How should I change over tanks ?

Yikes, I’m under pressure to finally change over tanks with a big birthday bash in two weeks time and two huge tanks dominating my lounge and causing chaos and blocking things!

My holding tank, 440 lt, has about forty fish mainly cardinals and pleco young, yikes the parents are starting to spawn again, just to confuse things further. The holding tank has no substrate, the old substrate a 60/40 mix of fluorite and gravel has been stored in bags out side for several months. The temp tank contains a rich forest of plants, all temporary potted in plastic pots with a mix of silica, Flourite and PFP. I have been running the holding tank for at least six months on a Fluval FX5 , so the filter system is pretty well matured.

The new tank is 1.8m, approx 730 lts.

I had ideas of simply closing down the one system and moving everything across to the new tank in a day or so or is this wish full thinking...

My questions –

How should I go about changing over tanks and can I do this quickly without jeopardizing the well being of my fish ?

I was planning on doing the following in this order ..

- lay out and scape old substrate, (mix of fluorite and silica) into the new tank. I would need to add another three bags or so of Flourite for this bigger tank and to increase the fluorite to silica ratio to 70/30.
- Add say 150litres of well point water, already tested by the prof, and seems good, PH6.7, low GH and KH and no chlorine of course.
- Add say another 200 liters from the temporary tank, this would of course mean dropping the temp tank level stil holding the fish by nearly 50%.
- Transfer plants across. I am not keen to go the full hog with a pfp substrate and was opting for Flourite. However I plan to still keep my main plants, some massive swords, potted using a PFP and flourite mix. If I submerge the pots in the gravel could I be faced with anaerobic bacteria problems later and should I perhaps drill small holes in the sides of the pots for future root development and to reduce the chances of creating harmful anaerobic pockets ?
- New tank would now be half full of water. Move FX5 canister filter across.
- Install short tem filtration and aeration into the old holding tank to keep fishies going..
- Run new tank for 48 hours or so, let the filter kick in and temperature settle.
- Add a further 200 liters of water from the holding tank.
- Test water and then transfer fish
- Over the next few days slowly fill the remainder of the new tank with another 200 lts of well point water..
-
I would only plan on introducing the CO2 later after a couple of weeks when the system has matured.

Would be keen on your thoughts and advice..

Apologies for this ridiculously long post, but I need to get this right and have a drama free party !

 

As there have been Zero replies to this post, can I take it that this proposed move plan is in order and that it's not vital to cycle the tank if I am using the same matured canister filter and most of the water will come from the temporary tank where the fish are currently housed ?

Any advice on keeping the main plants potted with PFP and Flourite and submerged in the tank substrate would also be welcome.. ?


I need to make the big move within the next day or so. Is there anybody out there?

 

Hi Trevor.

Just read your thread now and yes you will be fine going the route you have outlined. No need to even wait the 48hrs in my opinion, you can just do the move as soon as you are temperature ready.

 

Many thanks Marko, glad to hear there is somebody out there ! Any thoughts on the submerged potted plant thing, was keen to carry on using PFP, but not through out the entire substrate, but was concerned with perhaps creating an anaeobic bacteria plocket in the pots ?

 

Sorry bud, I dont have the knowledge to clear that one up for you. I dont have much köwledge of plants and fert's. I did read somewhere on the forum that it was suggested as you propose doing, so maybe it'll be fine. Sorry I cant be of more help.

 

I would remove the plants from the pots and plant them in your flourite substrate forget the pfp. Essentially pfp is a cheaper alternative to flourite. Swords also get MASSIVE root systems I uprooted one on friday and its on 20cm high but the roots were like 2 feet long

 

Thanks Bud, my swords are doing so well with the PFP and Fourite mix that I was keen to continue with this method of madness and I kind of like being able to contain them in pots and for moving if needed. However I take your point and will probably give the rest of the plants their freedom. Any thoughts on the potential anaeobic bacteria plocket problem ?

 

Not a clue! I have never dealt with anything like that so I'd just be guessing

 

My experience with potted plants (non aquatic) is that to leave them in a pot is generally a bad idea. The plants get "root bound" meaning that the roots eventually take up so much space in the pots that it doesnt leave much room for the soil. Long term you are effectively starving your plants on nutrients, this problem usually gets solved by either, transplanting to bigger pots, transplanting to soil or aggressively trimming the roots. Generally plants like to have their roots trimmed periodically (not ture for all plants), this promotes a healthy root structure and obviously healthier plants. Now the question is whether or not this is also true for aquatic plants? My guess would be to rather remove the plants from the pots and let them enjoy the substrate. This way you also avoid a potential anaerobic situation.

Any way you look at it, you have (in my opinion) a really fun project to do. Please take pix of all the steps so we can see how this turns out.

regards
Eugene