Filter media from one tank to help cycle another tank?

[William]

I currently have the Activated Carbon out of another tank, and I was wondering..

Theres another tank thats not done cycling, could I throw that bag of activated carbon in the filter of the new tank and help speed up the cycle?

[Scottw68TN]

Thats a good idea, I have also used gravel, and other media.

[William]

The gravel in the other tank isn't the same as in the cycling tank, and I don't like it.

Heh, So I guess I'll throw the [acronym:06fca7751e="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:06fca7751e] into my [acronym:06fca7751e="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:06fca7751e] filter so the bacteria help my tank, and so they don't die from being out of the other tank whiel medicating.

[Scottw68TN]

put the gravel in a bag and throw it in the filter or tank for awhile just to seed the bacteria.

[William]

Well I can't really tank anything ou of the tank right now, anyways.

Sincei ts being medicated and I really don't want to reach in there

but good idea.

[Scottw68TN]

The gravel will probably be more established having been in the tank longer. Someone may want to correct me on that point. Mine cycled real quick. I hung a second biowheel on my cichlid tank for a few weeks before I set up my large tank, then I moved it over and threw gravel in the extra filter chambers that come with the emperors. On my QT tank I run a small corner filter and loaded it up with gravel as well worked great.

[tkos]

You took this carbon bag out of your older tank because you were medicating it? Is that what I get from your posts? If so that probably means that the bacteria in the carbon is long since dead. Unless the bacteria has been feed and kept wet it won't last very long. At this point I would just throw it away. Old carbon isn't good for much. You need new carbon to remove medication.

[William]

The old tank which is up, and running and fully cycled, and the carbon bag was never out of the water, simply placed into a cup of tank water for about 30 minutes before I came up with this idea.

and its not going to stay in this tank, I'm using it to help the cycle get going faster, before I return it to its original tank to remove the medication before I buy another bag of [acronym:b02a4bc2cb="Activated Carbon"]AC[/acronym:b02a4bc2cb].

[tkos]

Well it should be fine to help with the cycling. But I still say that you should use a new carbon bag to remove the medications in the old tank. Using old carbon can let nastey stuff come back out of the carbon that was adsorbed. This is due to the ionic bonding nature of carbon and the fact that medication generally forms a better ionic bond with carbon allowing the release of things like heavy metals.