Cycling New Filter

[berbie38]

Hi all
I currently have a 180 litre juwel vision tank, that houses 17 malawi cichlids, that has been running now for about 6 months.
Said cichlids are now spawning, one of the females is holding at the moment. I have bought a small 12 litre nursery tank to hold the fry in once they are born. I have also got a small filter for the tank and was wondering the best way to cycle it? should i just put the new filter into my 180 litre tank for a few weeks? and then transfer to the other tank? any help appreciated, I would like to get teh filter in the new tank within a couple of weeks if poss before she releases the fry.
best wishes
berbie

 

[ZoddyZod]

yep, you could seed it that way but it would probably take 6+ weeks to seed properly.

If you have sponges in your current filter, give one of those a squeeze into the new tank with the filter running. The filter will soak up the bacteria and, hey presto, it should instantly be ready.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Another option would be to take a portion of the media from your existing filter and stuff it into the new filter. You can take up to 1/3rd of the media without messing up the old filter. Just be sure to replace it with new stuff. So, if you have a sponge in that filter, just pull it out, rinse it in the new tank as mentioned above, then cut a piece off and place it inside the new tank. This will ensure that some of the bacteria are in your new filter. Then, replace the old sponge to the old filter and add some new material to that hole. If you have ceramics, those are the best option. Just pull a handful of them out, and drop them into the new filter. (I use them with my HOB filters, but I put them into a netting bag so that they stay together and I can give them a swish to rinse them regularly.) Then replace the amount you took.


The tank will be instantly cycled for whatever portion of the media you took. So, if you took 1/4 of the media, the new tank could take 1/4 of the fish.

 

[the_lock_man]

Another option would be to take a portion of the media from your existing filter and stuff it into the new filter. You can take up to 1/3rd of the media with messing up the old filter. Just be sure to replace it with new stuff. So, if you have a sponge in that filter, just pull it out, rinse it in the new tank as mentioned above, then cut a piece off and place it inside the new tank. This will ensure that some of the bacteria are in your new filter. Then, replace the old sponge to the old filter and add some new material to that hole. If you have ceramics, those are the best option. Just pull a handful of them out, and drop them into the new filter. (I use them with my HOB filters, but I put them into a netting bag so that they stay together and I can give them a swish to rinse them regularly.) Then replace the amount you took.


The tank will be instantly cycled for whatever portion of the media you took. So, if you took 1/4 of the media, the new tank could take 1/4 of the fish.

+1

 

[berbie38]

ok thanks all
best regards
berbie

 

[berbie38]

Hi all
I have now set up the new tank and in it i have 1 malawi cichlid fry who is only about a cm long and a female who has a mouthfull of fry.
I bough a brand new filter and stuffed it full of mature media from my other tank, the problem is 2 days later I am getting raised ammonia levels, I assumed it should be instantly cycled. I have done a 50% water change to drop the levels.The other thing is the female isnt eating because shes pregnant and the fry probably doesnt produce hardly any waste so the only source of ammonia is the little bit of food i give to the fry. Does the mature media need a couple of days to kick in? cant understand why its not working?
any help appreciated.
regards
berbie

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Mature media can take a while to settle in, but there are other factors that could be working here as well...


Was the media wet the whole time?

How long was it left without ammonia available to process?

How many fish were in the tank that you took it from? How much of the media did you take?

Did you rinse it at all before you placed it into the new filter?

Are you getting good water flow through the filter, or is it too crammed full that the water barely moves?


Can you describe in detail how you crammed it in? (What tank was it in, how many fish in there, what type of media, what other media is in that filter, what is the new filter type, where did you put it, how long did the process of transferring take, etc.?)

 

[berbie38]

Mature media can take a while to settle in, but there are other factors that could be working here as well...


Was the media wet the whole time?

How long was it left without ammonia available to process?

How many fish were in the tank that you took it from? How much of the media did you take?

Did you rinse it at all before you placed it into the new filter?

Are you getting good water flow through the filter, or is it too crammed full that the water barely moves?


Can you describe in detail how you crammed it in? (What tank was it in, how many fish in there, what type of media, what other media is in that filter, what is the new filter type, where did you put it, how long did the process of transferring take, etc.?)

Media wet all time
left for about 2-3 hrs before i put the fish in
17 fish in 180 ltre tank, new tank 25 litre
rinsed it in aquarium water
There must be raesonable flow as the fish get pushed away as they get near to it by the waterflow.
I put 2 pieces in which are sponge and about 3 inch by 3 inch each and about half an inch thick.
and on top of that in the new filter is a new black carbon sponge, not mature.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It all sounds good. What percentage of the mature media in the 180 liter tank did you move? The bigger the percentage, the better it will be.


I would do a water change to lower the ammonia until the media kicks in. It shouldn't take long. Just keep testing to ensure that it does. If it doesn't grab a piece of the gunkiest bits of the media from the 180 liter filter and put that in the new filter.

 

[berbie38]

cool, thanks for your help.