Seeding New Bio Media in Established Tank

[Boilerwxman]

The last month I have been getting all the parts and equipment needed to start a 75 gallon African Cichlid Tank.

** Substrate 80 lbs of CaribSea Instant Aquarium Tahitian Moon Sand
** Rena xp4 filter. (will arrive this week)
** Cave/Rock decorations

Left to buy (besides the fish) are:
** air pump for 2 bubbler rock decor,
** aqueon water changer (figure with a 75 gallon tank and the tank 15-20 feet from the sink this would be easier)
** Lighting fixture (Something simple no live plants) like a t5 ho 2 bulb fixture
** More Media for Canister Filter
** 2nd Canister filter (something smaller than the Rena XP4 like the AquaTop CF400 UV Canister or the Rena XP3)

I have an established 15 gallon column tank with an AquaClear 30 HOB as well as a Tetra HOB filter (for 10 gallons) running with 3 mollies in it. I fishless cycled this tank levels are good with weekly 30-50% PWC...

I want to buy more BioMax and put it in the AquaClear as well as a new filter for the Tetra (cutting the surface of he old one and placing it in front of the new one) I want to use one of the BioMax in the AquaClear (maybe the old one) and the Cut Filter Surface in the Tetra to seed my new Rena xp4 filter and tank.

QUESTION: How long should I let the new BioMax in the AquaClear 30 and New Tetra Filter be in the 15 gallon HOB filters to get a nice colony growing so I can use it to seed my new tank?

Thank You

 

[Banana mouse]

Personally I'd say as long as possible. Maybe a week or a little longer, that would get quite a bite of bacteria on it. Just make sure you don't wash it when you transfer it.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

At least 2 weeks but the longer the better.

 

[Banana mouse]

Well to be honest that's to an extent, at some point the bio max will be full of bacteria and will not be able to hold anymore bacteria, as long as it has some it will work. just remember
1 bacterium turns into 2 the the 2 bacteria turn into 4 then 4 turns into 8 and so on.
1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128-236. As you can see 1 bacterium can case a bacteria bloom very quickly.

 

[siva]

Atleast 2 weeks.