Cycling for second-hand aquarium

[Chella]

Hi all,

My Dad is giving me his 130 L aquarium. At the moment he has gold fish in the tank (he is giving them away) and then he is going to drive it up to me (2.5 hours drive). I am going to turn it into a freshwater tropical tank.

I have asked him to keep water in the filter and any spare water in a bucket if he can so I can try keep some of the bacteria and I will re-fill it as soon as it arrives. Obviously most the water will be new so I was still planning on doing a cycle and monitoring the water quality.

I have two questions,
1) is the bacteria from the cold water aquarium going to die when heated?
2) will keeping some of the old water be better or should I just start from scratch?

Thanks

 

[joejeff]

You may get some level of seeded media from the established filter but the old tank water really won't matter. You need to just start w water treated with prime or allowed to sit and gas off. You will need to got through an entire cycle process as if it is a new tank. I like the shrimp method. Which is a price of raw shrimp to get cycle going. Test water and wait until the cycle happens before adding fish. Be patient or you may loose some fish. Expect a month before fish. If its quicker than awesome. But be patient.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Chella]

Ok, thanks. I thought that might be the case.

Im happy to wait for the cycle, I dont like harming fish!
I dont no anything about the shrimp method though, I will have a read.

Thanks for your help