New tank setup questions

I got a larger tank for my tropical fish and have some questions on moving them into it. Do I need to start over with new water and wait through a cycle, or can I add the water and fish from the present aquarium? then add some more conditioned water? I want to move them in a week and a half and want to know if I should start the cycle and wait a little longer or what?

The cycling process usually takes about a month, but there are a few ways to speed things up. Cycling is basically a process of building up enough beneficial bacteria to convert waste products from ammonia into a harmless plant food. Most of the bacteria live in the aquarium substrate and on plants and decorations. Just using water from an established aquarium doesn't help much. You can buy products that contain live bacteria, but they still need time to build their population. Here are a few suggestions.

To the substrate of the new aquarium, add a cup or two of wet gravel from the established aquarium. Live plants will also help. After you fill the tank with water of about the right temperature, add a good water conditioner, heater and plants. Plug in and turn on the heater, lights and filter, add a small pinch of flake food every few days, and get ready to wait. While you're waiting, look on a search engine to find out what your fish need to be healthy. You can also research different aquarium plants and look through previous posts on this website. After a week, check water parameters, especially ammonia, and do a 20 percent partial water change. If you have zero ammonia after three or four weeks of all that, it's OK to add a few fish using the drip acclimation method. Try to resist the temptation to over crowd and over feed.

I was planning on moving everything from the old tank to the new one, gravel, rocks, ornaments, and plastic plants, as well as using the same filter and heater. would it be possible to remove the fish then just swap everything over then move the fish back into the new one? would this over stress them or not work right? I wasn't anticipating buying everything new but if its a necessity I will. Thanks again, Johnarthur you have been a huge help.

The cycling process will be faster if you use stuff from the old aquarium. You could probably transfer half of the old gravel and most of the plants to the new aquarium, but don't transfer the fish until the cycle is complete. The only new thing necessary should be some more gravel and possibly a clay based substrate supplement. With the filter temporarily in the old tank, you could put an air stone in the new one. During the final, partial water change on the new tank, adjust the temperature using the replacement water. When it's close to the temperature of the old tank, unplug the heater, put it in the new tank and plug it back in. Transfer the filter next, and try to let the aquarium settle a little before moving the fish.

Glad to help.

Thanks alot. I am gonna get this thing going soon.