From 5 to 10 gallons- what to do

[megsmelody]

I have a 5 gallon fw and love it! After receiving advice from AA members, I am upgrading to a 10 gallon. My LFS told me to run the 10 for 24 hours and put half of the water from the 5 in there. Then add the fish. What should I really do? thanks

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I have a 5 gallon fw and love it! After receiving advice from AA members, I am upgrading to a 10 gallon. My LFS told me to run the 10 for 24 hours and put half of the water from the 5 in there. Then add the fish. What should I really do? thanks

What you should really do-transfer the filter and filter media from your other tank (keep it wet though) and maybe add another filter for support. Add your water, dechlorinate, add the fish and then keep doing some small PWC daily, keeping an eye out for any conversions of ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. Or you could start the fun process of cycling all over again

Glad go hear you upgraded! Good luck!

 

[LyndaB]

I have a 5 gallon fw and love it! After receiving advice from AA members, I am upgrading to a 10 gallon. My LFS told me to run the 10 for 24 hours and put half of the water from the 5 in there. Then add the fish. What should I really do? thanks

Honestly, I wonder why I keep being surprised at the poor advice given by lfs staff. Don't they know anything?

Good advice above. What fish do you have in the 5 and what will you plan on having in the 10?

 

[megsmelody]

I have 3 cardinal tetras, 1 black skirt tetra and I recently got a blue dwarf gourami so I need to go bigger. So I put the fish in after dechloniating? How long do I wait before adding the fish? Or is it just making sure the water is ok?

 

[jetajockey]

If I recall correctly, the 5 is a fairly new setup as well, isn't it? I'd just get some water in there, dechlorinate it, and put the fish in. You should definitely read up on fish-in cycling though to get a good understanding of what is happening in the tank, the main concern is keeping the water in tip top shape to keep the fish safe and happy.

Are you running both tanks? If so, I'd leave the dwarf gourami in the 5 by itself, spreading the bioload between the tanks will help slow down toxin buildups, but frequent water changes are still on the menu.

 

[LyndaB]

In case you haven't looked through these very helpful threads:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...started-check-out-these-resources-154837.html

 

[megsmelody]

Yeah, but within a month I'm in love with the hobby. And I got the wrong set up so I was either going to have to get rid of some fish or get a bigger tank.