# Non-Hostile Tank Merger



## jdeath (Aug 14, 2010)

Hello all,

I'm hoping to get some suggestions on merging 2 tanks into one tank. Currently I have a planted 20g tall and a planted 10g on 2 levels of m house. This is a pain to maintain and I've slipped a few times with predictable results...

I am acquiring a 30g long tank that I plan on stocking from the other two tanks.

The 20g has 1 SAE, 2 powder blue dwarf gouramis, 8 neon tetras and 3 Kuhli loaches along with a large variety of plants. The substrate is ecocomplete which I would like to continue to use in the new 30g

The 10g has a Honey dwarf gourami, 1 SAE, 2 peppered cory cats and 2 tiny rasboras (Brigittas I believe). I am using the Fluval planted tank substrate in this tank, and never want to use it again!

Should I use a mixture of water from both tanks? Will the fish need to be acclimatized, or can I add them back to the new tank as soon as it's setup with the old substrate and water?

As I am using the old substrate, water and filter media will there be a tank cycle?

My plan so far is to empty the 10g & 20g water into clean buckets that I will put the fish into just prior to transfer. I plan on reserving some of the tank water to clean my plants and equipment off in as there is a small black algae issue. I will transfer over the old ecocomplete and mix in a new bag to ensure a solid plant bed in the new tank.

I would love some feedback on this plan, especially any suggestions to make it easier or safer for the fish.

Thanks,

Joel


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

Joel, what I would do is get the 2 buckets, put the fishes and drip acclimatization with a mix of water from both thanks (As long as the water is OK). 

Regarding the old substrate, water and filter media, as long as the tank was cycled, and the filter media was kept in water and aerated, you should not need a whole cycle, maybe just a minor one.


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## jdeath (Aug 14, 2010)

george said:


> Joel, what I would do is get the 2 buckets, put the fishes and drip acclimatization with a mix of water from both thanks (As long as the water is OK).
> 
> Regarding the old substrate, water and filter media, as long as the tank was cycled, and the filter media was kept in water and aerated, you should not need a whole cycle, maybe just a minor one.


Thanks for the reply, the 20g tank is over 2 years old now and the 10g is nearly a year now.

I am hoping to accomplish this merger over the course of an afternoon... I don't have a drip apparatus, would adding a few mils of each tanks water to the buckets serve the same purpose?

Joel


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## cliff (Aug 30, 2010)

jdeath said:


> I am hoping to accomplish this merger over the course of an afternoon... I don't have a drip apparatus,


Nothing special needed to drip, simplest way is to tie a knot in some airline hose. I've used a plastic airline valve in the hose as I was lazy and it was already in the middle of it to adjust the flow rate. There are a couple of good posts on here with a complete description, but basically you want to slowly add tank water to the bucket, reducing the amount of original bag/other tank water in there.

A couple of things to note, make sure there are plenty of hiding spots in the new setup, this will help to reduce stress for the fish in the new environment. As one of the other posters mentioned make sure to keep the filter wet, and when you transfer the substrate also make sure you get as much of the mulm (the brown cloudy stuff) transferred into the new tank as possible this will help to make sure you have the good bacteria transferred over and will help to reduce and possibly eliminate a (re-)cycling of the tank.


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