Help, How Long To 'seed' A Filter In Established Tank?

[CrazyDiamond88]

I pretty urgently need to move my betta out of the tank he is in with my cories as he's harrassing them. 
 
Last night I set up his old 5 gallon and got the filter I used to use (which had been out of use for months), cleaned it, replaced the sponge, and put it in my established tank to be "seeded" with bacteria.
 
It's been roughly 24 hours now. 
 
Does anyone know how much longer I will have to wait before I can safely take it out of the established tank and put in the 5 gallon, then move my betta in there?

 

[the_lock_man]

The bacteria you have in the existing filter aren't just going to say "Oooh, look, somewhere new, let's go and live there", it will take quite a few weeks before you get any substantial bacterial growth in the new filter, and that will be at the expense of the bacteria in the old filter.
 
What I suggest you do is to take maximum of a quarter of the media in the old filter, and put it in the new filter. Replace that media with media from the old filter. Once the new filter is removed, the bacteria in the old filter will re-colonise quickly (usually less than 24 hours) and you should see no ill effects. Meanwhile, you will probably have enough bacteria in the new filter to be cycled for the betta's bioload.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Wow thanks so much! So basically I put a quarter of established media in new filter, then put new filter into new tank, with Betta, and I'm ready to go?

 

[the_lock_man]

Yes, remembering to refill the old filter, so the bacteria in that have somewhere to expand into.

 

[bigcheed]

that's the best bet. good advice from lock man. you can also try putting a small hand full of gravel in an old cut down stocking or pair of tights. it also contains a good amount of bacteria. I cycled my 28ltr shrimp tank using this method in about a week. if you do this as well as seeding the filter you should be more than ok.

 

[the_lock_man]

I assume you mean putting the gravel in the stocking actually in the filter. A reasonable idea, certainly, but you would need to leave the sock in there - once you take it out, you take away the bacteria too.