Upgrading tank size advise.

[Brittanirdh]

Hi,
I currently have a 70 gallon tank, that my husband is going to let me upgrade to a 125 gallon (possibly bigger) for Christmas. I know this is months away, but want to make sure we plan this out right. The current tank is set in the wall viewable from living room (access to clean and feed is in a spare bedroom), and he plans to put the new tank in the same spot (hole in wall getting bigger). He knows how to do all the construction stuff, but I was wonder how to make the transition safest for my current stock, and best way to keep the cycle. My plan is to keep everything from current tank (water, gravel, decor, live plants, same filters etc) in large Rubbermaid containers during the transfer, the fish in a separate large Rubbermaid container with air stone. Put everything in new tank, old water and all, will have to also obviously and many more gallons of new water too. Is this a good plan? I do not plan on adding any new fish. Will I loose my cycle? How much time do we safely have to work with the current stock in container (two EBJD 2 inch and 3 inch, 1 veiled angle at least 6 inches, 3 Pictus cats 4 inch, about 10-12 long fun danios, 5 nerite snails, tons on Java moss, Java fern, and Anubius Nana). I know they will all continue to grow, that's why I wanna upgrade.

 

[magpie]

That sounds like a good plan to me, but someone else can chip in to be sure as I've not done this type of upgrade. Same filter, with 70 gallons of same water and all the same decor, plus live plants I would think would be fine.

If you want to add some more security, you could add a bunch of floating plants at least temporarily (water lettuce for example - you can get this cheaply) - they are good at helping process the bad stuff.

Exciting!

 

[ehh]

You only need to store enough old water to house the fish while you're setting up the tank and to keep your filter media wet. The rest of the water can go into the yard or where ever. The only way you'll lose your cycle is if you replace all the media from your filters or don't use a conditioner when you've set up the new tank.

 

[Angelphish]

I would connect the filter to the container so no ammonia builds up. Everything else sounds fine.

 

[Brittanirdh]

Thanks guys! Keep the advise coming.

 

[Angelphish]

Thanks guys! Keep the advise coming.

Don't look into larger fish. My first tank was a 20 long and I wanted to upgrade to a 55, but then I saw some more fish I liked. Oh well, a 75 won't cost that much more. Then I saw more. I have enough money for a 125, the more fish the better, right? I ended up with a 210.

 

[millerkid519]

180 is only 6 inches wider ... that is a good idea to keep the water from your 75 and put it in the new tank keeps your perameters close to the same. Just my opinion you should upgrade the filtration while you are at it the best time to do it is on a new tank

 

[celebrist]

When I upgraded from my 150 to my 450 I put all the fish in six different tubs each with a sponge and an airstone. I also bought little pre set heaters (used later for quarantine and class room tanks). I didn't feed them. Since they were going to be in there a week I bought some bottled bacteria and used that the first week but everyone did fine, no losses in the tubs or after transferring. I did not keep any old water. Also I just put my canister on another tank to keep the bio alive. I tossed my moss and fern in a bucket of water. Good luck and don't forget to post pics of the upgrade

 

[Brittanirdh]

Current set up, just to compare later.

 

[Brittanirdh]