Fully cycled tank upgrade

[bluemoon]

Hello all! I currently have a 36g fully cycled and stocked, and I just ordered a 65g. I would like to transfer everything to the new tank filters, fish, plants, decor, and water. Since I am almost doubling my tank size, will the new tank be considered cycledsince there will only be 36 gallons of cycled water? Will the beneficial bacteria buildup on the decor and in the filter be enough? Is it safe for my fish to do this? Thanks!

[MandyK]

You do not cycle your water: therefore if you move the old water into the new tank you will only be adding dirty water.

Just move everything you have over to the new tank, plus more filtration, and you'll be set.

The only thing that affects your cycle is the amount of stock and the waste they produce.

[bluemoon]

Awesome. Thanks Mandy! How long after moving everything over should I wait before I add additional fish to ensure everything is cycled and stable?

[MandyK]

Everything is already cycled. Moving everything to a different tank has no affect on the cycle. As long as you keep your already cycled media in your filter you'll be good.

Before you add more fish, you'll need to up your filtration. That IS one thing you need to worry about when you upgrade.

The rule that most here follow is to have a filter that is rated for double the gallons in your tank. If you're getting a 65g, you'll need 130g worth of filtration.

[madagascariensis]

What MandyK is trying to tell you(or at least I believe this is what she is trying to tell you) is that the amount of water is irrelevant.
most of the beneficial bacteria reside in the filter (more specifically the filter media) and the rest live on hard surfaces in your tank such as the glass and decorations. as long as
you transfer those items and transfer the fish simultaneously as to assure that the bacteria always have waste products to feed on, then you should be fine. the amount of bacteria also
isn't dictated by tank size, but by stocking level. a 10 gallon and a 100 gallon containing 5 neon tetras will in theory have the same number of bacteria, namely enough to process the wastes produced by 5
neon tetras regardless of water volume. If the new tank contains the same amount of filter and the same number of fish, everything will be fine even with teh different tank size. make sure though that when
you add more fish, add only a few at a time so that the bacteria population has time to grow to accommodate the higher waste level.

[MandyK]

Yup, that's a longer version of what I said.

[bluemoon]

That definitely makes sense. Thank you guys soooo much! So I recently purchased the aquaclear 110 (as recommened to me in another post). Any other recomendations for the 2nd filter? I currently have a Tetra Whisper 40. Is that enough? Or should I get something a little more robust? Thanks again!

[MandyK]

You could probably stick with that and be okay. If you have the funds I'd go for another ac110. Great filters. Then you'll have some good playing room for your stock.