"Hi. I'm Jennifer and live in IL. I've had tanks on and off for the last 15 years or so. Right now, I have a 29 gal with 2 bala sharks, 4 mollies, 6 baby mollies still in the fry net, 1 tiger barb, 2 albino cory cats, 1 upside-down cat, and a juli cory." <== from your other post.
okay heres my suggestions (anyone can correct me)
As far as i see if i were you i would get the bigger tank now, you have a yr before you move and you have fish in your current tank that need more of thier own company.
Bala sharks grow big. 8-12 inches reported on most sites
Cories prefer company of thier own kind, so your julli's and your albinos are lonely, a school of 6 for each is nice, though your gonna have to watch your stocking level.
Tiger barbs also like to have company as well, a school of 5 or 6 is good for them as well and helps to keep thire agression down when they get older.(and i can see the tigers eating your fry)
Mollies are livebearers and breed like rabbits from my experience with them. so your always gonna have some fry.
Upside down cats i've never had so don't know what they prefer.
Now for setting up the new tank.
As far as i can see you have two options...
Option A. (and this is assuming you want to use the same substrate ornaments etc from the 29 gallon) would be to drain half the water in the 29 gallon and then having someone help you move it in front of the space where you want the 55 gallon to go, then (again assuming your usuing the same substrate) net your fish in to a CLEAN chemical free bucket. and move over your existing substrate and ornament/plants etc, fill the tank let the filter run for a bit in the new tank to get rid of any dust/debris/cloudiness and move your fish into the new setup
Option B (assuming your buying new substrate) would be to drain half the tank move as i mentioned earlier, then move your oranaments/plants/etc into the new tank and then net your fish from the old tank to the new tank.
the first option is what i did when i got bored of my tank and decided to change out the substrate from sand to flourite. Be ready for wet rugs, and a aching back. and a lot of work in either case.
if you go with option a, assuming you have plants your gonna need more substrate, the amount of substrate you have in the 29 gallon will be spread more thin in the 55 gallon.
As far as a heater goes, you don't have to get 2 heaters, just get one rated for a 55 gallon (or whatever size tank you get) to evenly keep the water warm, make sure you get a heater that is submersable and then suction cup it to the back glass in a horizontal position.
back to moving, your gonna have a tank either way when you move, weather it be the 29 gal, or the 55 gal, so you might as well upgrade tanks now if you can. and make your fish happier.
Oh and your filter, if im not mistaken a hot magnum IS a canister filter, and is good for water poloshing, like a cheap diatom filter. I'm not sure what there rated at at so you may have to check the manufactures website for your model. for my 75 gallon i plan to go with an eheim filter if that helps you any. model 2026 i believe
Good luck,
sorry for mispellings and sentences that dont make snese im tired haha
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