# moving two 55G and thinking of converting to NPTs



## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

Hi. I have two almost fully stocked, established 55G tanks. I am also moving in a few months. Tearing down/moving/ reassembling my finned friends' homes terrifies me. I REALLY don't want to see them float! :s I've also been reading up on NPTs, and am thinking of throwing a sub-substrate down when I reassemble. So I guess I have a two part question.

1) Whats the best soil to use under my sand for a NPT? and
2) How am I suppose to tear everything down/ move everything and set everything up without my buddy's dieing? I'm thinking the tank move alone will take ATLEAST half a day - than I have to release all my fishies into an unestablished environment.... i'm pretty worried about how long everything'll take and the shock to their systems. 

Oh also, putting soil in isn't going to make the water all muddy and gross, or release abunch of bad-for-fishies toxins/chemicals into the water is it? Sadly I can't let the tanks 'set' before reintroducing the fish, as I'm already somewhat doubtful they'll survive as long as they'll need to in the bags.. 

Thanks for any help!!


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## fraviz (Oct 24, 2012)

I don't know if it is possible... but if you really need to change to npt do it one at a time and put all the fish on the other 55. It takes some time to make a dirt tank safe for fish 
My best suggestion is to conserve the material from your used filters so the bacteria travels to your new house. If your filters are HOB, put the cartridge on a sealed bag.... they should last sometime. If you have time and money... I would recommend you to put big sponges on the tank.... then just bag them and put them on the new tank after your use the dechlorinator. I do that when I need to replace a tank, my sponges haven't let me down so far...


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## fraviz (Oct 24, 2012)

I don't know if it is possible... but if you really need to change to npt do it one at a time and put all the fish on the other 55. It takes some time to make a dirt tank safe for fish 
My best suggestion is to conserve the material from your used filters so the bacteria travels to your new house. If your filters are HOB, put the cartridge on a sealed bag.... they should last sometime. If you have time and money... I would recommend you to put big sponges on the tank.... then just bag them and put them on the new tank after your use the dechlorinator. I do that when I need to replace a tank, my sponges haven't let me down so far...


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

I have moved multiple tanks many times.
It is very stressful, but if you are prepared, it will be easier on you and the fish.

I suggest, if you can, to set up a temporary home for your fishy friends in the new location a week ahead of time. Something simple. Bare bottom container/tank with a seeded sponge filter from your current setup(s) and a heater. Set this up in a location near where you will want the current setups to be placed, but not in the exact spot. 

Let this run for a week or more if possible before the move. 

On move day, retain water in your filters if possible, and catch and bag your fish into fish bags and place these bags in a cooler or styrofoam lined box. This will help to moderate the temperature while you break down the remainder of the tank(s) and travel to the new location. 

When you get to the new location, acclimate your fish to the new temporary location. I have used Seachem Stability according to directions on the temporary tank and the re-setup tanks to give the biofilter a boost. In my experience, this is the best way to transport your fish to a new location as moving days can be hectic, and having to tear down tanks and set them up in the same day while traveling can turn into a long day fast.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Prepare your soil early! New, fresh soil loaded with nutrients will be a problem if you need to put fish in the tanks quickly. Don't use a rich soil (like Mriacle Grow Organic Choice), and definitely mineralize the soil. Read details on this in the "suitable soils" sticky. Preparing the soil will reduce any problems with ammonia when you set up the tanks.

Big plastic storage containers (like Rubbermaid totes) make great temporary fish tanks. When you make the move, put your mature filters on the totes with the fish at your new home. You should be able to keep the fish safe in the totes with filters for a week or more, assuming enough space.

Then prepare the aquaria. Stuff the new tanks with healthy plants. This is the secret to being able to put fish in new Walstad tanks quickly--plants love ammonia and are very effective at removing it, IF they are healthy and growing. Stock up on fast growing stem plants if possible.

Good luck!


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

Michael said:


> Prepare your soil early! New, fresh soil loaded with nutrients will be a problem if you need to put fish in the tanks quickly.





