Need some advice please

[maximus1006]

I just set up a 250gal has a new wet dry and bio balls. My question is can I take the water out of my established 90gal put all the 90 water in the 250 and put the established ehiems on my 250 witch there are 2 of them im not sure what ones they are but there big... would I be safe for adding my fish?

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[skjl47]

Hello; Consider this approach. This assumes the established 90 can remain in place while the new tank is being set up. While there should be some beneficial bacterial (bb) in the water, many feel there is very little. This being the case there is not much benefit from transfering the water itself in terms of a tank cycle. There should be a considerable amount of bb in the filter media and on the other surfaces of the 90 gal. You could leave the 90 set up and transfer one of the ehiem filters to the new tank with new water. A few fish can be transfered to the new tank and there will be bb in the filter to feed on the ammonia. This way you have the 90 as a backup to quickly put the fish back into if you have any unexpected problems with the new setup.
Ths amount of biological filtration done by the bb is more dependent on the load of ammonia from the living things than the size of a tank. The bb population will increase and decrease depending on how much food they have available, in this case ammonia from the fish. This is why I, and apparently many others, tend to add fish a few at a time to a new setup in order to give the bb population time to colonize and adjust to the changing load.
There can also be a short term bacterial bloom in a new setup. What I like to do if circumstance allows is to get a new tank filled and running for a few days with the lights and stuff in place. There can be unexpected issues that are much easier to deal with if there are no fish in the tank.
Keep in mind that the bb in the old filters will begin to die off if you put them in the new tank and there is not an ammonia source available. So dont put them on the new tank too long before adding some fish or some other source of ammonia.
I am confident that others will add to this. Good luck.

 

[maximus1006]

Hello; Consider this approach. This assumes the established 90 can remain in place while the new tank is being set up. While there should be some beneficial bacterial (bb) in the water, many feel there is very little. This being the case there is not much benefit from transfering the water itself in terms of a tank cycle. There should be a considerable amount of bb in the filter media and on the other surfaces of the 90 gal. You could leave the 90 set up and transfer one of the ehiem filters to the new tank with new water. A few fish can be transfered to the new tank and there will be bb in the filter to feed on the ammonia. This way you have the 90 as a backup to quickly put the fish back into if you have any unexpected problems with the new setup.
Ths amount of biological filtration done by the bb is more dependent on the load of ammonia from the living things than the size of a tank. The bb population will increase and decrease depending on how much food they have available, in this case ammonia from the fish. This is why I, and apparently many others, tend to add fish a few at a time to a new setup in order to give the bb population time to colonize and adjust to the changing load.
There can also be a short term bacterial bloom in a new setup. What I like to do if circumstance allows is to get a new tank filled and running for a few days with the lights and stuff in place. There can be unexpected issues that are much easier to deal with if there are no fish in the tank.
Keep in mind that the bb in the old filters will begin to die off if you put them in the new tank and there is not an ammonia source available. So dont put them on the new tank too long before adding some fish or some other source of ammonia.
I am confident that others will add to this. Good luck.

I got yah,my 90 is my grow out tank.... my 250 is my step up grow out till my indoor pond is done.... I have a pima and a arowana in the 90... if I take the 2 ehiems off the 90 and put them on the 250 and add my 2 fish this would work? Couse of the namonia would be there Couse of the fish and my filters would pick the namonia up and convert as the process dois. While my wet dry cycles it self....please correct me if I misunderstood stand..

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[skjl47]

Hello; Sorry but I have a bit of difficulty understanding what you wrote. My guess is that you want to move both active filters from the 90 to the new 250. I was suggesting only moving one old filter to the new 250 but did not understand what fish you have.
I think that I see the issue. The arrowana can be a large fish and if it is indeed large, it will therefore be a large bioload on it's own. I am not sure what size a pima might be, but might also be large if it is able to hold it's own with an arrowana. The plan to move both old filters and both fish at the same time may well work. Any other structure from the 90 that can be moved into the 250 will have some bb on the surfaces and will be of value. The old filters and structure from the 90 gallon will be populated with much of the bb and should be close to a balance with the fish in the new tank. Keep the filters and structure wet and do not go a long time before adding the fish after the filters and such are moved to the new tank. Good luck.

 

[Countryboy]

You could also take all the substrate out of your 90gal. and put it in the 250. Take one of the canisters and put it on the 250 and leave one on the 90. Let the 90 recycle (if it's going to). You're going to need more filtration on the 250 so I don't know what you're going to do but it should be cycled.

 

[maximus1006]

Thanks for the advice... my 90 will still be running with diferant ehiems. I have a huge wet dry under my 250 that will be cycling

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