lucky07
Aquarium Advice Newbie
So as the title says it looks like I'll be getting a 45 to replace my 33. Knowing me I'll be keeping both and just moving stuff around but that's beside the point 
.
, power just gave out. No power = no heater, no heat = bad for fishies. Hope this doesn't last too long.
Back on track. A little background on my tank cycling habits. I don't cycle unless it's a new out of the box setup. Here's how I set my 33 up not long ago, I played with hot and cold water while filling it up to get it to 78 degrees from the start (god bless digital thermometers), throw a seasoned biowheel filter in there, test water, wait 4-5 hours, test again and throw fish in if all is good. I've done this many times, never had an issue. My 20 was set up with a spankin new filter and I left it 2 days before adding fish. Zebra Danios to make sure if something goes belly up at least it doesn't cost much , that's as cautious as I'll get.
I don't advise the way I do this to people just getting started in the hobby however as you can end up with dead fish real quick.
Now with the way I've been doing things, common sense tells me if I do a 60 (or so) percent water change in the 33, taking the water off the top, put that in the new 45 and top both off with new water I'll have 2 established tanks in no time. Now everything will get a good cleaning and the media in the filter will get changed as the new tank is housing goldfish right now. No way am I exposing my angels to the potential pathogens etc. that may be in that goldfish tank/filter.
An established bio-wheel works wonders cycling a tank. Would I be better off running a bio-wheel in that 45 rather than the cannister? I don't have much experience with can filters and not too sure how easy it'll be to keep good quality water with it as with the bio-wheels it's a breeze and extremely low maintenance.
Any input would be appreciated.
. , power just gave out. No power = no heater, no heat = bad for fishies. Hope this doesn't last too long.
Back on track. A little background on my tank cycling habits. I don't cycle unless it's a new out of the box setup. Here's how I set my 33 up not long ago, I played with hot and cold water while filling it up to get it to 78 degrees from the start (god bless digital thermometers), throw a seasoned biowheel filter in there, test water, wait 4-5 hours, test again and throw fish in if all is good. I've done this many times, never had an issue. My 20 was set up with a spankin new filter and I left it 2 days before adding fish. Zebra Danios to make sure if something goes belly up at least it doesn't cost much , that's as cautious as I'll get.
I don't advise the way I do this to people just getting started in the hobby however as you can end up with dead fish real quick.
Now with the way I've been doing things, common sense tells me if I do a 60 (or so) percent water change in the 33, taking the water off the top, put that in the new 45 and top both off with new water I'll have 2 established tanks in no time. Now everything will get a good cleaning and the media in the filter will get changed as the new tank is housing goldfish right now. No way am I exposing my angels to the potential pathogens etc. that may be in that goldfish tank/filter.
An established bio-wheel works wonders cycling a tank. Would I be better off running a bio-wheel in that 45 rather than the cannister? I don't have much experience with can filters and not too sure how easy it'll be to keep good quality water with it as with the bio-wheels it's a breeze and extremely low maintenance.
Any input would be appreciated.
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