New 60 Gallon Tank

[mcsully]

Hi all

New person with lots of questions being answered by this awesome forum. But I still have a few I would appreciate some help with.
This past weekend I went out and purchased a new 60 gallon tank. For the past 12 months I have maintained a 20 gallon hexagon tank. 3 sharks and 4 tiger barbs and 1 pleco.
For the pass few months I have really wanted to get a larger tank and as I stated earlier, the opportunity presented itself (a good sale ).
When I first setup my 20 gallon I used a product called NUTRAFIN CYCLE. It seemed to work well and only lost 1 fish ( I lost another later on because an inexperience person putting to much chemical in the water to clear up an algae issue). I've read the articles on cycling and noted that this was written almost 3 years ago (I might be wrong).
Question,

Would you recommend using this product? (NUTRAFIN CYCLE)
Should I attempt to put in some "hardy" fish to help the process?

My objective is to place my tiger barbs, sharks & pleco in the 60 gallon (while adding a few more) and place 1 or 2 oscars in my 20 gallon..

Equiptment being used
200 Watt Heater
AquaClear 70

Any help or suggestions would be great.. Or maybe a point to a url i missed..

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[PlecoCollector]

First off, Welcome to MFT!
I'm sure your fish will appreciate the tank upgrade quite a bit. On cycling, I suggest using Bio-spira (if you can't find it in a LFS, the internet has quite a few vendors). It'll make the water safe for the fish in about 24 hours, though it isn't perfect, so you still may lose a fish, but I think the chances are low. That way, you don't have to wait out the full cycle.

On the 20 gallon, Oscars really get way too big to be kept in one. If I'm not mistaken, each Oscar needs about 75 gallons to be comfortable. A 20 would really be too small to keep one in for very long.

Besides that, I think you're on the right track. What other fish do you plan on putting in the 60?

 

[mcsully]

I'm going to add to my collection of sharks and tiger barbs. Get another pleco and some other bottom feeders. I've had a good run with those fish and always enjoyed their color and activity.

 

[FishGeek]

I agree with PlecoCollector I would go with somthing else in your 20.

 

[Limi310]

Welcome!
I've heard many bad things about Nutrafin Cycle - mainly that it doesn't work. I tried it once and it didn't seem to do anything to help the cycle process. Bio-Spira is a good one or I've heard good things about Stability by Seachem (never used it personally though).
One of the other things you can do is 'borrow' filter media or gravel from your 20gal as that it where most of the beneficial bacteria lives.

I agree with what others have said about the oscars - 2 would need a much bigger tank. If they are babies you might be ok for a short time, but you should be prepared to upgrade the tank. I think they grow pretty quickly.

 

[mcsully]

Thanks for the words of advice. When you mention "borrow" filter media. Should I take out my whisper filter (its been 30 days & needs a change) and put it in the 60 gallon tank? WHere should I place it?
Should I worry about an algae issue that I had in the 20 gallon? It seems to be resolved.. I moved the tank out of direct sunlight. Am I okay to take some gravel and move it to the larger tank?

I feel like a kid in a candy store

 

[PlecoCollector]

I took the filter cartidge from my 40 and put it in my 20 to help it, though I'm not sure if they did any good.
Don't worry too much about algae, unless, like you said, it's near a window. Otherwise, you should be okay.
Yes, you're find taking gravel to the larger tank, it'll help your cycle along

 

[Seleya]

You don't need to change your filter every month. As a matter of fact, it's better if you don't. When you do your weekly water changes, just slosh the media cartridge in the dirty water to get the worst of the gunk off and pop it back into your tank.

My suggestion would be to put the filter you intend to use on your 60 gallon on your 20 while you decide what you want to do. This will seed the media and give your 60 a jumpstart. It takes about a month for the bacteria to really get a good foothold on media but any time is better than none. Stability is a good product as is Biospira. Do you have test kits?

The oscars will grow way too fast for the 20 hex to be an option, so keep researching. If you'd still like a couple of oscars, you'll just have to get another tank! (hey, I have 6 in my bedroom!) What might be nice is to plant the 20 and have some glowlight tetras, harlequin rasboras or other cute little fish -- maybe some otos once it's better established or shrimp. I'm amazed the sharks got along well enough with such a small footprint.