Michael said:


> Read details on this in the "suitable soils" sticky. Preparing the soil will reduce any problems with ammonia when you set up the tanks.





Michael said:


> Stuff the new tanks with healthy plants. This is the secret to being able to put fish in new Walstad tanks quickly--plants love ammonia and are very effective at removing it


Thanks for all the help! I'll see about getting some rubbermaid totes...how long should it take for my tanks to equilize before I can put my fish back in and what soils best, I thought I did want a fertile soil? *confused* also how do i find stickies? Thanks!

Oh n what do you mean by 'prepare the soil'? Thanks


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## JayBloke (Dec 28, 2012)

A "sticky" is forum term for an important thread.They can be found at the top of each sub-forum.

Like this one here;

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/

The top "Sticky" will answer as to which soil.

Here is a link on how to prepare your soil;

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html

Hope this helps.


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## Mezuri (Dec 17, 2012)

Patents is key. Cannot stress this enough I don't want you loosing any of your fishy friends.
Take the peoples advice above they are very smart people. Micheal helped me a heap when I set my npt up now it looks amazing. Good luck and keep us posted with pics!!


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

fraviz said:


> I would recommend you to put big sponges on the tank.... then just bag them and put them on the new tank after your use the dechlorinator. I do that when I need to replace a tank, my sponges haven't let me down so far...


What do you mean by 'big sponges' on tank? thx.


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

joshvito said:


> I suggest, if you can, to set up a temporary home for your fishy friends in the new location a week ahead of time. Something simple. Bare bottom container/tank with a seeded sponge filter from your current setup(s) and a heater. Set this up in a location near where you will want the current setups to be placed, but not in the exact spot.
> 
> On move day, retain water in your filters if possible, and catch and bag your fish into fish bags and place these bags in a cooler or styrofoam lined box. This will help to moderate the temperature while you break down the remainder of the tank(s) and travel to the new location.


How big are the styrofoam boxes? could I just throw a seeded filter on there and leave the fish in those til the tanks are ready?


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

JayBloke said:


> A "sticky" is forum term for an important thread.They can be found at the top of each sub-forum.
> 
> Like this one here;
> 
> ...


ok thx I'll check those out


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

Mezuri said:


> Patents is key. Cannot stress this enough I don't want you loosing any of your fishy friends.
> Take the peoples advice above they are very smart people. Micheal helped me a heap when I set my npt up now it looks amazing. Good luck and keep us posted with pics!!


I've still a few months before the big move, just want to be prepared  I'll post pics (assuming there's internet out there..) once everything's back up n running and *hopefully* no-ones floating!


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

Jc_d1 said:


> How big are the styrofoam boxes? could I just throw a seeded filter on there and leave the fish in those til the tanks are ready?


Some styro boxes can be quite large, but I wouldn't trust them filled with water. They would probably break.


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

joshvito said:


> Some styro boxes can be quite large, but I wouldn't trust them filled with water. They would probably break.


Thats unfortunate :s (but thanks for the heads up) so I'm back to setting the tanks back up asap and putting the fish in right away :s I have trumpet snails - will they prevent the possible huge ammonia release? Or is there something (like baking soda or something) I can put in to reduce the ammonia for my poor fishies? thanks!


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## JayBloke (Dec 28, 2012)

Setting up a NPT for the first time is a big undertaking.Personally I would move my pets,then set the original set up back up.That way no ammonia problems etc.Then finish my move and once settled and can dedicate the appropriate attention to the task at hand,start converting my tanks then.

If you rush this process you will have casualties.


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## Luffy (Aug 23, 2012)

Tell us a bit more about your tanks. What fish are contained in each? Maybe if we know a bit more about your fish-load we can help. 
I do agree with Jay though. Doing a move AND an NPT set-up is quite an undertaking. Not to mention that you'll need a ton of plants to fill two NPTs. 
I would suggest setting everything to the original set-up then once you've settled, move over. Then, if you set up one of the tanks as an NPT first and let it grow and settle, you'll have plenty of trimmings to use for your next tank that will be both free AND healthy. It'll save you some money, spread out your set up time, and hopefully save your fish.


