cycle question

[nicolej]

Hi all,

I'm not a newbie to aquariums but it's been a while since I set up new tanks, I decided to get a 10 gallon (already have a 5) and took some water, substrate, plants, wood and a chunk of filter sponge from my already established and healthy 5 gallon, put it in the 10 and it's been running with some shrimp and amy betta from my 5 in it for a week. Other than some pH issues I had initially, my tank is testing 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and under 20ppm nitrates. Because I "seeded" it from my established tank, would it safe to assume it is "cycled" to swap my betta back to his old tank and start adding some other fish?

Thanks in advance!

Nicole

 

[librarygirl]

I would say it's safe to add some other fish. You still could get a toxin spike if the fish you add have a higher bioload than the betta but some extra water changes would help until the levels even out again.

 

[eduguy]

^+1
If you removed that much from the cycled tank your 5g might go through a mini cycle I think.

 

[nicolej]

i only took about a gallon of water, an a corner off the sponge of the cycled tank, the gravel, plants and wood actually came from another cycled tank that belonged to my friend, so I don't suspect that my 5 gallon will have much trouble, seems to be holding steady and there are only 2 fish in it normally anyhow, a bushynose and my betta so it should be able to handle it?

 

[librarygirl]

i only took about a gallon of water, an a corner off the sponge of the cycled tank, the gravel, plants and wood actually came from another cycled tank that belonged to my friend, so I don't suspect that my 5 gallon will have much trouble, seems to be holding steady and there are only 2 fish in it normally anyhow, a bushynose and my betta so it should be able to handle it?

Probably, but it's good to test the tank when you remove media just to see if the tank has been affected. Also do you have a bushynose pleco in a 5 gal? How large is it? It's going to need a 30 gal minimum, the sooner the better actually before it's growth is stunted.

 

[nicolej]

the bushynose is just over an inch, fins included and yes I have been testing both tanks, no change to the 5 gal