Upgrading tank- help!

[Melaniew55]

I am upgrading from a ten gallon to a 55 gallon. My current filter is the one that hangs on the back, but the new tank will have a canister filter. To help speed up the cycle I do plan on transferrring some of the used water from the ten gallon. But, can I also float the canister sponges in the 10 gallon for a few weeks? There is not room in the 10 gallon filter to add any extra filter in. Wondering if floating the sponges will also collect the bacteria to move to the 55 gallon?

Thanks!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Using water from your 10g into your 55g will do very little to help cycle your new tank. It wont hurt to do this, but won't help much either. The beneficial bacteria doesn't live in the water, it lives on the surface of the filter media, sponges, substrate, decorations, the aquarium glass etc.

Are you planning on decommissioning the 10g? If so the best thing you can do is run your HoB filter in the new tank alongside the canister for 2 or 3 weeks. If thats not possible transfer some filter material or sponges from your old filter into the new. If thats not possible then rinse the sponges from your old filter into the water of your new tank.

 

[Melaniew55]

I won’t take the ten down until
The 55 is up and going. Do you think floating a sponge in the ten gallon for a few weeks and transferring that to the canister will help?

 

[Aiken Drum]

It will help a little, but i think just running a fishless cycle on the 55g for those 2 weeks would be more beneficial. If you want to get the 55g cycled before you decommision the 10g then just do a fishless cycle on the 55g. Periodically squeeze out the sponges from your 10g into the 55g while it is cycling. Put a little substrate from the 10g into the 55g. Put a little filter media from the 10g into the 55g filter. This will all speed up the cycle on the 55g more than putting sponges in the 10g.

 

[Melaniew55]

I’ll try that then, thank you!