Cycling a new tank

[radu]

Hiya

Could someone please suggest the easiest way and quickest way to cycle my tank that I am going to get tomorrow. I already have a 90 litre tank and it is healthy and cycled. I will be getting another 90 litre tank tomorrow and want to put two of the fishes from my old tank into the new setup. What is the best way to make the second tank okay up and running esp. as I do not want my two fish to suffer if I can prevent it, (from the cycling process).

I read that some gravel from the old tank could help, if so how much is suggested? Also, how much water, if any should I take from the old tank to put into the new?? Any help or suggestion would be great and appreciated! I have two products that seem to say they could be of assistance one is Cycle and the Other is Prime by Seachem. I also have used nitrazorb to assit the other tank in the past.

thks

[HummingBird]

If you can, you could try running the new filter on the old tank for a while, in addition to the old filter. If you can't do that, put some of the media from the old filter in the new one to seed it. You should transfer as much gravel as you can/want to. Don't bother with the water, it doesn't harbour much bacteria.

[radu]

Thanks for that - how long do I let the tank sit empty? ie. when could I put in the fish?? and do I do the water parameter tests during the setup without the fish in it?

thks

[radu]

also, does that mean I fill the new tank up with water and just let it stay without a filter the whole time until the new filter does its thing in the old tank?? does that not mean the water would become stale? (sorry new at this.)

[Caryl]

How many fish (and what size) are in the current tank? If you put media from the established filter into the new one, you should be able to add the fish immediately.

Remember, bacteria grow slowly in a filter to match the bioload of the tank. If you have a tank say, with 30 fish, and you then use that filter on a new tank with only 10 fish in it, of a similar size, some of the bacteria will die off. So, how much of the filter media you use from the established filter will depend on the bioload of the 2 tanks.

[Kazz]

Hi, you could take one of your filters out of the old tank and put it into the new tank to speed things up and put the new filter into the old tank. Hope that makes sense :-? That way you transfer all the good bacterias.

[HummingBird]

But that way the old tank would be basically uncycled. Best to just swap media.

[Kazz]

If I remember they already have 2 filters running in their old tank so taking one out and replacing it shouldn't leave the tank uncycled as the remaining filter is still working.

[radu]

Just wondering if I could use a sponge that I took out of one of the filters from my existing tank. I have kept it in a shallow amount of tank water for around a week though. Is that okay or maybe I can't use it as it has sat in the tank water in a plastic container for so long without being in the filter. Before that it would have been in my fishtank for around 8 weeks.

I have checked it and it doesn't smell as if it has gone off at all. I just kept it in case I needed to put it back into my old tank filter.