Cycle Jumpstart Question

[Thaiboxer]

Hey all,

I'm pretty experienced with aquariums, but have never tried this before. I am running RO water on two new aquariums and setting them up one at a time. So I'm starting from scratch with no cycling done.

A friend of mine has an established 20 gallon, so yesterday we put my Bio-Wheel filter on his tank. I'm going to leave it there for a bit to "borrow" his bacteria.

Question: How long does my filter need to run on his tank to get a good colony going?

Thanks!

 

[megos1]

what size tank are you starting up? and are you doing fresh or brackish??

 

[malkore]

with the limited info provided, a good rule of thumb is 2-3 weeks. that should be enough time to seed your bio wheel.
whether it seeds enough to handle the bioload you plan to put in your tank is still unknown.

 

[Thaiboxer]

Sorry, it's a tall 15 gallon. I'll be starting slowly with 2-3 fish, then increase the load after watching for ammonia and nitrite spikes.

Thanks for your input!

 

[TomK2]

I would go for 2 or 3 weeks also.

Only way to shorten that would be to take colonized media from your friends tank, and pack your filter full of it. Your friends filter could likely give up to half his media without ill effects, but most would not want to give up more than 25 percent at a time.

I think the "run the filter on an established tank" method is the simplest, surest, and least disturbing method for both tanks. It just requires some forethought and access to an established and healthy tank. You would still want to stock conservatively, and not go to full levels right away. like you already planned on.