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

this is where i've got my info on npts http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method

..i thought you could do them up and put the fish in shortly after? "5 Litre Walstad tank set up in one day with fish" they also suggest several what appear to be high-nutrition soils??

Anyway tank set ups are:

Tank 1:
3f/2m rosys
5 platys
1f sailfin molly
1 betta
4 ottos

Tank 2:
4m rosys
5 neons
2m sailfin mollys

I'm also thinking of getting 3 corys for each tank but I'm waiting until after the move.

The tanks have been set up for approx a year, both are planted, and have bog-wood deco and sand substrate. I'm thinking of getting a carpeting plant for over the sand in them to, but that'll be after the move as well.

Both tanks have an Aqua-Glo 40 watt T8 fluorescent bulb, a 200 watt heater, and 3 filters (Fluval C4 40-70 gallon, Aqua-Tech 20-40 gallon, and a Aqua-Tech 5-15 gallon) and both are 55 Gallon tanks. (They make up a huge corner tank display)

I'm not sure my plant types, other than i have both red and green  I know I don't have enough plants in them yet to self-sustain the tanks, but on the other-hand each tank has overkill of filters.. It looks like I've got approx 30 plants between the two tanks atm.

Oh yes and both tanks have trumpet snails in them...and I may get some shrimp down the road..


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## Luffy (Aug 23, 2012)

I use Miracle Grow Organic right out of the bag and I haven't had any problems in my 5 gallon or 10 gallon; however I waited a month to put any animals other than snails in.
The key difference between what the wiki recommends and most of us beginning NPT peeps is that Walstad already had tons of healthy plants at her disposal. For us regular folk it's going to take time for our plants that we get half dead from the lfs to get acclimated enough to keep a tank healthy (she even says so in her book). And in a 55, there are going to be a lot of plants that need acclimating. 
Also, a 5 liter tank (about 1 gallon) and a 55 gallon tank are very different. There's also a whole heck of a lot more soil, and if you use miracle grow a lot of that soil is ammonia rich manure, so there's high potential for an ammonia spike. Filters will help but there's a good chance your more sensitive fish like your neons and your ottos could go belly up because you don't have the beneficial bacteria or healthy plant mass to deal with a potential high nutrient spike.
If you want to take the risk, you can. We just want to make sure you know beforehand so you don't end up disappointed.


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## Jc_d1 (Jan 16, 2013)

Luffy said:


> I use Miracle Grow Organic right out of the bag and I haven't had any problems in my 5 gallon or 10 gallon; however I waited a month to put any animals other than snails in.
> The key difference between what the wiki recommends and most of us beginning NPT peeps is that Walstad already had tons of healthy plants at her disposal. For us regular folk it's going to take time for our plants that we get half dead from the lfs to get acclimated enough to keep a tank healthy (she even says so in her book). And in a 55, there are going to be a lot of plants that need acclimating.
> Also, a 5 liter tank (about 1 gallon) and a 55 gallon tank are very different. There's also a whole heck of a lot more soil, and if you use miracle grow a lot of that soil is ammonia rich manure, so there's high potential for an ammonia spike. Filters will help but there's a good chance your more sensitive fish like your neons and your ottos could go belly up because you don't have the beneficial bacteria or healthy plant mass to deal with a potential high nutrient spike.
> If you want to take the risk, you can. We just want to make sure you know beforehand so you don't end up disappointed.


Thank you Luffy  that cleared up a lot of my confusion! I certainly dont want anyone going belly up. I'd really like to do npts but completely deconstructing and reconstructing the tanks 1 by 1 doesn't really sound worth it. Perhaps if I mineralized (?) the soil first or used something less nutritious? My plants are doing ok in one tank, and GREAT in the other (I think one tank has low co2..not really sure what to do there). My main issue is siphoning the sand as you loose a lot of sand that way and I can't really give it a decent clean because of all the plants and deco..


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