Queston about using Media from another tank

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CleverBs

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Messages
2,210
Location
Omaha, Nebraska
Ok so i just got water in my 75gallon and am trying to decide the most effective way to get the tank cycled. so let me lay this out for you.

My father has a 90 gallon cichlid tank that has been set up for years, so I know the gravel in his tank has is well astablished. However heres the problem, the last year he had cancer and recovered very well however was rather sick during the prosses and so he was unabe to take care of his fishtank and it began to have a bad brown or green not sure algea outbreak and is extramly bad in the tank. the water tests well however (could use a water chagne) my worry is this. If i use the gravel from his tank to help my tank cycle amd i going to increase my chances of developing algea in my tank? My tank is going to be a planted tank and will have T5HO lighting along with Co2 so algea is the last thing i want.

Option 2: I have a 10 gallon tank that his been set up for about a month now, but the problem is I have 10 guppies in it and if I remove the fiter to put it on my 75gallon they will be without a filter, is there anyway around this? is it safe to maybe just move my guppies into the 75gallon while i cycle it with the small filter?

Give me your thoughts or ideas that maybe I am not thinking of thank you guys!
 
thinking i may just put the guppies and the filter in the 75gallon, i would think that would be the safest, i just hope its stable enough for my guppies? the Temp is exactly the same and its got Prime in it so I would think it would be ok..
 
Interesting choices. In all honesty ... algae will make it's way into your tank whether you introduce it via the gravel or not. It's just a question of having favorable conditions to promote it's growth ... excess nutrients and too much light .. usually happens when you leave them on for 10-12 hrs stretches.

If the 10gal is cycled, then you'll can use that substrate as well .. it'll have BB, place it in a media bag and put it the filter or by the intake.

Edit ... BTW .. putting your lights on a 4hr on-off cycle has worked with members who had algae outbreaks.
 
Why don't you just rinse the filters in the water of the new tank? That's what I did for mine and they cycled in just a few days. Don't completely clean the filters, you need the BB for the original tanks, just shake them around really well to get as much junk from them as you can and add some ammonia to keep the BB fed while you are waiting for it to cycle.
 
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