With your 60, definitely increase your tiger barb shoal -- at least 7 total if not more would be great.What sort of pleco do you currently have? With 3 sharks, I would stock the bottom conservatively.

 

[mcsully]

Okay I took your advice and added in two hand fulls of gravel to my 60 gallon (from my twenty). I replaced my whisper filter bag and took the old one and placed it in the 60 gallon, across from the AQUACLEAR filter. I noticed that the water flow is pushing on the whisper filter bag. My thinking here is that it will help the process a long.

I still haven't though of a theme yet.. I'm envious of some peoples imagination here.. Now its my turn to see if I can come up with something good.. Right now I was thinking of a space landing or something..

 

[mcsully]

You don't need to change your filter every month. As a matter of fact, it's better if you don't. When you do your weekly water changes, just slosh the media cartridge in the dirty water to get the worst of the gunk off and pop it back into your tank.

My suggestion would be to put the filter you intend to use on your 60 gallon on your 20 while you decide what you want to do. This will seed the media and give your 60 a jumpstart. It takes about a month for the bacteria to really get a good foothold on media but any time is better than none. Stability is a good product as is Biospira. Do you have test kits?

The oscars will grow way too fast for the 20 hex to be an option, so keep researching. If you'd still like a couple of oscars, you'll just have to get another tank! (hey, I have 6 in my bedroom!) What might be nice is to plant the 20 and have some glowlight tetras, harlequin rasboras or other cute little fish -- maybe some otos once it's better established or shrimp. I'm amazed the sharks got along well enough with such a small footprint.

With your 60, definitely increase your tiger barb shoal -- at least 7 total if not more would be great.What sort of pleco do you currently have? With 3 sharks, I would stock the bottom conservatively.

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately I have two different type filters so I am unable to substitute one for the other. I was told by the LFS to change the bag every 30 days.. But that makes sense what you said.

I have a test kit. I just finished checking my twenty gallon and everything look awesome, PH and ammonia specifically.

The sharks are ready for a new home and that is the reason I got the tank. My fiancee loves the look of the sharks and can't wait until I get them into the bigger tank. That is why I'm trying to do things right. I don't want him to die..
And I agree, more tiger barbs will be coming.. On the pleco, I'm not really sure.. I'm a novice at this so all I remember is it being a pleco.. He is growing a lot in the 20.. He was so small now he is getting larger.. he to is looking for a move..

 

[PlecoCollector]

Probably a Common Pleco. Browish color with darker markings (maybe some lighter ones too?) Big googly eyes saying, "Zuchinni! Zuchinni!"? Then it'd be a Common They're usually just sold as a "Pleco" without any other fancy name.

I'm sure your fishies will love you for the new tank

 

[Seleya]

What sort of sharks are they?

It doesn't matter what type of filter you have, my suggestion was to put the entire filter on the 20 WITH the 20's own filter also running until you were ready to move the fish over. Putting the filter media from one tank to the other is fine, especially if it is directly in the stream. If it's small enough, you can put the cartridge right into the Aquaclear. Adding some gravel is also good and will help seed the tank. Have you moved fish over yet? The bacteria will only live a limited amount of time if it doesn't have food.

The LFS says to change them every month so they can sell you more cartridges. I use mine until they're literally falling apart and don't use carbon unless needed -- I stuff polyfiber in the bag instead.

 

[mcsully]

Probably a Common Pleco. Browish color with darker markings (maybe some lighter ones too?) Big googly eyes saying, "Zuchinni! Zuchinni!"? Then it'd be a Common They're usually just sold as a "Pleco" without any other fancy name.

I'm sure your fishies will love you for the new tank

That would be patches As we like to call him

 

[Seleya]

Big googly eyes saying, "Zuchinni! Zuchinni!"? Then it'd be a Common

Heh, that sounds like half my fish! and my doggies, too!*crazysmil

I'm sure your fishies will love you for the new tank

They're going to go nuts in that tank. Have fun setting it up -- make lots of innies and outies for them to wind through and explore. Give the barbs some plants or driftwood to play tag around too. You'll be amazed how they'll be -- especially once you bump that shoal up! Like different fishies!

 

[mcsully]

What sort of sharks are they?

