Transfering my cycle?

[sinibotia]

Hey everyone, here's an odd but interesting question.

I recently added an insane amount of ammonia (got some bad info) into my 20 gallon tank to maintain the cycle- something like 12-15 ppm. My tank cleared it in less than 2 days! I have another 20 gallon cycling at the same time, but it's still in the process. However, the filter in my cycled 20 gallon has two sponges in it- one sponge on its own and the other part of the cartridge. With such an apparently massive biofilter split between the two sponges (and in the rest of the tank), could I just swap cartridges between the filter in the over-cycled tank and the one in the not-yet-cycled tank and basically instantly cycle the one without un-cycling the other?

 

[dalto]

Probably.

You may have a mini-cycle in one or both tanks depending on where the majority of the bacteria is. You also may not.

Either way, taking media from an established tank is the best way to get a new tank going.

Of course, this assumes the sponges are actually your bio-filtration and not coarse mechanical.

 

[sinibotia]

Probably.

You may have a mini-cycle in one or both tanks depending on where the majority of the bacteria is. You also may not.

Either way, taking media from an established tank is the best way to get a new tank going.

Of course, this assumes the sponges are actually your bio-filtration and not coarse mechanical.

Well, I'm not too worried about a minicycle in the cycled tank, since it's a shelldweller tank and I can't get ahold of any shelldwellers to save my life. This tank has been ready for them for about a month and I still don't have any. The whole reason I want to do this rather than just wait is because the fish for the uncycled tank are all fish I could get all over the place, whereas I don't know when I'll be able to get my shellies.

The not yet cycled tank has some specific bio-media in its filter, but the other tank's filter just has a floss cartridge with carbon in it and a sponge. (It's a Whisper 10-30i). So at worst, the cartridge probably has a good chunk of the bacteria and I transfer it over and it'll probably be at least another week before I get my shelldwellers anyway. The only other surfaces in the cycled tank are the sand, and shells and rocks that were added after the initial cycle was already done but before I overdid maintaining the cycle.

 

[dalto]

I take it shipping isn't an option for you.

 

[sinibotia]

I take it shipping isn't an option for you.

Believe it or not, it actually is. I only found one place on the internet selling multis, and my professor wanted to get some brevis from the same place so I asked him to order together to save on shipping. He took a bit of time doing so and by the time he did, they were out of brevis and only had 3 multis left. I've resorted to finding a breeder on a shelldweller facebook group but I'm waiting on him to get help from someone on shipping. No mail on weekends, and I doubt he'll ship them tomorrow, so the earliest I'll have the fish is next tuesday...

 

[sinibotia]

Well, it seems to have worked, tank cleared 2ppm of ammonia and nitrite overnight so I've added 5 corydoras and 4 ram cichlids. Hopefully the biofilter holds up for me.

 

[dalto]

Are those bolivian rams or the other kind?

 

[sinibotia]

German blues, two males and two females.

 

[dalto]

Keep an eye on them in a tank that size. They can be territorial once they pair up.

 

[sinibotia]

Keep an eye on them in a tank that size. They can be territorial once they pair up.

I'm hoping to offload the other two once I get a pair. Worst case scenario my professor/advisor at uni has a reaaaalllly nice 40 gallon blackwater tank that would be perfect for a pair, I can't imagine him saying no lol. Once I do get a pair and find a new home for the other 2 I'll get a school of tetras to occupy the midwater.

Of course, with my luck I'll never get a pair and they'll never spawn like I want them to.