moving my 55 to put in new 110 gallon

[troysdiiscus]

Ok going to make this short...I have to take down my 55 BB tank have 9 discus from 3.75 to 4.5, 3 cory cats and 2 rams. Replacing with 110 gallon. I have to make slight modifcation to stand for the 110 to fit. So it will be down for bout 2 days. I can move the 55 to the floor (only for 2 days) make adjustments to stand (one day) then fill with 30 gallons from age barrel, rest with tap. Use some of the water from 55 tank? Tank then would sit for a day. I will leave one filter sponge in 55 the other sponge filter and canister to the new 110 (also adding a fx5) So by the end of the 2nd day maybe 3rd day can plop discus back in new tank. Anything I am missing?? Any suggestions would be great...............

[Keith Perkins]

You might want to put styro on the floor, just to be safe. It'll help keep the tank warmer too.

[troysdiiscus]

thanks keith, its in my bedroom so the floor is carpeted. Still use styro?? I have my jag 500 watt heater in it, going to take that one out and put in a 200 watt heater and fill the 55 back to bout half way. Will that work??

[Keith Perkins]

I would, I've felt some pretty funny bumps walking across carpeting before.

[Bill63SG]

+1 to the styro.You can get it dirt cheap at Menards,and this way your sure you wont tweak up the 55 not being flat.

[strawberryblonde]

Ok going to make this short...I have to take down my 55 BB tank have 9 discus from 3.75 to 4.5, 3 cory cats and 2 rams. Replacing with 110 gallon. I have to make slight modifcation to stand for the 110 to fit. So it will be down for bout 2 days. I can move the 55 to the floor (only for 2 days) make adjustments to stand (one day) then fill with 30 gallons from age barrel, rest with tap. Use some of the water from 55 tank? Tank then would sit for a day. I will leave one filter sponge in 55 the other sponge filter and canister to the new 110 (also adding a fx5) So by the end of the 2nd day maybe 3rd day can plop discus back in new tank. Anything I am missing?? Any suggestions would be great...............

I'm sorta weird this way, but I can't see any real reason to let the new tank sit for a day, or to add any of your existing tank water to it when you fill it. I also wouldn't bother with putting the canister filter into the new tank for any length of time prior to adding your discus to the tank.

Here's how I do it, and why I don't think the extra steps are much help in the process:

1) Fill two 5 gallon buckets with aged/tap water, treat with Prime, add 1 of the existing bio filters to each bucket and a heater. When at the correct temp, plop half of the discus in each bucket, then place in a dark quiet spot with a top to prevent jumping.

2) Fill a third bucket and treat, add heater and airstone, then plop in the corys and rams.

3) Drain the 55, remove it and start work on the stand.

4) If you can't finish the stand in one day, finish it up the next morning, fill with aged/tap water, setup heaters and any new filters and check to be sure that everything is working well.

5) Remove the bio filters from the 2 discus buckets, plop them into the new tank and get them powered up.

6) Drop all the discus and other fishes into the new tank and enjoy.

My reasoning behind doing the bucket thing, even overnight is that you're keeping the discus in bio filtered water, which is good them, and you're keeping your bio filters in with peeing discus, which is good for the filters. Leaving them a day or two in buckets is perfectly ok and won't hurt them at all so long as you keep it dark and don't feed them. The corys and rams won't suffer from the lack of filtration...they create very little bio load if they aren't being fed.

I've done the bucket method when transporting fish from the east coast to Nebraska (3 day trip) and did the bucket method for 2 and a half days when I purchased my new 115g tank 18 months ago. Didn't bother my discus one bit and the transition was smooth as glass.

Ohhhhh, addressing the addition of tank water to the new tank. My thinking is that there's no point in adding "used" water to a nice fresh tank. Put those guys into a totally fresh environment whenever you get the chance!

[troysdiiscus]

ok thanks Toni, keith and bill. That does make sense Toni. The one reason I said a day was my aging barrel is 35 gallons so thought putting that in it and filling the rest with tap water, treating with prime and letting the non aged water sit for atleast 12 hours with air pumps going, would help in aging and degassing with new water?

[strawberryblonde]

True, leaving it for a day would help! =)

I don't age my water, so I guess that thought never occurred to me. You should still be ok with leaving your discus in the buckets while you're aging the water in the tank. Just don't put one of your current bio filters in there during the aging process...only add a new one, or some airstones. You wanna keep those BB well fed on discus pee right up to the moment they go into the new tank.

[troysdiiscus]

ok thanks I have a new on I put in there about 5 days ago. The small one I took out I put in the freezer, read somewhere if you do it will keep the BB on it? So I can put the small one in one of the buckets along with the one I had in the tank for about 6 months. Will that work?

True, leaving it for a day would help! =)

I don't age my water, so I guess that thought never occurred to me. You should still be ok with leaving your discus in the buckets while you're aging the water in the tank. Just don't put one of your current bio filters in there during the aging process...only add a new one, or some airstones. You wanna keep those BB well fed on discus pee right up to the moment they go into the new tank.

[pauline]

I'm glad you posted this. I'm doing the same thing and find myself standing and staring at everything trying to decide how to approach it.

Thanks.