Moving from 180 to 400gal Need advise

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
chen

chen

Candiru
MFK Member
May 10, 2005
470
4
48
Canada
About to put in an order for a 400gal acrylic tank. Since I am going to decommission my my current 180...what's quirkiest, safest way? What plans are as follows:

I've had 400 before and had to downsized to 180...Used 100 % of the 400gal tank water to fill my 180...so that was like a no brainer and did it that day with no problems at all!

contact water change from 180 (50%) into the 400. Inside my 400 I will have a sponge filter and a few powerheads to keep the water circulating inside.

3-5 days later, almost time for another water change in my 180..I'll put in the changed water into the new tank.

I will do this until I get at least I get about 350 gal of water from the changd water from the 180.

After I've acheive 350gal of pre existing water I will then add my rays and other fish into the new 400 gal tank.

I will not only kick in the sump but I'm going to use my previous canisters that that was running my 180 (FX5 and Eheim Pro 3 2080, both FULL of bio from Eheim). I will run them until I am happy with the fish for the first week or so. I wouldn't be caring too much about water clarity during this time since I'm bring water from changes.....

I will of course be adding the correct dosage of Seachem Stabilty to kick start all the wonderfull BB!

I think this the only way I can go instead of waiting a couple of months for the 400 to start up while it's next to my soon to be small 180..Just need to not be too impatient which I am all the time..
 
Sounds good.You really don't need to use any water from your 180 though.It will be full of nitrate,the reason to do the water changes,and there is no BB in the water anyway.It's all in your filter,on the glass,decorations,etc....
You could fill up your 400 with fresh water,transfer the fish and the filters,and be good to go,IMO.
 
chen;3566207; said:
About to put in an order for a 400gal acrylic tank. Since I am going to decommission my my current 180...what's quirkiest, safest way? What plans are as follows:

I've had 400 before and had to downsized to 180...Used 100 % of the 400gal tank water to fill my 180...so that was like a no brainer and did it that day with no problems at all!

contact water change from 180 (50%) into the 400. Inside my 400 I will have a sponge filter and a few powerheads to keep the water circulating inside.

3-5 days later, almost time for another water change in my 180..I'll put in the changed water into the new tank.

I will do this until I get at least I get about 350 gal of water from the changd water from the 180.

After I've acheive 350gal of pre existing water I will then add my rays and other fish into the new 400 gal tank.

I will not only kick in the sump but I'm going to use my previous canisters that that was running my 180 (FX5 and Eheim Pro 3 2080, both FULL of bio from Eheim). I will run them until I am happy with the fish for the first week or so. I wouldn't be caring too much about water clarity during this time since I'm bring water from changes.....

I will of course be adding the correct dosage of Seachem Stabilty to kick start all the wonderfull BB!

I think this the only way I can go instead of waiting a couple of months for the 400 to start up while it's next to my soon to be small 180..Just need to not be too impatient which I am all the time..
Click to expand...
why don't you just fill the 400 with clean fresh de-chlorinated water, move over your canisters where the benificial bacteria reside, then move the Rays over...You can still use STABILTY to boost the BB.
Your canisters have enough BB to keep up with the bio-load
now, so as long as you do not add more fish in the move you'll be fine...

The water you are talking about putting into the new 400 is W/C water which should be full of NitrAtes, what is the reason for doing that?

edit: fishbum beat me to the post...
 
fill the 400 halfway, then fill it the rest with water from the 180. Transfer all fish and filters at the same time.
 
Hrm...I will also be adding Seachem Stability so that it will help with the rapid growth of the BB. The only problem I don't think the bb inside my FX5 and Eheim Pro 3 2080 has enough bb for a 400 Thank. I was looking at putting just hanging the in and out let of the two filters over the tank..won't look good but not really caring on looks. How long do you guys think I will need to have my old canisters running before I will be safe? Maybe I'll fun the 2 canister under the tank and have the in and out lets of the filters into the sump ....what do you think?
 
I would not subject my fish to non acclamation.

Move half the water from the 180 to the 400g. Then refill the the 180g just like you would do a 50% wc. Also add 85g of new water to the 400g, at this point the water in the two tanks will be near the same(but some testing is always a good idea). You can now move the fish to the new tank, along with the rest of the water in the 180g. Then top off with new water and transfer your filters. Check water params over the next just to be sure, though I have never had any issues with this method.
 
chen;3566252; said:
Hrm...I will also be adding Seachem Stability so that it will help with the rapid growth of the BB. The only problem I don't think the bb inside my FX5 and Eheim Pro 3 2080 has enough bb for a 400 Thank. I was looking at putting just hanging the in and out let of the two filters over the tank..won't look good but not really caring on looks. How long do you guys think I will need to have my old canisters running before I will be safe? Maybe I'll fun the 2 canister under the tank and have the in and out lets of the filters into the sump ....what do you think?
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't it be enough? It's the same number of fish, just more water for pollutants to be diluted in.
 
I agree on just using new water. I just did this recently myself to my 800. Dechlorinate it and make sure the tank temps are the same prior to any moving. Move filters straight from one to the other and then transfer the fish. The filters will definitely have enough bio to keep up. As already said by others, the bio load hasn't changed just the volume of water.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom