Livestock and filter transfer

**gregyeoh** · 21st Mar 2014, 18:44

Hi AQers, I have a heavily stocked ~24cm 8L tank with cardinal tetras, corydoras, otos and some other fish, running on a Eheim 2213.

Over the past 2 months I've been doing a DSM with HC on ADA Aquasoil. I filled the tank last week and used 2 small hang on filters for water movement and to somewhat cycle the tank. I plan to transfer my livestock and the eheim 2213 to the new tank.

Could you advice me how I should transfer my fishes and filter from the 24cm tank to the 45cm tank, because the 45cm tank has not been cycled yet. Thanks.

**Y3H** · 21st Mar 2014, 19:21

I would prefer if you let the new tank cycle first, to prevent any unnecessary deaths.

As for transferring the fauna and equipment perhaps the AQ veterans could assist. I'm still a newb.

**gregyeoh** · 21st Mar 2014, 20:39

The thing is my Eheim 2213 is already cycled with my 24cm tank. But I'm wondering if the existing beneficial bacteria in the Eheim will be enough to keep ammonia and nitrites in check after moving it over to the 45cm tank. The bio load will be the same because I'm not adding more fishes than what was in my 24cm tank.

Also, how long does Aquasoil leach ammonia for? It's been on DSM for 2 months and cycling for a week.

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**Urban Aquaria** · 22nd Mar 2014, 00:39

If you have been running a DSM in the tank for 2 months, there should already be a beneficial bacteria population already growing inside the soil itself and a good amount of nutrients should have also been used up by the DSM plant growth, therefore the cycling process should be quicker.

To further accelerate the new tank's cycling process, what you can do is transfer 1/3 or 1/2 of the bio-media from your Eheim 2213 to the filters currently running in your new tank, let them run for a few days and test the water parameters, if all okay, then you can progressively move the fishes over.

I did that with my DSM tank too, after flooding, seeded the new filter with seasoned bio-media, it took less than a week for everything to stabilize and then i could shift all the fishes over.

**gregyeoh** · 22nd Mar 2014, 08:51

Is it possible to transfer my eheim 2213 together with all the livestock in one go to the 45cm tank? The bb in the eheim should be able to handle the same bioload right? Furthermore the eheim has a pretty decent amount of biomedia to support the move? Any advice appreciated.

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**ckaidi** · 22nd Mar 2014, 10:34

Correct me if I'm wrong. Your filter bb is meant for a smaller tank so meaning if you transfer to a bigger one mean that the bb need to grow further more to sustain the bio load. Just an idea maybe possible to run the eheim on the new tank for a few days 1st while using air pump for the old tank, (water change daily).
Reason is my tank cycled within a week when I used my friend cycled tank cr media.

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**gregyeoh** · 22nd Mar 2014, 11:01

Originally Posted by ckaidi

Correct me if I'm wrong. Your filter bb is meant for a smaller tank so meaning if you transfer to a bigger one mean that the bb need to grow further more to sustain the bio load. Just an idea maybe possible to run the eheim on the new tank for a few days 1st while using air pump for the old tank, (water change daily).
Reason is my tank cycled within a week when I used my friend cycled tank cr media.

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Hi ckaidi, thanks for the advice. Although the filter bb is meant for a smaller tank, the bioload in the new tank will stay the same because the amount of fishes will be the same in the new tank.
Furthermore, the higher volume of water in the new tank means that ammonia/nitrite concentrations won't rise as fast as in the small tank. Thus water parameters will be more stable.

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**Urban Aquaria** · 22nd Mar 2014, 12:58

Originally Posted by gregyeoh

Hi ckaidi, thanks for the advice. Although the filter bb is meant for a smaller tank, the bioload in the new tank will stay the same because the amount of fishes will be the same in the new tank.
Furthermore, the higher volume of water in the new tank means that ammonia/nitrite concentrations won't rise as fast as in the small tank. Thus water parameters will be more stable.

Bioload is only one part of the equation, its not just fishes, it also includes all the organic matter like plants and soil which the bacteria need to handle... the new tank is has more of it and has different water parameters so the beneficial bacteria need time to adapt to it too, if you shift the livestock over immediately, the water parameters may still be fluctuating so there might be toxic spikes in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate and that may affect them.

Its better to allow the beneficial bacteria and water parameters to fully stabilize in the new tank first, then do the transfer in stages to ensure a safer transition.

In addition, when you do shift the livestock over, do a drip acclimation on them so that they can also adapt to the new water conditions before introduction too.