Cycling 24 sponge filters

[Faran]

Okay, I have 20-24 sponge filters to cycle in a hurry. What is the fastest, easiest and cleanest way to do this? Use Cycle (the product from the pet shops) on a tank full of sponge filters for a week - or whatever the directions are - or do you reckon I should just stick them all in a running tank and hope and pray I only get good bugs and not bad ones?

Obviously, I'm going to want as few nasties to get in the new fish room as possible, but I want the tanks as fully mature as possible. Lots of old tanks inside, but I don't even want snails in there.

[Freakyfish]

Running them in an established tank is the best way to go

Though remember where you have added them the BIO load in all the media will mix between these

So if you add all 24 into one tank theywill all get a fraction of the bacteria needed to run that tank

Brad

[fishboi]

why not run them in the tanks they're going to be used for and add water from established tanks. mite not be the fastest way but maybe the cleanest?

[alanmin4304]

I would side with fishboi, as you need to cycle the water as well as the filters. Throw in some gunge from one of your better tanks and then you will get all the good and bugs like in real life.

[Adrienne]

hey blueandkim - can we have some pics of the fishroom?

[Faran]

No time as I'm in a hurry to get them up and running to get fish moved in asap.... will post some later tho!

Don't want ANY bad bugs coming over with the sponge filters, even waterborne ones, so no water getting shifted. Besides, the fish room has more water than I do in the house

[Freakyfish]

Well the only way then is to cycle them in the new tanks with fish in them

I have used Stability and had better results then I have had with cycle

Actually taking water acros to the new tanks wont really do anything worth while as the majority of the bacteria is on the media and gravel not actually in the water

Brad

[Navarre]

You could try useing household amonia to fishless cycle the tanks

havent done it myself just read about it on net so cant recommend...just sugesting.

Try a search on the www.

HTH

Nav

[fishy_t]

Get a tank that they can all fit in, put them in and run them, then get one of your older ones and squeze it in the tank to make the tank water full of 'filter juice'. That should get all the filters to quickly pick up lots of good bacteria etc

Thats what I'd do anyway...

[Discusguru]

I would just put them in the tank you want them and put double dose of TLC (bacterial) in and run them. Chuck the fish in the next day.

Wouldn't bother using any old water or squeezing any craps from any filters into the new tank. You never know what you'll end up with

ron

[SpidersWeb]

What I would do would be to take some gravel etc from a mature tank, and set it up in a new clean tank (remember water ager first though). Install all of the sponge filters in the tank, squeeze some filter juice out of some filter pads from your other filters, then tip in some ammonia, preferably a reasonable amount to make sure that all the filters get fed.

Once the ammonia is 0 and the nitrate is high I'd say they'd be pretty well cycled.

Haven't tried it before, just seems like the fastest way to me. The bacteria would breed like crazy.

[Freakyfish]

I myself wouldnt use Ammonia as I prefer to cycle naturally

As above they dont want to use anything from a mature tank as theyare worried about cross infection

If you wanted to fushless cycle them then use ammonia in the new clean tanks and monitor it till there is no ammonia and nitrite

Then a big water change nearly 80% should be fine and then your right to go

Or just set them up and slowly add fish and let them cycle naturally

There is no use trying to do them all in one tank as they will be spreading the bio load over each other and therefore not getting much each

Brad

[SpidersWeb]

There is no use trying to do them all in one tank as they will be spreading the bio load over each other and therefore not getting much each

Yeah thats why I suggested dosing with pure ammonia, to build up the bacteria quickly and in large numbers. Also a higher temp would help, like 28-30.

[Freakyfish]

Still you wont have the bacteria up enough unless you dose in extremely hgh doses of ammonia

and then it would take just as long to cycle naturally

The fishless cycle works on a base rate of 5ppm of ammonia

If your trying to get the same amount of bacteria in 24 sponges then you would need 120ppm of ammonia

This would take forever to cycle out and you cant use that tank for along time

If you added them to their respective tanks and cycle them with fish at least all your tanks are going and you know exactly how much load each one will take

Yes the cycle will be slow but more stable

Brad

[Ianab]

I think you can at least jumpstart the cycle in each tank by running the filters in an established tank. If the tank you are starting from is healthy then there is no real risk of bringing in 'bad' bugs.

I would run the filters in an established tank, stir up some crud from the gravel, wash out a filter sponge etc. Let the new filters soak up the resulting haze. They wont be fully cycled at that point, too many filters, not enough gunge, but each one should be seeded with a decent mix of bacteria.

Then install them in the tanks with a few fish and let things settle down for a week or 2 and things should be fine.

There is several ways to cycle a tank, but seeding the filter from a healthy tank should help with any of them.

Cheers

Ian

[Freakyfish]

Yes there are several ways to start the colony of bacteria

As noted above

Don't want ANY bad bugs coming over with the sponge filters, even waterborne ones, so no water getting shifted. Besides, the fish room has more water than I do in the house

So running them in an established filter is out of the question if they want to keep them totally seperate

Even in the cleanest of aquariums there is still a risk of introducing something else

Even its just snails it can still happen

Brad

[herefishiefishie]

stir up some crud from the gravel,

No point stirring up gravel. Unless you have bigger pebbles, most bacteria only live in the upper layer. Unless of course you have an infestation of trumpet snails. They turn the gravel over a bit.

Because you don't want to use old material, water.... you are limited down to what Brad said. If you are looking to set up so many tanks, what is the rush. Wouldn't it be worth doing once, doing it right. Don't rush it, be a big mess if say, half the new set up craps out.

Frenchy