Instant cycle?

[bugeyefireguy]

Hello everyone, Sorry for the long post. I was wondering what others have experienced when using seeded filter media. I recently moved to my new apt and set my 55g, knowing I wanted this one set up when I got settled in I placed the bio media in the matured filters of another tank. They were in there for about three weeks before I set up the 55. Now having filled the 55 and placed the media in the new filter, dosed with prime and put some of my black skirt tetras in there to help establish some bacteria I have only reached maybe .25 ppm of ammonia, 0 nitrites and 5ppm nitrates checked every other day for a week. I have done a fish in cycle before and it worked out well for me since I have a lot of free time when not at work. That is how I started the other tanks but have never used "seeded" media before. I have heard stories about an "instant cycle" that lasts maybe a few weeks when using seeded media. any thought?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I instant cycled my pond

 

[Mitch_Wilson]

When i set up my 55 gallon, i instant cycled it. Just moved my whole filter over to the new tank along with the decorations and plants. That was a month ago now, seems to have worked for me but my previous tank was running for 7 months without any readings

 

[BBradbury]

Hello bug...

You can instantly cycle your 55 G, but you'll need another tank with similar filtration and one that's the same size or larger. Just remove at least half of the filter media from the "settled" tank and put it into the filter in the new 55.

Good bacteria lives on any surface inside the tank and reproduces to the former level in just a few hours, so both tanks should have sufficient bacteria to use the nitrogen produced by the fish.

B

 

[TOMatt]

That sounds like a properly cycled tank.
If you don't have a large bioload in the tetras (5-10 vs 50 fish), you may just not be producing enough to increase the Nitrates properly.