Cycling new tank with old media, need some input!

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Tellurye

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
33
Location
Boston, MA
Hi all, new to the forum, my first post :D

So here's the deal:
I recently acquired a 55 gallon tank from craigslist with an iron stand, Marineland 220 magnum canister filter, a glass heater, a blower, and light setup. Only $130! I thought it was a great deal!

....until the tank started leaking from the bottom seal when it was 50% full. Yay. So I took the time and resealed the whole inside of the tank. Seal is great! Let it cure for 3 days, has been holding water for over a week, no signs of any problems :D

So now the issue is, cycling it. I kind of think what I did to cycle it is too good to be true, since my tank *seems* to be cycled fully, and it's only been 2 days.

What I've done to cycle it is:
-Brought 5 cups of old, cycled gravel from my currently cycled tank (my main 60 gallon tank has been up and running for 2 years now).
-Used 50% of the water from my main tank for this one
Brought a fake plant and large decor tree thing from main tank
3 live plants from main tank
AND most importantly, scraped the dirty media from 4 filter cartridges from main tank and put the nasty mud/water right into new tank, specifically trying to get it to flow right into the intake of current Marineland 220 Magnum canister filter.

On top of that, I used API Quick Start in the recommended dosage, which *supposidly* has nitrifying bacteria in it that will stomp out high ammonia and nitrite.

Now, I did this all 2 days ago. My fish are in the tank. I had to transfer over a blood parrot, an angelfish, and a catfish last night into this new tank, because I recently turned my main 60 gallon tank into an African Cichlid tank... and we all know that just isn't a combo that will ever work out. So basically it was an emergency switch so the Africans wouldn't nip and torture my other babies, besides the drastic differences in water parameters the fish need.

I just tested the water about a half hour ago. This is in addition to testing about every 10-12 hours over the past 2 days.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I've had 7 feeder fish in the new tank from the moment I filled it, just to add ammonia and frankly, to see if they would survive.

Now, for my current tank readings (using API Master Test kit):
pH: 7.6 (still too high, lowering with peat moss ball.. other tank was 8.0, so it is lowering for sure)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 80ppm

After getting the reading of 80ppm nitrate, I have done a 50% water change, about 5 minutes ago.

...So am I good to go? Is it cycled? With the 4-5 tests I've done over the course of the past 2 days, there has never been a reading of ammonia or nitrite, only high nitrates. I'm VERY surprised... but if it is cycled, I'm feeling pretty proud right now haha. 2 days just doesn't seem plausible, but the readings aren't lying!

Also, another question... this Marineland 220 Magnum canister filter I just got. Anyone familiar with it? I set it up with acivated carbon on the inside, cut a filter pad/floss from a roll of it to fit around the carbon holder, and have put a water softening pouch in there (my tap water is almost solid it's so hard haha). How does bio filtration work on something like this??? Do I need to buy a bio filter or something? I'm super confused on that. Because my main tank has 2 Marineland 400 HOB filters, which have bio-wheels for the bacteria... but the canister doesn't seem to have a way to keep the good bacteria in. I'm very confused, and it would be nice if someone could enlighten me on how the canister keeps the bacteria, if it does, at all! Should I be keeping a bit of old filter pad in there when I change out the media? Ugh, so confused.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post, I really tried to provide as much info as possible!

Bernice
 
Yep, it's entirely likely that your tank is fully cycled, especially with all the old bacteria you added in :)

As for the water softener pouch, I'm not familiar with ever using that in a tank. I would imagine it would cause highly fluctuating parameters. Instead I would look at ways of solving the water issues outside of the tank before putting the water in.

The BB will grow on whatever is stuffed inside a canister filter. It's not as big of a deal as some people make it out to be.
 
Thanks for the reply. After scouring the depths of numerous forum archives, my worries about this filter are confirmed. Here's the quote:

"The major problem is that it says straight out in the instructions that its not designed to do biological filtration and that is reinforced in the review where it becomes clear also that its design virtually requires frequent and probably expensive media replacement for its mechanical (and optional chemical) functions. It just seems more suited for the kind of specialist functioning described in the review, perhaps some scientist with lots of tanks and special cleaning needs."

It must be a very old canister filter that I have, because there just isn't a place for bio filtration at all. Apparently it's a dinosaur from a day long gone by...

It seems you can buy a bio-wheel for it, but I think I'll just opt for a new canister filter all together, since this one is apparently ancient anyways. Seems to be working just great, just no bio... gr!

Thanks again,
Bernice
 
I'm not specifically familiar with this particular canister filter but they all really are the same basic design. You should be able to easily replace some of the junk in there with some biological media such as ceramic rings.
 
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