Mature Media To Help Cycle, Will My Friends That Didnt Cycle His Tank

[jamesmacc]

hi everyone, started to cycle my tank 3 days ago and want to try get some used filter media to help speed things up. i dont know anyone in my area with a tank or an external filterexcept one friend of mine with a small tank with guppies and a couple goldfish with an internal filter. he did not cycle the tank but the fish have been in for about 4 months now, will the tank have grown some of its own good bacteria to turn ammonia to nitrite then nitrate. there must have been high amounts of ammonia in the water from all them fish when it was not cycled but would the tank done a sort of fish in cycle by its self. let me know what you think,
james

 

[KittyKat]

As long as your friend cleans his filter media in old tank water, there should be *some* bacteria in there, but it is unlikely to be what I would call a "mature filter", so I recommend that you do not take more than 1/5 of his media.

You might want to warn your friend that the goldfish will outgrow the tank very quickly, and that it is not such a great idea keeping tropical and coldwater fish together.

 

[jamesmacc]

i have already advised that and he told me a friend of his who breeds fish said they would be ok. i advised about tank size and he is getting a bigger one, i tried to explain how to cycle a tank and he just looked at me in confusion, his media is only maybe only 7x7cm squares so maybe its not worth it

 

[KittyKat]

I really don't know how safe it would be to remove any from his tank, but there should be no problem if you take the water that he cleaned his filter in, it will likely contain a higher concentration of bacteria than your tap water, so might speed up your own cycle by a few days as the start is the slowest bit.