New tank setup - benefit of obtaining gravel from long established tank?

[jimsz]

I'll be transferring my few fish to a larger new tank (10 gal to 40 gal) this weekend. Not sure if I will start from scratch as far as cycling is concerned.

I may have the chance to obtain some gravel or small stones from a long time established (and healthy) fresh water tank.

Are there any benefits to this? would this speed the cycle and make it better for my fish sooner? what are the downsides?

My new aquarium came with safe start (a bottle of beneficial bacteria) - is this worth adding and is there a benefit?

 

[Mrc8858]

Seeding is much better then bottled BB as long as the established tank has no health issues id say take as much as possible plus get some filter media too if possible this should cut ur cycle down to half the time or better

 

[eco23]

Are you just upgrading your fish to the larger tank and putting away the old one? The beneficial bacteria adjusts to your bio-load, and since the majority of your beneficial bacteria is in the filter media...simply move every scrap of media from the old to the new and it should almost be an instant cycle. You'll want to keep an eye out for toxin spikes for a while since you'll lose BB on the walls, decor, substrate, etc... but it shouldn't be a big deal.

Tetra SafeStart is one of the few bacteria supplements which is actually useful and contains the correct strains of nitrifying bacteria, so there's no harm in adding it, but if you move your established media over it wont really be necessary.

 

[jcolon]

+1 with Mrc8858 and eco23

Gather as much filter media as you can and even some gravel wouldn't hurt. If you don't intend keeping the gravel, put it in a media bag and then you can remove when the tank's established.

 

[jimsz]

+1 with Mrc8858 and eco23

Gather as much filter media as you can and even some gravel wouldn't hurt. If you don't intend keeping the gravel, put it in a media bag and then you can remove when the tank's established.

Thanks All -

I am going to carry over the filter media,fake plants, decorations, etc and will carry over the gravel as well. Though the gravel will be a thin layer on top of a base of new gravel.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

Most of the bacteria will be in your filter media anyway, so you don't have to move your fake plants and decorations over to your new tank if you don't want to.