Bacteria Transfer

[unknowntbeast]

Ok, I've read in a few places that in order to give your cycling process a jump start, you can use matured media or bacteria from another filter with filter floss. I'm on day 14ish and ammonia had dropped 3 days ago, I raised it back up to 4 ppm twice, it seems to be dropping within 30 hours right now. But if I took the filter from my other tank, which I haven't replaced in about 2 months and somehow transfered some bacteria to the other filter, would this help speed things up? That tank wasn't cycled but I think it has the bacteria now seeming that both ammonia and nitrites are being processed, they are both at 0 ppm. Could I simply rub the two filters together and let them attach to the new one? Would algae from the old tank transfer to the new one even if it is very little? Would it propogate? And talking about algae here, not only do I still have diatoms, but some new green stuff that just showed up. It is light-green just all over the side wall, not just in spots like diatoms. Sorry no pictures, it's really hard to take a picture of the tank.


Oh and I still need help with the food question

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=304112"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=304112[/URL]

 

[glolite]

Yes you can transfer media to speed up the cycling process but if you take it from a filter that is still cycling it may slow down the first tanks cycle. If you just used the floss it may work.

How long has the first tank been cycling?

Yes algae diatoms would be transferred via the filter. If you have soft green algae on the glass, simply clean it off using a magnetic cleaner before water changes.

As for the shrimp question, you could keep brine shrimp in a separate tank in salt water and then feed them as needed to the fish. You would need a small sponge filter to keep them healthy (obviously it would need to be cycled). Alternatively, you could try hatching baby brine shrimp in your main tank. It's a fairly fiddly process and there is a thread somewhere in the forums. Try putting baby brine shrimp in the search engine on here.

 

[unknowntbeast]

The first tank wasn't fishless cycled. I didn't even know about cycling until a week later when I found these forums. But it seems to be processing ammonia and nitrite quite well.
And if the algae transfered as well could I use something like Algaefix by API to keep it at bay in both the old tank and in the new tank? Even though the new one is still cycling?

 

[glolite]

So are you using ammonia on both tanks now?

I wouldn't use any chemicals for algae while the tanks are cycling as it may upset the bacteral balance.

In a new set up algae comes and goes, in fact if you leave it alone until the cycle has finished, although it looks horrible, once you do your large water change in the qualifying week, the algae should start to disappear on its own.

 

[unknowntbeast]

No, I am only using ammonia for the new tank. The fish in the old tank are providing the ammonia for that tank. I am assuming that the tank cycled naturally.

 

[glolite]

Aha, now I'm with you. In that case, if your first tank is fully cycled, simply take some media from it and put it in your new filter, swapping it for the new media which you can put in the cycled filter. This should speed up the process considerably.

If the algae problem is in the cycled tank then treat with any anti-algae med. Protolon by eSHa is excellent as it deals with ALL kinds of algae including blue-green (cyanobacter). Safe for fish, can kill snails, does't affect mature filters. You need to remove any carbon before using.

Hope this helps.

 

[zoetetra]

how long has the old tank been running for? and what are the water stats in the old tank?
if the old tank has been running a while and the ammonia and no2 are at 0 then i would simply get the filter and squeeze the water from it into the new tank.

 

[waterdrop]

how long has the old tank been running for? and what are the water stats in the old tank?
if the old tank has been running a while and the ammonia and no2 are at 0 then i would simply get the filter and squeeze the water from it into the new tank.

You can "clean" a mature filter in the water of a new tank and this can be quite effective, especially if the other filter is good and dirty. It will not be nearly as effective however as actually taking some of the mature biomedia from the already cycled filter and placing it directly in to the new filter you are trying to cycle. Autotrophs are by nature tightly coupled to their substrates and getting some of the mature substrate (by which I mean the mature filter media) next to the immature substrate (the new filter media) you will allow the autotrophs to do their natural thing, releasing new cells a short distance to form compact clumped new biofilm covered colonies.

Don't transfer more than 1/3 of the biomedia from your old filter or it will have a hard time recovering in its existing tank. Do put the transferred media in direct contact with the appropriate media in the new filter. Often you have to be creative about doing this. Cutting sponges with scissors is a common practice.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[unknowntbeast]

Ok so here is my idea...Since the new filter is a large size and the matured one is small, I should be able to take out the filter frame and carbon out of the new one and place the mature one inside of it, clamp it down and place it the mature tank for a day. That way the bacteria should transfer and the mature tank would still be filtering. Sound good? Or would the existing bacteria on the new filter die?

 

[OldMan47]

A day will not be enough to actually give you much of a seed. If you can't afford to move any media, clean the old filter in the new tank with the filter running. It is like using a bacteria additive that is actually alive and will give a new filter a solid start. It is not a substitute for cycling using ammonia but the cycle can happen very quickly if you do that.

 

[raptorrex]

A day will not be enough to actually give you much of a seed. If you can't afford to move any media, clean the old filter in the new tank with the filter running. It is like using a bacteria additive that is actually alive and will give a new filter a solid start. It is not a substitute for cycling using ammonia but the cycle can happen very quickly if you do that.

it will be hard to find better advice, than that quoted above.

 

[unknowntbeast]

Ammonia is already being processed, I would just need some Nitrite eating bacteria.

 

[waterdrop]

Ammonia is already being processed, I would just need some Nitrite eating bacteria.

I think the lab that Hovanec used to differentiate the species could be rented for about a million a month if you wanted to identify just the needed ones...

Seriously, to varying degrees the different ideas above may help things go a tad faster for you. Good luck in whatever you try. Its good to remember that the autotrophic bacteria are just a very slow growing bacteria, even with the very best of cultivation.

~~waterdrop~~