Upgrading from 10 to 55 gallon Help

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Melaniew55

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 1, 2020
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I am upgrading from a ten gallon with a HOB filter to a 55 gallon with a Fluval canister.

I cut a piece of the media from the ten gallon that has been cycled and put it in the Fluval canister two days ago. I also added 3 small fish to continue the Ammonia production.

I have tested today and the results are : Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0.

I thought from what I have read that if I add media from an established tank then my tank will be considered cycled already? Why am I getting 0 readings still?

I have still a few more small fish to add from the ten gallon, but I didnt want to overwhelm the ammonia production until the 55 gallon showed cycled. What should I do? when can I add the remaining fish?
 
The small amount of media you transfered wont instantly cycle the new tank, it will just help it/speedup the process.

Saying that, the 0ppm ammonia and nitrite is a good sign, but its a bit difficult to judge after just 2 days.

Possibly your aquarium is sufficiently cycled for the small number of fish you transfered and any nitrate produced is just not high enough to read because of the very low bioload.

Or

Possibly your tank isnt sufficiently cycled for the number of fish you transfered and any ammonia and nitrite produced is just not enough to read because of the very low bioload.

Impossible to tell which after such a short time period.

Your options are.

- Keep on with what you are doing. If you continue to see 0ppm ammonia and nitrite and your nitrate start to rise, you can transfer some more fish after a week or so. Rinse and repeat till all your fish are transfered.

- Move your HOB onto your larger tank along with all your fish and run it alongside your cannister for a couple of weeks before removing it. Transfer any biomedia you can into the cannister at this point also.
 
I don’t understand how cycling a tank works if there is no ammonia production? I read that there has to be something creating the ammonia Or the bacteria will die that I added in from the ten gallon, which is why I added the 3 fish in. Is that incorrect?
 
What you are doing is fine if done properly.

A fishless cycle is where you set up the tank without fish and use ammonia or ammonium chloride to replicate the fish waste. It means you get the tank cycled before putting fish in.

Its up to you really which way you want to go. Some people have an ethical issue with fish in cycles as it does mean that you are putting fish into an uncycled tank and using them to get the cycle going, but if done properly these risks are minimised.

If you went with my option of using the old HOB alongside your new filter for a few weeks however your fish wont be going into an uncycled tank, because you know that filter already contains cycled media.
 
Thank you! I wasn’t sure how the fish less one was done, but I am using old media like you recommended ?
 
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