Help me not make a mistake ona my set up.

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mzhantsche

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2010
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OK. Tomorrow i am upgrading my tank to a 180gal. Ive upgraded tanks before so i have an avrage level of confidence going in. I was going to take my black aro out and put him in a 60gal (its the biggest thing i have) while im setting up the new tank. I have to move him out cuz the new tank is going were the old one sits now. I also have to add a section on to my stand after i get the old tank emptied. I plan on having him out of the new tank for about 5-6 hours. (1 hour to tear down old tank, 3 hours to put addition on to stand, and 2 hours to set up the new tank)

He is 16" long. Does not frighten easily. Im going to skip the feeding today. I am going to use water from the old tank in the 60 gal while hes waiting.

First question...will he be ok in the 60gal for 6 hours? I was planning on covering the tank with towels to cut down on light and put a air stone for oxygen. Thoughts?

second.....I am using the sand from the old tank+ 50 pounds on new sand. Saving all the water from the old tank (100gal of water) and putting it in the new one. I have two large canister filters that should have lots of good bacteria in them. Will this be enough to do a mini cycle so i can put the fish back in after its set up? How long does a mini cycle take?

Im very nervous today. I have a knot in my stomach. I really dont want to lose the aro. If anyone see any problems in my plan please say something. Id rather catch it now than have a sad thread about how i lost my aro.

I will also make a thread showing progress of the new set up. Thanks so much everyone.
 
sounds ok. what about putting one or both of the canister filters on the 60 gallon while you're setting up the new one?
and as for new sand i wouldn't add any this time. i would add about 5-10 lbs every water change after it's been set up.
make sure to cover the 60gallon with something that the aro cant jump out of/through.

how are you going to save all 100gallons of water? and how are you going to be taking the aro out?
 
Im going to use black trash bag for the aro. I have 20 5 gal. buckets. hahahahaha Is the new sand going to throw off a cycle? Whats the concern for adding all the sand?

I could put one canister on the 60 gal but i didnt know if it would be better use to put it on the new tank to help it cycle faster.
 
get a large thick aquarium bag or double bag to transport your aro. a single garbage bag will likely rip from the weight of the water or the aro thrashing around.
drain your tank to at least 50% before taking out the aro because there will be a high chance he will jump out while you're trying to bag him
....but with 20 buckets lying around he'd at least fall into one of them

the new sand may or may not even if it's been cleaned. i've heard of random cases where substrate changes have killed fish. with the stress on the fish involved with changing tanks/environment i wouldn't want to add another variable that might give additional stress or change in the water parameters.

put one canister on the 60 and one on the new tank while you're working on it
 
yeah the main thing with the canisters is to have them shut off as little as possible, the longer they are turned off and freshwater isnt flowing to the bacteria the more bacteria that will die, i would set up both the filters on the 60g while your working on the stand and everything and then once you have the new tank set up enough to put water in it go ahead and connect at least one of them to it while you finish setting it up so its already started being filtered. GOOD LUCK
 
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