming you are getting new filters. Water doesn't hold much of the necessary bacteria. The 2 pails will be good, I would drip acclimate them once all the decor and substrate is moved. Good luck!

 

[Skyrmir]

Ok, like I said, mixing the OMG I'm getting an 80 gallon tank factor with chronic insomnia had me trying to figure out how I was going to do all this, with very few brain cells left for logical thought.

I think everyone is right, one bucket for the 20, one for the 30, and I should be all set from there. Drain the 30 down to a few inches, drop the plants/decor into the 20. Do the 30/80 swap, refill and setup the 80, (Prime+BioSpira+old filters/decor) The bio-spira is mainly a safety net. Between the plants and the old filters I shouldn't have a cycle, but better safe than sorry. And even if the bio-spira does nothing, I'm covered.

That leaves me with the question of the new filters. Right now I'm using a Tetre Whisper 40I and i have to say, I'm very happy with it. It's quiet, does a good job, is very easy to clean the filter, and doesn't suck my sand off the bottom.

I was debating on just getting 1 or two more of them for the 80 gallon. Each one by themselves isn't enough for that much water, but I haven't seen a larger version, and cost doubles or triples by going to the cannister filters.

The only down side I've seen to the 40i's is that even with Bio-spira, it took a while for the tank to get a solid bacteria load. Now that it's set in though, I haven't had the tinyest hickup from it, even when I added 7 swordtails, I never got an ammonia or nitrite reading, just a slight speed up in the nitrate rise.

So the question becomes is it really worth it to go to a cannister filter? And if so, what brands have people had the best luck with?

The other thing I haven't figured out yet is what to attack the water marks on the tank with. There won't be any fish to worry about during cleaning, just the silicon seals, and some extreme power rinsing afterwords is going to happen regarless. Any suggestions for this without scratching the glass? I was debating on CLR or some similar chemical bathroom cleaner to do the trick, figuring comet or the powder cleaners would be too scratchy.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I've had fantastic luck with Cascade canisters. They are great and not overly expensive. I'd definately go with a canister with the tank. Anything over 45, go with a canister, more effecient.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

If you get cannisters, I'd probably get one for each section of the tank, as you are probably going to be using dividers. And cannisters are pretty quiet. I know my XP3 is. Some good chioces are Cascade, Filstar XP series, Fluval, all good filters. Since I know the XP's now, you could do an XP1 for each section, or a Cascade or Fluval equivalent of the XP1. That way you can keep all the fish separated, and can keep the top almost completely covered. Just an input and output line from each section.

 

[Skyrmir]

Ok, after finally getting a tape measure to this thing, it's 75 gallons. Still more than enough for my fishy madness.

Checked a couple fish places today and neither of them had eco-complete or black sand. I'm still at a toss up there. My panda's love the black sand, and the plants are all low light crypts or ahacharis so root tabs+fish waste seem to be keeping them plenty happy. I'm not sure if I want to add the iron content from the eco-complete, plus if I remember right, the granules can be a bit on the sharp side so would be rough on panda whiskers. I know the eco-complete is much better for the plants, I just don't think it'll really be worth the money with a low light setup. And I prefer my plants to grow slowly anyway, less pruning and fewer leaves stuck in my filters.

On a brighter note, I am getting a nice cedar hood to go with the tank. That'll save me a lot of work, just needs to be sanded and sealed. I should be able to steal the lights needed from my 30 gallon hood, with a slight addition and have about 100-120 watts effective lighting, for a cost of about 20 bucks.

I couldn't find a wide enough partition for the tank yet either. I'm hoping Big Al's will be having thier sidewalk sale again tomorrow, since thier store is closed for a few months until storm damages are repaired. :|

As for the filtration, I think I am going to go with the cannister. Since any partition I put in there will be permeable What I'm thinking is hooking up my 40i on the smaller partitioned side, and an XP2 or similar for the main tank. It's going to depend on what's available, I kinda like what I see on the XP2 package as far as getting the attachments and everything for hooking it up. Will have to see what comes with the Cascade, I haven't seen more than the exterior and some pictures of what's inside the filter itself.

Okies, so tomorrow is finding filtration, getting the stand and hood sanded/painted. Finding substrate and picking up a few more light sockets. Of course above ALL else, I must get flowers for the wife. I saw her look when I brought in the tank today, gotta keep the wife faction on the high side, will make things much easier when it's time to add new fish.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I have 3 of the Cascades, what do you want to know about them? There are three baskets inside the filter. It comes with a sponge and filter floss. Purchase ceramic rings to put in the other baskets. It has two hoses that are black that connect to the input and output tubes. They are also black so they are easily hidden. They are easy to take apart but also have a tight seal. Great filter IMO.

 

[FishFingers]

I have Tetratec, Eheim and Cascade canisters. They are all great. Eheim is the best but its very expensive (I have a Pro thermo 2 that I love because theres no need for a temometer in the tank). Cascade will do fine if you have budget constraints. I would recommend the eheim filter media it can be re-used. Substrate pro and the normal ceramic rings. I find the cascade stuff needs replacing to quickly. Every 6 months just wash 1/2 the substrate pro with hot water and hey presto your back in business.

Best of luck.

Damn envious, trying to get the wife to allow me to get a 190G tank. Im way past the multy tank syndrome.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I find the cascade stuff needs replacing to quickly.

Really? What have you had to replace? I've had the Cascade 1000 running on the 150 gal tank (previously on a 55) for over a year and we've never replaced anything. Well, of course the filter floss, but that's it. Ceramic rings just get rinsed in water and the sponge just gets squeezed every month or so. We've had the 1200 running on the 150 gal tank for about 10 months now and we haven't had to replace anything with it except for the obvious filter floss. Same thing with the 1000 on my 55 gal tank.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

darn envious, trying to get the wife to allow me to get a 190G tank. Im way past the multy tank syndrome.

hehehe.....

 

[Skyrmir]

Just finished sanding/painting/staining the hood and stand today. Had to do all the work at a friends place that has a yard. Nothing like carrying an iron stand and a 2x8 cedar framed hood after sanding all day. 8O

Very glad to hear about the Eheim. I managed to catch Big Al's sidewalk sale down here and the guy there talked me into one while I was getting the rest of the sand I wanted for substrate. I thought about the eco-complate, but I really don't want fast growing plants. I want not dying plants that grow slowly. (If I could just explain that to my Anacharis) So 40lbs of black sand plus the sand from my 30 gallon along with some 'bermuda green' rocks will be the substrate. The rocks are really a filler thing, but they have a nice color to them and they're not too rough. Worked great siliconed to my DiY overflow in the 20 gallon.

I'm still debating on how I want to arrange them in the new tank. I was thinking of a small hill or maybe a rock garden look. I've got about 3 gallons of a 5 gallon bucket filled with them, and plenty of safe silicon to work with. Depending on motivation I might even build a small cave/castle thing. My jaw hit the floor when I saw they wanted $120 for a small castle at the LFS. So far I've put in about $200 for the tank, stand, filter, hood, paint and substrate. At this point the only essential I'm missing is the tank divider to keep from mixing up my swordtails. I don't expect to spend more than $10 on it, so overall I think I'm making out pretty good for a 75 gallon tank.

As for the wife, Flowers one week, diamond earings the next. The trick is to wait a few days so she has time to get compliments from her friends. THEN ya mention the big tank that's practically being given away... (Side note, jewelry MUST be seperate from holiday gifts. Poor timing on my part)

I'll get some pics taken before and after getting the tank wet tomorrow. Also have to get some last shots of my 20 and 30 gallon tanks. I'll miss them, but it's worth the trade up.