Filter Cloning

[Schmill]

Ok, because of a few issues I don't think this works out as a simple filter clone, but I'd like some opinions.

Firstly, in my 60L tank I have an Interpet PF2, which has space for 2 sponges, (or 1 sponge and 1 charcoal), a polish, and some bio-media.

So at the weekend I lobbed my charcoal sponge in the bin, and put in an normal sponge in it's place.

My plan is to remove the ORIGINAL sponge from this filter, (replace it with another new one), and put this ORIGINAL sponge into the external canister filter of my 300L tank to try and speed things along.

So firstly, do I have to wait a period of time since I put the sponge into my filter, or as most of the bacteria will be on the bio-media can I just whip out the 'mature' sponge now without affecting the filter too much?
Sort of related to the first question, if most of the bacteria in the filter is on the bio-media rather than the sponge, will transfering the sponge over be of any real benefit to the filter of the 300L tank?
Lastly , does the piece of sponge have to actually go INTO the external canister for the cloning to work, or can I just jam it near the filter intake in the tank?
(Makes the difference as to whether I have to open up the filter, risk getting wet, and then re-prime it - lol

 

[saz326]

Sounds crazy - I tried this analogy with a few people and they seemed to understand better....

Try to think of the filter as a child, and the bacteria as chicken pox.

If you want your kids to get chicken pox while young (as most mums and dads do), you keep your kid in school around their friend that already has chicken pox. It can only be passed on by skin contact. Having your kid stand by the door will not make them catch it.

Getting back to reality -
You ideally need to have the two peices of filter sponge (current bit and new bit) in physical contact with each other for quick cloning. Tis is because bacteria colonise by spreading across. This is not normally possible so place it as close as you can. Preferably in the filter box. Worst come to worst, place it somewhere in the tank near the filter outlet (where the water feeds back into the tank) Some - be it few - bacteria will be blown out of the unit.

Its true that most bacteria are on the bio media. This is simply because of the surface area of the bio media is far larger, so gram for gram there are more bacteria on the bio-bits. Roughly, the same number of bacteria per square inch will be on the sponge and on the bio-media.

If you have good water quality at the moment, and plenty of bio-media in the filter (e.g. if filter is external and has a few baskets of the stuff) then feel free to whip the sponge out and replace it. The sponge in these systems is more there to remove debris and small particles - it doesnt do all of the bacteria-y stuff.

If the sponge has been in a mature tank/filter system for some time, then as long as the water it is being moved into is settled (i.e. no chlorine etc) then the mature sponge will give the new tank a good start. I would still run a cycle, but would be happy to use a couple of fish to do the job rather than fishless cycling.

Good luck.

 

[Tolak]

Saz pretty much covered it, most of my tanks are cloned. It helps to fast the donor tank for 24 hours before removing media, and feed lightly for the next week, about 1/3 normal. Less food means less waste produced, this gives the nitrifying bacteria a chance to catch up to the new bio load.

The same goes for the new tank if you are going to add fish right away.

 

[paulypaul182]

Sorry to hijack this thread but I had a similar question. I have a fluval 4 plus and a fluval 2 plus in my 300 litre. These came with the tank which was second hand and was fully matured. The thing is, the pads inside each filter seem quite battered to the point that they are quite frayed and falling apart. How do i go about changing the media without creating a cycle?

 

[minxfishy]

Only change one pad at a time, wait 4 weeks and then change the other.

 

[paulypaul182]

Only change one pad at a time, wait 4 weeks and then change the other.

Thanks minx. I see that in my fluval plus 4 that there is 4 pads in each cage. So just one pad from a cage every 4 weeks? Is there any point in buying the two different kinds of pads that fluval sell? I believe that one is for fine particles and the other is for bacteria. Am I right? never used fluval before and just had foam tubes

 

[minxfishy]

If you have four pads in each, then two at a time, wasnt sure how many they had, as long as you dont change more than half at a time you should be fine, plus you have two filters running so I doubt you will see any mini cycle.

To be honest, buy the cheaper version of the sponges, there isnt any differnce in them Ive found, cept price The fine particle sponge is more likely filter floss and you can buy some padding/stuffing stuff from a craft store which does just as well and again much cheaper and can buy in bulk so you can change it more often to clear up the fine particles in the water.

 

[paulypaul182]

Thnaks again minx