The End of 100l of Emptyness

Woohoo :bigsmile: - I got my 100l tank onto a suitable table yesterday and by 01h00 sleepthis morning I had approximately 60l in with silica gravel substrate (5mm) and a 700mm air curtain. I put a corner filter in as that is all I have until I shuffle my other tanks. I have added Nutrafin Cycle,Aqua Plus and Tetra Nitrate Minus. I plan on adding the 25-30l of water from my existing tank into this tank to equate to approximately 60 - 70% water change as well as the gravel and Boyu submersable pump from the 30l. :idea: I have a Dophin C500 cannister which will be hooked up to the tank as soon as possible.
P.S: This is not the suitable table. I will take some pics tonight. Hurry up 17h30...:evil:

 

why the cycle (haven't you been running the old tank for more than 8 weeks . The filter should have more than enough bacteria to spare for the new tank)

 

@BigFish - It seemed like the right thing to do. The old tank has been running for 6 months with a few house moves etc but managed to transport most of the water every time. I would love to empty my 30l into the 100l tonight but it's probably not a good idea?

 

@MarcHawke, Looks good. What are your plans for this setup?

 

@SloMo.00. - I am going for a lightly planted community tank with harlequin rasboras, male guppies, dwarf gouramis, Tetra (still deciding which ones - currently have 7 Neons), 2 German blue rams (if I can find them) and cory's (will probably need to cap the silica gravel as it is quite large and sharp). This tank will also temporarly house a 15cm sailfin pleco until I can sort out the gravel/algea cleaners for this tank.

 

Sounds awesome. Some nice color going in there. Luckily pfs is cheap. Ha ha. Im sure the cory's and the plec will thank you for that. Lighting? T8?

 

@SloMo.00. - I currently have a single T8 with a 6500k daylight (I think - will check tonight) and I am going to add another T8 (pink) plant light. I'm not sure which is the best brand of these. I also have an atinic for my 30l which I am going to use for "moonlight/sunrise"

 

i used to save my money on the additives & just squeeze the old filter crap into the new tank & by magic less problems.

 

So when can I move the fish and should it be the pleco first and then the guppies or vice versa or all at once or a single guppy or......:bigsmile:

 

since it is very complicated & quite a large tank i would recommend bagging each guppy & then acclimatising (sp) them slowly to your new tank.
just dump the pleco by grabbing the tail & swinging it over to the new tank
pity you dont have the giant gourami & the koi to move over :ahhhhh:
(please ignore the above comments if you are new to the forum)

 

@BigFish - I may have to do the swing the pleco by the tail manouvre :laugh: as my fish net is about 10cm wide and he will definitely not fit in the net. I will keep the species to fish under 15cm - :blink1:

 

Exciting times! I also have an empty 100l tank, got a stand this weekend, just don't know when I'm going to have time to set it up.

is it ok to keep German blue rams with the guppies and smaller fish?

How many of each species are you planing to keep?

What plants are you looking at?

Sorry for all the questions, just thinking of ideas for my tank.

O and are you going for a special substrate?

 

@bylaag - This is my first tank of this size (I know it's small for some) so super excited. As far as I know from what research I've done and questions asked the rams should be fine (I will be very sad if this turns out incorrect!). I am going for a shoal of 6-10 of each of the smaller species (harlequins and tetras) with a pair of Dwarf gouramis and hopefully a small shoal of cory's and maybe a SAE or a smaller ancistrus (I need to trade/sell/give away my 15cm sailfin pleco - my 2 1/2 year old daughters favourite fish - expecting many tears).

I currently have a lot of alternathera (lovely purple/red plants) and some grassy plants which I will get help with ID soon. I'm thinking of lots of reds and purples at the back of the tank with the more grassy type plants for the fish to swim around and through in the front of the tank.

I am not trying any special substrate at the moment but I did get the Seachem Fundemental Plant pack which has Flourish, Flourish Iron and Flourish Excel. I will probably get fert tabs and the NPK enhancer pack.

 

Update - So I got a call today from my wife to say that my sister-in-laws have decided that my tank is too low and needs another table :laugh:. What to do. Do I continue setting this tank up or wait until a new table/cabinet is made?

 

you whipped --> sister-in-laws
Keep them involved. That way spending later on becomes easier.
What you do now may make or break/(slow down) your hobby

 

I'm not so sure if that is the best approach. Rather try to coax the fella into a bucket/jar or plastic bag.

These guys have very sharp spines, and they also can put up a heck of a fight out of the water, which can result in you ending up with an eina on you're hand and the plec getting a bump on the head if it falls to the floor.

 

@BigFish - I asked my wife if any of them suggested a bigger tank. :laugh: - The response - "No"!

The ladies rule this family but I don't mind. For the most part it works...

I'm thinking of completing the setup where it is and then doing the whole empy and move manouvre as I will have to get the table custom built by my brother-in-law. Now to trawl DIY for a 915mm cupboard design.

 

@Good_Times I'm not really serious about the tail flipping.
not sure about MarcHawke :nuts:

Rather use a empty plastic 2l coke bottle with a bit of babby marrow as a trap

Well a guy can try . At least you fast on your feet (Mentally speaking)

 

@Good_Times - I was joking and I think @BigFish was too. :bigsmile: I will definitely find a bowl that will fit in the width of the 30l to collect him.

 

In actual fact, going from a 30litre tank to a 100litre tank is not a major problem if you already have a seeded filter, and can use the entire 30 litres from the main tank.

I would move the filter over about an hour before the fish. Make sure both waters pH are the same, and that the temps are the same, and then go for it. The main reason for the cycling products are to seed the filters, but if you have a seeded filter already, and the water is dechlor'd, you should be fine.

Whenever I do a rescape on my tank I remove all my fish, discard the water. (Fish go into temp storage for a day). Filters stay alive circulating a bucket of tank water. Rescape the tank. Add water. Add dechlor. Hook up the filter that is still seeded. Turn heaters on. As soon as the water is at temp and pH is stable, (usually 6-10 hours later) I put fish back in. Goes against the text books.. but technically you not setting up a new tank if you have a filter that is still alive and kicking. (bacteria wise that it.)