Need Advice on "Instant Cycle"

[fishiness]

Hi all,

I have a 29g that I'm thinking about trying an instant cycle with. It already has substrate, plants, and its own filter (Eheim 2213). I have another tank - a 55g with nine rainbow fish - with two filters on it (Eheims 2215 & 2217). I was considering switching the 2213 and the 2215 to try out an instant cycle. My question is, how much would switching the two affect the 55g? Would it cause a mini-cycle? I've cleaned the 2215 without the tank descending into chaos, I'm just concerned it's too big of a change.

Thanks for any help!

 

[claudio1]

i would take half of the media from one of the cycled filters and swap half of the media from the uncycled media,and that would be enough to seed the rest of the media...


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[fishiness]

i would take half of the media from one of the cycled filters and swap half of the media from the uncycled media,and that would be enough to seed the rest of the media...


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Would that be enough media for an instant cycle?

 

[claudio1]

have you got any fish in the 29g tank?.


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[fishiness]

Nope, no fish. I just wanted to play with trying an instant cycle. I certainly wouldn't want to leave fish in an uncycled tank (as the 29g is uncycled).

 

[claudio1]

i would say yes,as long as you dont add a lot of fish at once...


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[fishiness]

Would 4-5 juvenile harlequin rasboras be good to sustain the bacteria? Or do you think that would be too many? I didn't want too small of a group to stress the fish, but be too much for the bacteria.

 

[claudio1]

i think it should be ok,but keep an eye on the water parameter in case you get a mini cycle...


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