Bio-Wheel

[Mr502go]

Hey all, I was wondering, if I put a new bio-wheel in a cultured tank (just let it float around in the water) would the bacteria still attach to it?? How long would I have to leave it in there before I could start another tank with it??

I didn't know if water had to be flowing over it for it to culture.

 

[lmw80]

Hm....that is an interesting question. I would love to hear what people have to say about that! I have no idea.....I personally, would assume that you COULD just float the biowheel in the water, but that the length of time it would take to culture would make the whole project not worth it.

A suggestion, however, is to take some substrate from the already cycled tank and put it in the new tank. I am not sure how much you would need though.

 

[ferret]

Since from my understanding, it takes upwards to two months for a biowheel to completely culture, you might be more interested in moving your old wheel to the new tank, and giving the cultured/cycled tank the new one. Since that tank has bacteria in the filter media and the gravel as well (One would think), it might culture the new wheel faster, while the other tank would benefit from the previously cultured wheel.

Opinions on that idea? Just throwing it out. I'd closely watch both tanks if it were attempted.

 

[Crow]

That sounds like a great idea to me, ferret. I have two cheap HOB filters on my aquarium so I can alternate replacing the filter media. I had to replace both after the Isabel power outage and they were both loaded with bacteria rather quickly.

 

[Mr502go]

Thanks for the replies everybody, I'd actually have put the other bio-wheel in the new tank, except that it is a different size, and won't work with my penguin 125

Oh well, guess I'll have to give the ol bio-spira another try.

 

[Tigerlily]

I just upgraded to a Penguin 125 on my tank last night. In hopes of getting the biowheel cultured sooner, I put some filter media from my old filter in the new filter (even though it doesn't really fit...). I just laid it in there next to the filter pad. I'm not too worried, because my tank is cycled, but I like things stable! Do you have any other filter media or maybe a handful of gravel from the old tank you can move over?

 

[AtodaJ]

Using filter media from an established tank is a great idea. If you can't fit the media into the new filter then simply place it in the tank near the water intake. That old media pad will have quite a bit of bacteria on it if it came from a mature tank.

I like to run new filters in my mature tank for 1 week before putting them in the new tank along with an old media cartridge from the mature tank. It does take quite a bit of time for the new filter to get completely cultured but having it in the mature tank for 1 week really seems to jump start the process.

 

[cindywindy]

I keep more than one filter running on my tanks because at any given time, I can remove the media from one of the established filters and drop it down into a new filter on a new tank and have it instantly cycled. No waiting, and you can get fish immediately this way.

By using this method I haven't had to cycle a tank in years !