It doesn't matter what type of filter you have, my suggestion was to put the entire filter on the 20 WITH the 20's own filter also running until you were ready to move the fish over. Putting the filter media from one tank to the other is fine, especially if it is directly in the stream. If it's small enough, you can put the cartridge right into the Aquaclear. Adding some gravel is also good and will help seed the tank. Have you moved fish over yet? The bacteria will only live a limited amount of time if it doesn't have food.

I haven't moved the fish yet. I was going to wait until the cycle process was complete (thought that took like 4 weeks or so). I turned up the heat to 86 ontop of the filter and gravel. I was under the assumption that this would speed up the process of the breeding of the bacteria.
My next move was to go by some hardy fish and place them in the tank.
Looks like I might have the wrong idea.. Any suggestions

 

[Seleya]

You need something to feed the bacteria, just moving them over won't do it, you need to give them something to sustain them and encourage them to makes lots of baby bacteria.

If you are thinking of adding hardy fish, it's a great deal easier to use hardy fish you actually want -- if you do it right, they'll survive. IMO trading in "cycling fish" is a bit sketchy -- they're often somewhat compromised which doesn't seem fair to the fish or whoever buys/adopts them next.

You're moving ALL your fish over to the 60 or just some? If all of them, you can set up your tank, dechlorinate, decorate, move the 20's filter onto the 60 along WITH the 60's filter and move your fish right on in tonight. Especially since you already moved the filter media from the 20 into the 60 with nothing to feed it -- the 20's filter won't have much bacteria but should probably still be moved.

If you want to stock the 20 also, there should still be bacteria in the gravel and on all the surfaces in the tank so if you stock *slowly*, you shouldn't have to cycle your tank. You just need to start stocking it within 1 - 3 days.

Until you can decide what to do, you may want to shift everything bacteria is living on -- 20 filter media, etc back onto or into the 20 so you have time to do it right. You can just float the cartridge for the time being.

 

[mcsully]

okay I took your advice.
Added the Whisper Filter (20 gallong filter) into the 60 gallon along with the fish. Right now I have 2 tiger barbs (lost 1 a while ago and didn't replace it), 2 sharks and 1 pleco.
The sharks already seem to be enjoying the new home.

So as it stands I have the two filters going. The old filter bag from the whisper is hanging across the Aqua Clear 70. I placed in some gravel and granite from my old tank. The heat is at 78 degrees.

I took some reading and my PH is 7.6 and my Ammonia is .5
Should I be worried or maybe missed something? There was a mention of stocking *slowly*. Should I keep it as is or add a few more fish?

Again thanks for the help. Flying blind for a while.

 

[Seleya]

You may have a "mini-cycle", just the bacteria being disrupted and needing to catch up. If that's the case, you should see everything level out shortly. Keep taking readings and perform water changes as needed. It shouldn't cycle like a new tank would. I've had minicycles which lasted maybe a week when I've done something suitably disruptive. You can use some Stability if you continue to see ammonia or nitrite spikes.

I bet the sharks are loving it! What kind are they? Just wait until you can add to the tiger barbs! Make sure you don't add anything until your readings are back to normal and add a couple as you go.

if you want to stock the 20, I would consider doing it within the next couple of days before the bacteria dies off in the gravel. Either that or wait at least a month after your readings stabilise in the 60 and move that 20's filter back and stock very slowly.

 

[mcsully]

if you want to stock the 20, I would consider doing it within the next couple of days before the bacteria dies off in the gravel. Either that or wait at least a month after your readings stabilise in the 60 and move that 20's filter back and stock very slowly.

I was thinking of getting some Cichlid to put in the 20. Since the tank is to small for an OSCAR i'm really stumped.

BTW they are Gala Sharks.. And they are enjoying the new tank.. Actually they look like they are racing back and forth.

 

[Seleya]

Bala sharks, maybe? They're very busy schooling fish and will likely outgrow the 60. You may want to research them more and see if you wish to increase to a shoal of them.

Some apistos Apistogramma spmight be fun tho a 20 hex would look empty with them since they tend to stay near the bottom. They're very colorful and somewhat territorial. You could do a pair of them and some tetras for the midlevel and above. Instead of apistos, kribs would be another option to think about and shellies are very cool (Neolamprologous sp) and you could watch them for hours, they're so interesting. There are also some smaller gobies that would knock your socks off and are well worth considering. With a tall tank such as your hex, you'll probably mainly find if you like certain bottom dwellers, you really need something for visual interest in the higher strata since many of them don't go to far up.