Question about cycling tank and substrate

[Alral1988]

I'm in the process of upgrading to a new tank. When I do this I plan on going with an all new look using new substrate. I don't have a good place to keep my fish while I set up the new tank so I want to try to do the switch in one day. Here's my idea and let me know what you think:

In order to keep the tank from cycling I'm going to put my new substrate in some sort of container with water from my tank now and a filter sock with the current substrate. I'm going to let this sit for a couple weeks to make sure the bacteria has a chance to grow in the new sand. My real question is whether or not I have to keep the water moving or if I can just let it sit stagnant for this time period. Also when I replace the tank I'm going to try to keep as much water as I possibly can, hopefully no less than 40 gallons of my 55.

This is the best thing I've come up with. If anyone has any other ideas or suggestions please let me know. Thanks

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I think your over thinking it. Yes, there is bacteria in the substrate but not such a huge amount that swapping it out is going to cause deadly spikes of ammonia and nitrite. If you move your existing filter (or even just the media) to the new tank it should contain enough bacteria to support your fish. Even if you do get a mini cycle it's nothing few water changes won't fix.

 

[FishEggs]

Just use the same filter you are using now on the new tank. Monitor the water params every day for a little bit and perform water change as needed. As long as you dont change the filter media or increase the bio-load (add more fish) it will be fine.

 

[librarygirl]

I agree with the others. I upgraded tanks recently and changed out most of the decor and all of the substrate and I didn't see any toxin spikes at all. If you do, it should be small and only last a couple of days, just do some extra water changes if it does happen, but I think you'll be fine as long as you're not removing any filter media.