transfering bacteria

[sillygirl423]

Hello all just a quick question, I put a media bag with some gravel and a pinch of fish food in the back of a friends filter to try and get some bb for a tank I'm cycling (fishless). How long before the bacteria colonizes on it and I can move it to my tank? Would it be better to take the carbon filter out and put my media bag up against her black mesh filter?

 

[LyndaB]

You might find this thread helpful: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/other-ways-to-cycle-your-tank-163524.html

Any way you can hang your filter on the back of her tank? Or borrow some seeded media from her? Gravel eventually has bacteria but it's not a good source for cycling a tank.

I always put my new filter media into an existing mature filter. I leave it there for a few weeks and then set up the new tank. Voila, instant cycle.