Filter Swap And Cycling?

[thezodiac]

okay so whats going on right now is i have a 10 gallon and a 3 gallon.

10 gallon + acquaclear filter are cycled
3 gallon + penguin 100 are uncycled.

the problem is i need to switch filters.

will this cycle my 3 gallon very quickly? also what do i do to speed up my 10 gallon filter cycling?

(or is it going to cycle itself because of the water and gravel inside?)

 

[This Old Spouse]

What kind of filter media do you have? If there's some mature media in the 10g that you can split with the 3g you can cycle it almost immediately. There's very little bacteria in the water or gravel.

 

[thezodiac]

What kind of filter media do you have? If there's some mature media in the 10g that you can split with the 3g you can cycle it almost immediately. There's very little bacteria in the water or gravel.

well the 10 gallon has a sponge, carbon fiber, and little stones.

should i put one of these into the 3 gallon filter?

 

[thezodiac]

oops delete

 

[Fyurae]

Do either tanks have fish? You can swap the filters, and the cycled filter will make for a cycled tank, provided there is enough ammonia supply to keep the bacteria fed. You can just squeeze the cloudy mulm water out of the cycled filter into the new one to seed it, and if you provide ammonia (put some food or prawn in the tank to rot) then it will cycle very quickly. A week or so.

 

[thezodiac]

yes both of them contain fish

 

[fluttermoth]

If they both have fish in, then it's essential that you get some good bacteria in the uncycled tank. Take about a 1/4 of your cycled media (it doesn't matter what, but I'd suggest a few of the rocks and a clipping of the sponge) and put in the uncycled one.

Feed sparingly and test often for the first few days to make sure the bacteria have survived the move (they usually do, it's just a wise precaution).