transfering one tank into another tank

[Munod]

I want to move my fish from the 10 gallon to the 29 gallon. This are the tanks' histories.

I have a 10 gallon tank with gravel substrate, has been completely cycled for about a week now, has two filters: a 10 top fin one, and a generic petco 20 gallon one. I have 1 adult dalmatian molly with 10-15 fry (all almost half an inch now -- which is why I got the 29 gallon) that belong to a silver molly that died after she had them. A few decorations, some fake plants. It's been running since February.

So ok, I recently -- like 4 days ago, set up a 29 gallon glass tank. It has eco-complete and flourite substrate, moderately planted with java fern, java moss, pennywort, and something else. It's running with a 20 gallon filter that came with it and I've only dosed it with Flourish Excel to get the plants to settle, no CO2, moderate light strength set up.

So if I move both filters from the 10g to the 29g, can I move the fish right away to it, or how would I be able to safely move the fish? I do plan to acclimate them by letting them float for a bit. Both tanks are at 80 degrees fahrenheit right now.

I bought ammonia (janitorial strength formula) to cycle the 10 gallon afterward with two DIY 10g sponge filters. If I leave in the substrate and decorations, would that help shorten it?

I don't plan to get any more fish until the 10 gallon is cycled again.

I hope that wasn't too much to read!

:l24:

[Lady Hobbs]

You can simply move your fish and filter over but keep in mind, your filters are really not adaquate for that tank even using both of them. I have a cascade 300 on my 29 and that isn't enough.

When you add more fish, just add 3 or 4 at a time, wait a couple weeks and then add a few more again.

[escamosa]

If the 10g was fully cycled, and the media in the two filters are nice and healthy, with enough of all the good bacteria in them, then when you move those filters to the 29g, you should have an instant cycle. Just make sure when you move the filters, that the media remains in some of the tank water from the 10g, so that the bacteria doesn't die off, and you get your fishes in the tank ASAP to keep feeding the bacteria in the media.

And to save yourself from another cycle in the 10g, why not just move the smaller of the two filters that you have, back to that tank. Again, it will give you an instant cycle. Then you can add another new filter to the 29g. I think you need more filtration anyway. thumbs2: But keep testing the water in both tanks for a while, just make sure things are still working nicely.

And LH has beat me to it! Hahaha.

[Munod]

Thank you both! Lady Hobbs, I read up that the filter (cascade 300) is for 100 gallons -- if that isn't enough for the 29, then what would be?

And escamosa, thank you again. I am excited to give my fish a bigger home, and I'm glad I can do, hopefully, with less stress involved. I will follow your advice for both tanks.

[escamosa]

You're welcome! And just my 2 cents worth on the filter size. If the cascade 300 that we're talking about is the HOB style filter (hang over the back filter), then in my opinion that's heaps of filtration for a 29g tank. That filter should pump around 300g of water an hour. So that's filtering the water in your tank over ten times an hour. If it's the submersible model, then that's a different story. They pump a lot less water.