Transfering fish to new tank.

[Strider199]

I bought my 29 gallon tank back in 1976 and it has been inhabitated by a variety of fish species over that time. It has been moved 6 times and sprung a leak which was sealed up after a weekend of learning to use sealant. The tank now is home to a forest of live plants, a pair of GBR, six neons, five Harliquins, four Glowlights, and a January tetra that was in with some fish I purchased.
But yesterday I decided to upgrade. I bought a brand new 55 gallon (48" x 12" x 18") tank. Now the plan is too get this new tank ready to transfer over the occupants from the 29 gallon. The wall this new tank will sit by did not have any out-lets near it so today I ran a new power source from the breaker box to a GFCI out-let I cut into the wall. The tank is sitting on a brand new cabinate stand which has been leveled. The tank has been washed.

Tomorrow I plan on going back to Big Al's and buy some new gravel (Black) and some substrate for the plants that I will be transplanting from the 29 gallon tank.
I see Seachem has flourite plant substrate which I am interested in. I plan on having a layer of gravel, the flourite, and another layer of gravel over the flourite. Is this the correct way to go about this or am I way off base?
I have two filters running on the 29 gallon, one of which ( Fluval 205), I plan to move over to my new tank which came with a Marineland Penguin 350 which has two Bio-wheels. Once the tank is filled and the Fluval is running in the new tank will the BB be enough to move the fish over from the 29 gallon tank?

The 35 year old 29 gallon tank is being given away to my sons friend for his snake which is out growing the 10 gallon tank it's in now.

[~Col~]

I can't answer the question about the substrate, but I can answer about the filters.

If you use the filters off the old tanks then you've basically got an instant cycle. You will have to keep an eye on it for the first few weeks, just to be sure. There will be BB attached to your plants and substrate from your old tank as well, are you using all of that? That would help too!

Good luck and post some pictures when you are done!!

[fishluvr]

as far as your substrate goes, Flourite does not need to be mixed with any other gravel, unless you want to do it for looks. Also depending on the size of the gravel you would get, eventually the two would mix, and the smaller of the two would wind up on the bottom.

[Strider199]

Thanks Col, I was pretty sure it would be cycled but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. And "yes" the plants and gravel will be moved into the new tank.

Thanks fishluvr, I didn't think about the two mixing after a time. The Flourite I saw is a reddish/brown colour which would make the black gravel look wierd.

I'll have to rethink my plant substrate because I do want a black substrate.:scry:

[friz]

Move everything to new tank including filter. If you want a larger filter. I would run both until the new tank is well establshed.

[JohnnyRaggs]

I agree with Friz, run both tanks untill you know that your new 55 gallon is properly established. I would take 50% of the water out of your old tank and put it in the new tank with some of your plants and one of your filters. Run it for a week and you should be good to go.

[Goes to 11!]

+ 1 to friz & col


I would take 50% of the water out of your old tank and put it in the new tank with some of your plants and one of your filters. Moving the water is a waste of time & energy.

The BB does not reside in the water column, But in the filter and to a much lesser degree the substrate/plants & decor.

Flourite comes in black (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Flourite&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13882173353538356248&sa=X&ei=ya5qTYXSGsjAtgfI78HmAg&ved=0CDYQ8wIwBA#) also btw.

[Strider199]

Flourite comes in black (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Flourite&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13882173353538356248&sa=X&ei=ya5qTYXSGsjAtgfI78HmAg&ved=0CDYQ8wIwBA#) also btw.

You are right 850R. I bought 2 bags of normal gravel (black) and 2 bags of the Flourite in black. Man was that a load to carry to the car!

I will slowly add some of my older black gravel to the least planted side when I move my fish.
Speaking of moving fish; the two tanks are approx. 5 feet apart. What is the safest way to move them from one tank to the other? Do I bag them and climatize them or do I make sure the temperature between the two tanks is identical and just move them over one by one?

[kingkarter]

When i moved my fish from my 10g tank to my 55g. I just set the so it would be the same as my 10g and when it got to that temp i put them in.

Have you thought about using sand as a subtrate?

[Strider199]

I have not thought about using sand kingkarter. The Flourite is holding the Cabomba really nice in the new tank. I thought a sand type partical would be too constrictive on the roots of my Amazons and Anubius. Thats why I was looking at something a wee bit larger like Flourite.
Is there a black sand that would mix with gravel?

[kingkarter]

Sand works great wit planted tanks and it looks realy natrual. There is more them one tipe of black sand you could mix with gravel. Heres a article on sand you might want to read http://www.tetra-fish.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15658

Post 300:ssmile:

[tori.lock]

I have sand in my planted tank, and it works wonders. Not sure about how different plants like it, but everything in mine is going crazy. I'd say the only problem I have is that it seems to take a while for the plants to really root in well, since it shifts more easily than gravel would.