Do I cycle for new sponges and sintered glass?

[Habu]

Hello all. I have a well established 170 litre aquarium. I have an external canister filter with sponges and sintered glass that are getting on a bit. I now have new sponges and sintered glass filter media so can I just swap out the old for new or will I need to cycle the filter at all?
Cheers
Habu

 

[Essjay]

Change a bit at a time rather than all at once. If the tank has been running long enough for the media to disintegrate you will have bacteria everywhere in the tank as well as in the filter. And if you have live plants there won't be many bacteria anyway. But change a bit of media then more a month later to be on the safe side.