Quick Cycle Help

[JackSpadesSI]

Long story short, thanks to quickly-growing guppy fry I have a very overstocked 10-gallon tank right now. Thankfully, I have a 30-gallon which I'll set up this weekend (you may have seen my other posts around here on that matter). I'm wondering how to cycle that tank ASAP so that the fish in my 10g can get some breathing space again.

Options I've considered (please chime in):

Using 10g's gravel: pro = no ill effect on the 10g; con = not likely a lot of bacteria on a handful of gravel.

Using 10g's filter media: pro = should have plenty of bacteria; con = I can't leave the 10g without a filter!

Your thoughts?

 

[JackSpadesSI]

The best I can come up with is to cut a piece of the filter mesh off the 10g's filter media, and stick that piece into the Fluval 305 on the 30g. However, that filter mesh is holding in a bunch of carbon in the 10g's filter media.

Perhaps I could put a brand new filter in the 10g's HOB filter basket (it could use a new one, anyway). Then, split the 10g's old filter mesh between the 30g's Fluval 305 and the 10g's HOB filter basket?

The only real downside I see here is if cutting out half of the filter mesh would drop the 10g's bacteria below the critical mass necessary to support those fish.

 

[ShadoeFox]

I just upgraded a rank recently. I ran the new filter on the old tank along side the smaller one, then transferred everything over. You will likely want a bigger filter anyhow. If you leave the ten up, I'd leave the rocks, but transfer some of the old water (i basically did a fifty percent pwc, on the theory that it would help.) If you aren't gonna run the ten, transfer both filters for a while. Either way you should avoid having to cycle. At least mine transferred seamlessly

 

[jakeandwendy]

i would recommend both, a sock full of gravel and an old filter. get a new one for the 10g and put the old one on the 30. when you take the filter pack out, swish it around in the 10gal, then swish it around in 30gal. this will seed the tank with bacteria. then put it on the 30. have you thought about fishless cycling on the 30gal? i just did a 55gal fishless and it was sooooo much easier than cycling with fish!! i started on a 20gal fw tank and the pwc's it took to finally get it cycled were INSANE! we lost 4 fish in the process. my 55gal is ready for fish, tooka little less than cycling with fish, only had to do 2 pwc's, and didn't lose a single fish! definitely the way to go.

 

[Marconis]

If the 10g is a well-established tank, then the gravel can contain a great amount of bacteria since they adhere to surfaces. I like your idea of splitting the media, that could work as well. Try and get seed material from another tank if you can. Keep an eye out for a mini cycle.

If you need to relieve the load on the current tank, I don't recommend fishless cycling the other one. At this point I think it's best to just move them over with as much seed material as possible. If you leave all the fish while the other is cycling, you'll probably see a spike in ammonia anyway.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

The 10g is staying up because it will be the future home of the fry in my 5g. Ok, quick background:

I bought a female guppy to be with my male guppies a while back. You might think that the fry are the result – no. Unbeknownst to me, the female was already (very) pregnant when I got her. She had her fry, and then I had to return her. So, I bought the fry (18 at birth) a 5g hex tank – 10 have survived for 10 weeks. Of those 10, 8 are female. So, now that the fry are getting older I segregated them: males back into the 10g and females are still in the 5g.

All fish in the 10g will move to the 30g, and all the fish in the 5g will move to the 10g. Got it? Good.

I just upgraded a rank recently. I ran the new filter on the old tank along side the smaller one, then transferred everything over. You will likely want a bigger filter anyhow. If you leave the ten up, I'd leave the rocks, but transfer some of the old water (i basically did a fifty percent pwc, on the theory that it would help.) If you aren't gonna run the ten, transfer both filters for a while. Either way you should avoid having to cycle. At least mine transferred seamlessly

I think running the Fluval 305 on a 10g would be a little bit ridiculous. On two similar tanks that may be a great idea, though.

i would recommend both, a sock full of gravel and an old filter. get a new one for the 10g and put the old one on the 30. when you take the filter pack out, swish it around in the 10gal, then swish it around in 30gal. this will seed the tank with bacteria. then put it on the 30. have you thought about fishless cycling on the 30gal? i just did a 55gal fishless and it was sooooo much easier than cycling with fish!! i started on a 20gal fw tank and the pwc's it took to finally get it cycled were INSANE! we lost 4 fish in the process. my 55gal is ready for fish, tooka little less than cycling with fish, only had to do 2 pwc's, and didn't lose a single fish! definitely the way to go.

Wouldn’t a completely new filter on the 10g deprive that tank of bacteria? I’m not going to risk them all in order to speed up the 30g’s cycle. Yes, I’m trying to fishless cycle the 30g, but I’m trying to do it quickly with bacteria introduced from the 10g.

If the 10g is a well-established tank, then the gravel can contain a great amount of bacteria since they adhere to surfaces. I like your idea of splitting the media, that could work as well. Try and get seed material from another tank if you can. Keep an eye out for a mini cycle.

If you need to relieve the load on the current tank, I don't recommend fishless cycling the other one. At this point I think it's best to just move them over with as much seed material as possible. If you leave all the fish while the other is cycling, you'll probably see a spike in ammonia anyway.

How much of an emergency do you think it is right now? The 10g currently has: 4 guppies (two are juvenile), 3 neons, 1 swordtail, 1 ADF, 1 oto. I don’t think it’s THAT big of an emergency. Also, 8 juvenile female guppies in the 5 isn’t terrible, right (ok, that one is probably worse, but I do PWC’s often).

 

[Marconis]

I don't think that's "very overstocked" by any means. I don't know the requirements for an ADF.