setting up new tank...?

[moonstream]

so, I've decided to boot my guppies from the 29 to a 20H, which will be a community. I was planning to move the filter/media over to the 20H with the guppies, give it all a week to settle, and then add a few fish (want to add a pair of honey gouramis and a -male- platy, mainly, and eventually a small group of panda cories). then, with the 29, start all over with new media and do a big fish-less cycle. think that would be okay?

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Should do fine, I moved a 10g into a 29g I did a 50% change on the 10g putting the 5 I took out into the 29g along with the old media and moved everyone over with in a couple days.

 

[discuspaul]

Sure, you could do that.
An alternative would be to place your new filter (what you intend for the 29) with all of it's new media, into your 20 gal to work along with the seeded mature filter you've already moved over from your 29. Give it 2 weeks or so, preferably 3, and it will get seeded as well. Then place that new filter back into your 29 and immediately add whatever fish you want to introduce to it. Just be careful with how many fish you put in at first - you don't wan't to overload the bio-filtration level initially. Then you wouldn't need to bother with the fishless cycle in the 29 - and it doesn't take any more time, nor any need for working with ammonia to cycle.

 

[Glabe]

+1 ^

 

[moonstream]

I think I may end up adding the dithers I had planned to keep with the sorority to the 29 now (6 cherry barbs or harlies, depending on what they had) to hopefully get some of the guppy fry (there's really too many, all of mixed ages) and then run the new filter alongside the one in the 20g to seed it. when I was ready, I would pull all the guppies I could, move them and their filter to their tank, and then add the bettas. depending on how long I let the filter run on the tank/how long it take me to get the other tank up and running, I may add the 3 cories I'd planned as well.

my biggest worry in not fish-less cycling the 29g is that I am going to have to add a large amount of fish (10 betta girls) over a fairly small amount of time. I was thinking I could stagger it somewhat- like 5 girls and then another 5 girls, maybe a week apart, or 5 girls and then add 2 and 3 after another few days, but really, I dont want to wait too long; I want to get everyone in, and let them sort out who's on top and who's not, so I can see if I'll have to pull anyone. or do you think it might be alright to just add them all at once and keep an eye on levels?

so, I'd rather let the filter for the 20g seed on the 29g and add the dither school I was planning, since I think they may help eat a few fry (cherry barbs will at least, IME) and I'd have something more to look at as well.

 

[discuspaul]

It would be less risky to stagger the introduction of fish as best you can, in the manner you mentioned, over a week to 10 days, (if you don't want to lengthen the additions to any longer period of time). Still better than adding them all at once, and taking a chance on experiencing an unwanted ammonia/nitrite presence.

 

[moonstream]

well, it turns out the 29 hadnt completely cycled, so I decided to just scrap it and fish-less cycle it. I moved the guppies to a few spare tanks for the interim. the 20H also has a decent chip in it; I'm looking into getting a 35g hex tank off craigslist to use in its place. I'm going to set it up as a natural planted tank, so I wont have to cycle that one, and I'm letting the soil air out any ammonia it might contain, so there's no chance of it leaching the ammonia once its in the tank. hopefully I can get it all setup before the end of next week.

after the fishless cycle is done in the 29- will it be okay to add all the fish I planned for the 29? its a rather long list- 8-10 female bettas, 6 of some kind of schooling fish, 3 cories....

 

[the wizard]

You will still need to add your fish a couple at a time to allow the bacteria colonies to build up for the increased bio load. Adding all of your fish at once can overload the bacteria and cause an ammonia spike.

 

[moonstream]

I'd heard that fishless cycling allows a larger bioload to be added initially? is that untrue? maybe add the bettas, then the dithers, then the cories?

or were you talking about the 35? I'm going to move the guppies over to that one after letting it sit for 24hrs, and then add a few fish a week until it is stocked.