Cloning A New Tank

[Birdie]

I'm planning on getting a new, bigger, tank ( in addition to, not instead of, current ones - I have a 20g community, and a 6g with one male betta)

My 20g tank is cycled, and stocked with 20" of small fish - cory cats, guppies and honey gouramies - oh, and some molly fry that I am trying to give away LOL. It's about 6 weeks old - so cycled, but not actually mature if you see what I mean. The betta's tank is a few weeks older - not enough to make a difference though. The tank I'm planning on getting is about 50 gallons.

Both my current tanks have extra filter media hanging around in the body of water - as a member here was kind enough to donate mature stuff to speed up my cycles . I haven't taken the extra stuff out yet - partly because I didn't want to suddenly deprive the tanks of that level of bacteria, and partly because I was hoping to persuade the rest of the family that indeed we really should get another tank ( evil cackle).

I think the "new" tank ( actually second hand) will have an internal filter, so I don't think I can run it alongside my current filter in the 20g - I'm guessing it will be attached to the tank.

So on to the actual questions LOL

Can I take the spare stuff - which includeds a sponge, and other media, and just cut it up and stuff it into the new filter, and *make* it fit? I'm guessing that the answer to that will be yes.

If I do that, will it have a detrimental effect on the existing tank(s) ( depriving them of the level of bacteria that they are used to, and that are, presumably, needed for that bioload of fish)? Does the fact that my tanks are less than 6 months old have any bearing here?

Assuming that I have stuffed lots of spare media into the new tank, I still have the issue that my new tank is twice the size of the old (heh!) so how do I up the fishy-support level of the new filter? Do I still have to do a fishless cycle of the new tank? I have got the distinct impresion that people here have cloned tanks and not done a fishless cycle - does that only work if you are cloning a new tank that is *smaller* than the donor?

Once I have put the new media in, how do I keep the bacteria going? Should I load it with a few fish straight away? Can I keep it going with fishfood for a day or two until I put new fish in? (If so, how much food would it take?)

The whole idea is that I don't have to put new fish through a fishy cycle, and I'm wondering if that is exactly what *would* happen if I put a few fish in and then gradually increased their numbers over the coming weeks......or is that gentle enough that it would be fine (after all isn't that generally what happens when anybody adds new fish to a cycled tank?)

Gah! Thank you if you haven't fallen asleep by now LOL

Help! Somebody talk me through it, please

 

[GrantyBoy]

if I've read your thread right the setting up of your new tank with existing filters from your old tank will effectivley be a large water change.

You will need to transfer everything into the new tank, existing gravel, water, fliters etc.

Make sure your current tank has good water parameters before you make the swap over as it is still very new and not mature as you've acknowledged

 

[Majjie]

I don't think Grantyboy has read your thread right You're setting up the new tank in addition to the 20 gal - right?

Once filter media has been in a tank for a few weeks there will only be enough bacteria in it for the amount of ammonia produced by those fish, so when you take - say half the media out - the tank is temporarily short of bacteria. But, because you've got a healthy population of bacteria in the other half of the media, they will soon grow to replace what you've taken out.

When you've got extra media in the tank - the bacteria just spread out over more areas - but you can't have more than are supported by the levels of ammonia your tank produces.

In your case you can either:

1. 
   1. take out the extra media and put it in the new tank - and stock with a few fish whilst everything settles down - then gradually add more fish, or
   2. put the media in the new tank as above but then do a fishless cycle to build up the numbers of bacteria - then add more or less your full stock of fish straight away (apart from anything that needs a mature tank)

If you do a fishless cycle- don't add very high levels of ammonia - keep it down to around 2-3 ppm but just keep adding more when the level drops to 0. Wait until the nitrite also drops to 0. Do a big water change and hey presto.

Either way - just keep an eye on the original tank to check that it doesn't go into a mini cycle. Reducing the food for a few days could help.

 

[GrantyBoy]

Think you answer is in there between the replies