New tank..seeding from currently cycling tank

[nivluke18]

I am new to the hobby and started a 50 gallon tank completely wrong about 5 weeks ago. After much reading and fantastic advice from this site I have learned enough to put me in the dangerous category. my 50G is not cycled yet but on its way. I found a great deal on a 75G that i want to cycle correctly without fish! Knowing I wanted to have a second tank I bought Jardin Aquarium Fish Tank Biochemical Filter White Sponge Pad, 38-Inch and cut a large piece and put in my HOB filter housing 3 weeks ago.

My question is how long for this sponge to be seeded and can I put in a new tank with no fish now to cycle it? Maybe put some of my gravel in the new tank as well? Also, my filter media on the 50G sits inside plastic piece. I have read you can squeeze existing filter media in tank water removed during PWC but shouldn't replace filter cartridges for 6 months or longer as you don't want to remove bacteria built up. Is that correct? So I should pull filter media out of plastic housing ( after tank is cycled) to rinse gunk off and put back in plastic case to go in housing?

Thank you for any help! I want to cycle new tank correctly and not sure if I need to change filters on existing tank after cycle is complete.

Lora

 

[librarygirl]

If you have a second filter for the new tank, you could just run the whole filter on your existing tank to seed it. Using a piece of media would work too, but running a whole filter would give the bacteria more room to grow on. Either way you should be OK if you seed the new media for at least a few weeks on the existing tank and then add fish slowly to the new tank.

Right, you don't want to replace filter media unless it's literally falling apart and even then you only want to replace small portions at a time, not all of it at once. I've had my filters running for over a year now and the only thing I replace regularly are the polishing pads. Since your tank is new I'd leave it alone for a while. Once it's cycled, you can then start cleaning the media in old tank water during water changes and then put it back.

For the empty tank, like I said you can run the new filter on the existing tank or (as you did) leave a piece of media in the existing filter for a few weeks to help seed it. If you put it on the empty tank now, the bacteria will die off without a food source (ammonia, either from fish waste or you adding pure ammonia). You could opt to do a fishless cycle on the new tank with pure ammonia if you wanted to as well.

Hope this helps? If anything is confusing just let me know.

 

[nivluke18]

Thanks library girl..great idea. I will run the new filter on my existing tank before moving it over to the new tank. How long does it have to run to get seeded? After that time should I fill the new tank up with some water from my existing tank (60/40 type mix)?

 

[librarygirl]

I'd run it for at least 3 weeks. I wouldn't bother with used water, it won't help much in terms of cycling.