New set up…how to move it all?

[Snakemau25]

Hi, so I have a 55 gal tank with black Diamond sand, 2 Emperor 400 filters and currently has a few Central American cichlids. I just bought a 125 gal tank and a Fluval fx6, also 2-300 watt heater, an inkbird controller and a Wavemaker (maybe will add a 110 filter as well if needed). Now the issue is I need to empty the 55 so I can move it out and set the 125….so my idea is to get a 42 gal brute trash container, move as much water and all the fish, somehow put one of the emperors filters in there and a Wavemaker and then drain the 55, move it out, set the 125 with 2 black Diamond sand bags and all the sand in the current 55 (1 bag), move all the wood and the remaining emperor filter (for about 3 weeks) to the 125 to help cycling and add Dr. Tims one and only….and hope it all works so maybe I can put the fish back in a couple of days?
any easier way to do this? Suggestions?

the pic attached is my current 55 gal tank

 

[jjohnwm]

Is your current tank fully cycled? Is the new tank going into the same spot to replace it?

If yes, just plop the fish and any live plants into the bin, drain the old tank and move it. Set up the new tank, install the same filters complete with their current mature media, use all your old gravel in addition to the new, and fill the tank with water of the correct temperature, using whatever dechlorinator you typically use for water changes.

You now have a new tank that is fully cycled for that bioload. Introduce your fish, sit back, crack or mix an adult beverage and enjoy your tank. Take it easy on feedings for a few days, but you should have no problems. It'll take a few hours, tops. Hardest part will be the physical moving of the tanks and stands.

You are essentially just making your current tank larger. Once it has been running this way for a few weeks, with your old and new filters together, the new filters will have been colonized by bacteria and you can remove the old filters one at a time over a period of a few more weeks if you wish. Each time you remove one, you are also removing a portion of your bacterial colony and should feed sparingly and monitor water parameters for a time to avoid ammonia spikes until the bacterial population rebuilds.

 

[cvar]

Treat it like a weekly 50% water change. But do NOT change your filter media. Keep the filters intact and wet the whole time, and move them to the new tank. If you change only the tank itself, and just add more water, then there's no fear of losing your cycled filter. I'd move the fish into a 5 gallon bucket, and drain all the 55g water into a few big holding buckets. Then empty the old tank, setup the new one WITH ALL THE OLD STUFF, ESP. FILTERS. The buckets will half-fill the 125g tank. Add fish too. Now it's exactly restored to the same as the 55g was, except it's now only half full. Just like a weekly water change. Fill it while adding Seachem prime, and you're done. No fear of cycling. I do a 50% change every weekend.

 

[jjohnwm]

Why fill the tank up 50% with dirty water? Sure, that's the same as a 50% water change; but here's your chance to do a fin-level, near-100% change. Take advantage of it. I have always changed lots of water, and with my recent upgrade to an on-demand water heater, I have upped the volume of my changes to 80-90%, usually done weekly. Never any problems with the fish.

When I bring the fish from my single inground pond into the basement in the fall, they go from that pond water (unchanged all summer, and with nitrate levels around 20ppm or more) directly into 100% new water, netted out of the bucket and dropped in. Never a problem.

The only benefit to using all that old water might come to those who have neglected proper maintenance and water changes for an extended period. If the old water is loaded with extremely high levels of accumulated nitrate, I have heard it claimed that a near-complete water change could potentially shock the fish. Not sure if I believe this, although I suppose it's possible. Fish that come from distant sources with vastly different pH and/or hardness might also derive some benefit from an admixture of the two water types before introduction.

Otherwise, using a bunch of old water setting up a tank reminds me of the old joke about the French Foreign Legion troop that has been tramping through the desert for weeks. The captain addresses the tired and dirty men and says '"I have good news and bad news. First, the good: we are all getting a change of underwear today!" The men all cheer. The captain continues: "The bad: everyone will change with the man on his left!"

 

[duanes]

Agree with the above, old water is basically useless, because beneficial bacteria are sessile (they live on surfaces). So keeping substrate, rocks, plants and filter media wet and viable is the key to a successful change over. I had to repair a 180 after a recent earth quake,
So I put all the important stuff in buckets, and barrels including fish, shrimp, plants, etc while the repair was done, ran air stones in them.
The repair took a couple days
When the repair was finished, the substate, rocks, wood etc. were added, quickly stated adding new water, replanting as it filled, and finally added fish at about half full.

 

[C. Breeze]

Old aquarium water is great for the lawn, the flower beds, the garden, the truck patch, whatever you got you want to grow- but if you are taking water out of a fish tank, leave it out. It’s spent.

put the fish in a five gallon bucket with an air stone while you work and do what jjohnwm and sky dog- I mean Duane said