Blonde needs help

[hhasty79]

You know how you come up with these really good ideas and then realize that they were really stupid ideas? Help me avoid that! I'm moving a 10g tank into a 20g and am trying to figure if it will be safe for fish immediately/near immediately.

 

My logic runs thusly. Fill 20g halfway with new water, salt mix. Mix overnight. Add entire contents of 10g. = cycled 20g tank? Isn't it just like I did a 50% water change on an established 20g tank? I guess I might ought to reacclimate critters (currently a hermit and bristle star) in case salinity jumps around?

 

While I'm at it....is tap water okay for FOWLR tanks, or is it a gamble with copper in the water and some inverts? I can arrange RO water if it's too risky, tap would just be faster lol...

[tinyreef]

go with the ro water at least if not ro/di or distilled. normally for fo it's ok but the presence of inverts changes the requirements. (as you correctly note, the possibility of copper)

 

the 10g to 20g migration sounds fine. equalize temp (couple degrees higher on the 20g is ok, not lower) and pH (should be as close as possible) and all should be fine as the majority of the filtration in the 10g is transplanting to the 20g.

[jburke30]

Originally posted by hhasty79

My logic runs thusly.  Fill 20g halfway with new water, salt mix.  Mix overnight. Add entire contents of 10g. = cycled 20g tank?  Isn't it just like I did a 50% water change on an established 20g tank?  I guess I might ought to reacclimate critters (currently a hermit and bristle star) in case salinity jumps around?

 

When I did this, I took half the water from my 10g and put it in the 20g. I then transfered the LR and critters to the 20g. Added the rest of the 10g water to the 20g, and rinsed my substrate (I wouldn't recommend rinsing your substrate, I did specifically because of some decay problems I was having). I then moved the LR and hermits to a holding container (a plastic one that I use for water changes), added the substrate into the 20g and then put the LR and hermits back into the 20g. After that I added new RO salt mixture into the 20g (making sure that temp and salinity were the same).

 

Now in retrospect, what I should have done is moved the LR and critters to the holding container first, and then rinse/move the substrate.

 

However, this whole point is moot if you're replacing the substrate . I guess my point is that I felt the need to add the substrate with as little water in the tank as possible to keep the clouding down.

 

Just my 2 pennies,

 

Jason

[jjharrisx4]

what you're planning should be fine. regarding the tap water...I used tap water for my reef for years before buying purified water (Glacier). The main reason for using ro/di water is to limit imported nutrients (phosphate, silicate, nitrate, or dissolved solids) to control algae growth. Your results may vary, but if you don't mind algae growth, use the tap.

 

You'll probably see a mini cycle from the tank move. you will be exposing substrate, and LR to air, which will cause some die off. Also, you'll probably bury some critters that don't like to be buried so they'll die, and so on. It shouldn't be too much to worry about, just watch the ammonia and do a change if needed. Good luck!