Cycling with "old" water

[oneponygirl]

Hey, if I vacuum my existing tanks (all healthy) and use that to establish a new tank would the waste cause it to cycle or not?

I'm getting a used ten gallon with accesories for ultra cheap so I'm just wondering if it would work.

 

[OoHeatheroO]

Hey, if I vacuum my existing tanks (all healthy) and use that to establish a new tank would the waste cause it to cycle or not?

I'm getting a used ten gallon with accesories for ultra cheap so I'm just wondering if it would work.

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The only suitable media that you should use to cycle a new tank, would be to take the cycled tanks filter and put it in the new tank.

 

[CFC]

Old water and the gunk from the gravel contains very little good bacteria and lots of bad bacteria and other nasties. The best way to clone a tank from a existing tank is to remove a portion of the media from the existing tanks filtration and sandwich it between the new media in the new tanks filter so that it seeds it. Remember that when cloning a tank you must add fish as soon as you transfer the media as the bacteria will start to die off rapidly without a ammonia source to feed on.