From canister to multi tank sump

[Hairy_Harold]

I am transfering my fish from 1 3ft tan to 2 4ft tanks. I have been filtering the 3ft with a diy canister with about 100 large bio balls and 50 small bioballs and a 800lph internal filter. Either tomorrow or wednesday I will be transfering everything over between the 2 4ft tanks. The gravel from the 3ft will go half in one 4ft and half in the other and the bioballs will go ontop of the square bioballs in the sump I am buying. Will this be enough to say that the tank/s sump are cycled and ready to hold fish? I have no where else to put the fish for the moment and the 3ft tank has to be drained to get the stand in with the 2 4ft tanks. I will add some seachem stability for a week to help keep things stable and help prevent ammonia spikes.

I know I will have to keep the bacteria wet and oxygenated to keep them alive but am I missing something here? Just want to ensure things go smooth and fish aren't harmed through this change.

 

[jsoong]

I think you have planned out the bacteria transfer pretty well. <This is assuming that the sump is servicing both the tanks.> You might also throw the filter sponge from the internal filter into the sump as well. The only other thing that you might transfer is if you have any plants or major decorations (driftwood, etc), as these are also places where the bacteria can live.

I would suggest keeping an eye on the levels for a week or 2, but I would think that you would at most have a mini-cycle & mildly elevated levels.

 

[Hairy_Harold]

I was just going to throw the internal filter into the top tank which will have bigger dirty fish. Yes the sum will service both tanks so i thought that if the internal was in 1 tank it's really working on both tanks for bacteria wise.