Seeding New Tank

[GetItSahn]

Ok, my friend got a 20 gallon for him/his younger sisters to stare at and didn't know about cycling and how long the process takes. Instead of him and his family waiting the 4-10 weeks for it to cycle completely I have decided to let him have filter media from my tank!
 
Here's my dilemma...I have an Aqueon QuietFlow while he has an AquaTech filter. I use cheap sponges from petsmart in my filter and in his filter there is this "bio-sponge" that's black and like knitted into a plastic frame. My basic question is: Does the mature media have to physically touch the unseeded media to seed it? Because there is a way we could put my media behind his unseeded media and they would both receive the same water flow of course but they WOULD NOT touch. I honestly have no idea and have gotten mixed results googling it.
 
Any and all info will be appreciated!

 

[Gruntle]

I'm no expert but I'd assume the mature media would seed the new stuff just by being in the same tank.

Do you plan to leave the media in his tank? If so I don't see any problems with what you suggest. The tank will still need cycling, but you may cut a few weeks off the overall process.

 

[hobby5]

I don't know how far away your friend is living, but it would be sufficient to squeeze your sponge into his tank (in free water is ok, no need to have it in filter, as filter will suck it up anyway) as you would do when you clean it. Then you can take it back home again.

 

[GetItSahn]

He's just 20 minutes down the road. My thought was...If I put my mature media in his filter then the tank is instantly "cycled" Now I know the whole cycle didn't actually take place but with the amount i'm giving him it can definitely support 4 guppies for a week and as the weeks progress the bacteria from my media will then transport to the media also in his filter. So the "cycle" would tank time but you could have fish in there while it's cycling because my media is breaking down the ammonia and nitrite...
Hopefully that all made sense