50gallon to 120gallon

[UltimateRayz]

OK, Ill start by saying I am nervous. With that being said.... I have a 120gallon set up next to my 50gallon set up. I am transferring 3 peacock bass, and a Royal pleco from 50 to 120. I acquired the tank a few weeks, refinished the tank and stand, soaked and scrubbed with vinegar and water, and then flushed and scrubbed with just water for about 8hours st8 (literally, outside my business, just let the hose run, and two siphons drain at the same rate, with intervals of scrubbing with brush). I set the tank up and filled it with water. Treated it for metals etc and have (2) 300w heating it. I recently purchased 2 used Fluval 403s and I have a Cascade 1100 on the 50gallon now. The Fluvals still had all of the media inside and a lot of it looked good. I figured seeing I tested the filters before and they were flushed with very cold and probably highly chlorinated water, that all the bacteria and "stuff" would be dead and gone. So I reused the biomax stuff, and replaced the foam pads with some of my own new infused filter pad stuff. Is that ok? I also have a bubble stone in there. If I am ok so far up to this point? If so my next questions would be.

1) once water is good temp (78-82 ) should I put some of the biomax from my established cascade into the fluval 403 that is currently running to help colonize?
- Should I put all the additional substrate in to fill the 120, and then start adding the old stuff a few scoops at a time?
- Drift wood too

2) should i do small water changes to my 50 and put the water into the 120

3) Do I have to provide ammonia to feed bacteria seeing I am trying to (Ive seen shrimp or something, or controlled dose of %100 pure ammonia from Ace

4) When and how should I go about adding the cascade from the 50 to 120?

Sorry for such a long post. Just nervous, never did a transfer and never owned anything bigger than a 50 ( and I thought that was good size ). I should also mention, the only LPS that I up to now thought was knowledgeable , has no knowledge of a fish-less cycle.

 

[wrslrcichlid]

1. Putting any media from a seeded filter (filter pad, biomax, etc.) will help the "new" filters establish bacterial colonies much quicker, making the cycling process much quicker as well. If you move enough bacteria then it is possible to skip cycling altogether.
- Not sure what substrate you are using, but there will be some bacteria on there so it will help. If you don't want that substrate in the tank long term just use something (like a filter sock or something) and put it so your filter returns/outputs are flowing through it. Then after a a few days to a week, maybe a bit longer, you can remove. The driftwood (and anything else in the established tank) will also have some bacteria on it so will help some as well. Granted the substrate and tank decorations won't have nearly as much bacteria as filter media, but will have some.

2. Adding water from an established tank won't do anything except add nitrates to your new tank. There is very little bacteria floating in the water so it won't really help with the cycling process. The only possible effect of adding the "old" water to the new tank would be to help the fish feel more at ease in their new home. Personally, I don't use old water when I move my fish but you can - just again it won't do anything for cycling.

3. There does have to be some source of ammonia for the bacteria because otherwise they will die off. If you use filter media from an established tank and then move your fish immediately then there won't be any problems. If you are trying to cycle the tank before moving your stock over then you can do a fishless cycle (adding small amounts of ammonia - there is a process to follow) or a fish cycle (introduce a hardy species of something and cycle the tank that way - just be prepared to possibly lose whatever you cycle the tank with, doesn't always happen but can). Just don't leave the new tank to run without an ammonia source for any length of time, because the size of bacterial colonies is controlled by the amount of food available. Literally your fish stock is the limiting factor on the size of the bacterial colonies. If you remove one or more fish from an established tank then some of the bacteria will die off. If you add one or more fish then just the opposite occurs, some more bacteria is able to be sustained and therefore grows. It should be mentioned that there is always some bacteria dying and new bacteria growing - just like our skin.

4. I would move the cascade when you move the stock. At the same time I would put some established filter media from the cascade into the fluvals to jumpstart them. This is better than just hooking up the cascade and leaving the fluvals with new media hooked up to the tank. It will take longer for the fluvals to get seeded.

No problem for the questions. I am surprised that an actual LFS wouldn't know about fishless cycling. Both of the ones near me recommended it when I started out, and the people at my p**smart and p**co also know about it (but they are still pretty clueless).

The biggest thing is to just make sure you test your water regularly after the move just to make sure you don't go through a minicycle or a full cycle. Even the best laid plans fail sometimes, and we don't always know why. You can do as many water changes as you want during the first month or so, but I wouldn't vacuum the substrate or anything during that time. I will finish with: you want 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and nitrates as low as reasonably possible (usually below 20ppm). Not trying to insult your intelligence, just didn't want to skip it for you or others who might see this.

 

[UltimateRayz]

Thank you soo much! So I could get the tank to temperature, make sure the waters clean, no ammonia and good PH. Add more rocks ( I have rocks, keeping same color and everything just need more to fill the bottom ), seed the Fluval, and add the cascade, and put my bass in, and the rest of the contents of the 50 ? I thought the tank had to be cycled ( whether fishless or not ) before i put the bass in. Thinking about it now, the cycle is to establish bacteria, no? and if i already have a filter with bacteria in it, and the fish start pooping and eating. . .there will be food to keep that one going, and more room for a new colony on the new filter? . . . Is it okay that I reused someone elses media on the new filter? I plan to just run the cascade 1100 and the Fluval 403. . . should be somewhere around 400GPH. . is that sufficient also?

 

[wrslrcichlid]

The only problem with reusing someone else's media is if there was some disease or something, otherwise it shouldn't be a problem. You could just soak the media in bleach or something to kill anything living and then just make sure to rinse them REALLY, REALLY well to remove the chemical. You are correct about skipping the cycle, but again just pay attention to the water parameters because the tank still might go through a short mini-cycle or something.

As for whether 400GPH is enough really depends on your stock. The biological will probably be plenty, but not sure about the mechanical.