My New Tank, 125 gallon tank. A black moore. And three small common goldies Options

[oskar.frisch]

Hello all! I've only posted once in the 'introduction' forum. So now I am looking for advise and kind words and even criticism if so deserved!

I have a black moore and three small common goldies. My moore is fairly small as well (about 2.5 inches long and chubby). They were all housed in a 29 gallon tank with a Penguin 150 bio wheel filter. They had been in their established tank for about a month and a half. Ammonia and Nitrates and Nitrites were normally at zero. I did 10 gallon water changes every other day. I added a bio start with every water change and used Prime water conditioner. I kept the water at 68F. And the pH 7.9 to 8.2 using GoldBuffer powder. I lightly vacuumed the gravel bottom with every water change. Oh and I almost forgot there are also two large snails in the tank!

Well I have been reading this forum regularly over the last six weeks (since I set up my tank) and found that my tank is over stocked. So I purchased a 125 gallon tank today! Along with 125 pounds of gravel. I set the tank up today. It is full of water and gravel and a few large rocks arranged in the middle. I do not have a filter yet. I have a pump and an air stone. I added the bio start as I did with my 29 gallon tank (adjusting the amounts accordingly) and used my Prime water conditioner. And bringing up the pH with the gold buffer from my LFS.

I'm going to go with a canister filter. I'm thinking I'll probably go with the Eheim 2028 Pro II next friday (pay day haha). Any suggestions with how long I should run the Eheim before adding my goldies and snails? Iwant to add them now but I am sure that would be bad without a filtration system! So while my tank is just sitting with water and an airstone should I continue to do water changes? 25 gallons per day?

Thanks for any and all feedback!

[CP]

A bit too late now; best is to do away with the gravels. You can add the fish without waiting for the filter to arrive - just carry out more water changes. At 4 small fishes in a 125 gallon tank, if you feed twice a day, change 80 to 100% about every 5 days while waiting for the filter to arrive.