Filters, Filters, Filters!!

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Scoobcake

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
94
So I have a 29G tank running both a Marineland 350 and a tetra whisper 40. I originally had just the 40 but decided to upgrade to the marineland. I want to move my tetra whisper 40 over to my 10G to both help seed it and to have as my main filter on the 10G. Im just wondering if its ok to remove the tetra without messing up things in the 29. The Marineland has been running along side it for 15 days now.

Another note, the 29G isnt fully stable yet. The tank has been up and running since columbus day when I bought it and was stable for about 1 week I then added a few more fish and I've been getting slight ammo readings for a week now , no nitrites, and slow increasing nitrates.

And finally I'm running 2 of the filters that came with it in my marineland 350. There is however room to put 2 filters on each side for a total of 4. Can I put 2 more filters in there filled with polyfil for more surface area without compromising too much water flow?
 
Honestly, I wouldn't take anything off the 29 till it's fully cycled and well established. And the new filter won't be able to take the whole tanks bioload after 15 days.

After the 29 had be cycled for a while you can take a piece of media from the 29 and put it in the 10's filter. That'll help tremendously.
 
IMHO you could move the filter/s now but you would experience a mini cycle and will then have to do daily PWC to keep your parameters in check. I really depends how much work (pwc + testing) you are willing to do.
 
In all honesty I would go with what Mumma said. Even if you wait until the tank is completely cycled you will still get a mini cycle because you are removing a portion of the BB that the cycle is based on. If you switch it now or later you are still looking at the same effect on the system. I would go ahead an make the change now, but closely watch both tanks and make sure to do PWC whenever they are needed, this might even be more than once per day.

If you do move it over, I would suggest trying to add a bit of filter media from your tetra to your marineland filter areas you are not using, but make sure you are leaving a good bit in your tetra still. I think this is a doable option because you are moving the tetra to a smaller tank which, although depending on stock, should have a lighter bioload than the 29. So having an established filter which was running on a larger tank should have enough BB built up to handle what is in your ten gallon with out an issue. Make sure to leave some of the old filter material in the tetra, that's where the BB are!

Not sure if everything is possible, but please let me know what you do. I always die of curiosity about advice given, and hope I don't give any bad ideas. Good luck.
 
Well right now the 10G has no finned critters in it. It's in the process of fishless cycling and I want to move the tetra over to make it cycle faster and because I absolutely hate the filter thats currently in the 10. it takes up too much room inside the aquarium. Right not the filter in the 10G is converting 4ppm ammo into 1ppm ammo in 24hrs so i also have a little bit of media there with some BB. Every now and then I've been taking my media out of the tetra whisper 40 and swishing it around in the 10G just to help it along. I plan on stocking the 10G with 7-8 Celestial pearl danios (not sure if thats a good number of them) and heavily planting it.

The 29G is just confusing the heck out of me right now. been doing a 50% WC daily now but can't get ammo under control. It's been creeping up about .125 ppm ammo over a 24 hr period but nitrites are always 0 and nitrates rise about 2.5ppm over 24 hrs. I've been floating some hornwort in the 29G that doesnt seem to be doing the best so I don't know if that is contributing to the Ammo as well. I want to take the hornwort out so bad as all it does is create a giant mess of little pine needle shaped leaves but the tank would be pretty barren without it. Maybe I should invest in some fake plants for now and remove the struggling plants.

Also what do you think about my question on adding 2 additional filters to the Marineland 350 for more surface area for BB? it can hold 2 in each side but i only have 1 in each side at the moment. Just didnt want to restrict water flow too much.
 
put the tetra on the 10 and the one from the 10 into the 29 haha!
 
Haha :lol:

Except I hate the filter on the 10! lol

I just realized something though. Could the mini cycle I'm experiencing now be due to the fact I had a breeder net in there for awhile to house my one molly fry and when i took it out it removed some of my bacteria? Can BB grow on that breeder net?
 
Well, BB grow on everything so they could have grown there but I don't think it's enough to make mini cycle. No idea though.
 
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