Is It Possible............

[plecostomus-mad]

To run a slave tank along side a bigger one? i have a 50ukg running at present and was wondering if i could run a smaller 2ft 60l tank along side it? bascily to skip the cycling

not sure what i will stock in it but if it works on a small scale it should work for a multiple tank set up i have in mind for the near future.

ok here's the method:


i place the 2ft 60l tank next to the 4ft 50ukg at about 2 meters apart.place 2 small water pumps or alike to pump water from one tank to another and back again, both tanks would have there own heaters.

does this sound like it could work? or maybe you have an idea i can utilize?lol

mark

 

[AdamM]

how exactly would this skip a cycle? that would mean you now have to cycle 2 tanks instead of one....

 

[star4]

If you are only pumping water from one tank to the other then no, its not really of any benefit as its the filter that really does the work with cycling. There is no real beneficial bacteria in just the water itself. The best way is to add mature media to the filter.

 

[plecostomus-mad]

If you are only pumping water from one tank to the other then no, its not really of any benefit as its the filter that really does the work with cycling. There is no real beneficial bacteria in just the water itself. The best way is to add mature media to the filter.

the idea is to use the water and filter in my larger tank to keep fish in the smaller tank.

 

[KraKen]

As long as the fish in the smaller tank require the same conditions as the fish in the larger one and the filter for the larger one is capable of handleing the extra waste it should work. It seems to be the same idea as a water bridge but without the bridge.

 

[Tolak]

place 2 small water pumps or alike to pump water from one tank to another and back again, ...

This will be a problem. You will never get both pumps exactly equal. In time you will have one tank with much less water, one with much more; very wet floor.

Run the small tank filter in the larger tank for at least 3 weeks, 4 or more is better. Your filter media cycles, the water does not, nor does the tank itself.

This is known as cloning, and how people with many tanks get new tanks up & running. There are some things you need to know before doing this. First, a mature colony of nitrifying bacteria is capable of doubling every 24 hours. Second, capable doesn't mean it will.

Let's say you have a 10 gallon tank with 10 neons in it, and a mature filter. That filter doesn't know if it is running on a 10 gallon tank, or a 100 gallon tank. The media is capable of providing the biological filtration for those 10 fish, irregardless of tank size. You could take half that media, 5 neons, and put the media in a new filter, on a new 10 gallon tank, and can expect to have no problems.

Back to being capable of doubling in 24 hours. You could take 1/3 of the mature media, which will support 1/3 of the fish, and put it in that new tank & filter with 3 newly purchased neons, and expect no cycling problems in the new tank. I always suggest taking no more than 1/3 of the mature media, as capable doesn't mean it will. I also suggest fasting the donor tank for 24 hours before removing media, and feeding lightly for the next week. Less food means less waste produced, giving you reasonable insurance that there will be no cycling problems in the donor tank.

Another reason for only taking 1/3 is that few tanks are set up as easily divisible as far as the bio load is concerned as our example tank. Most often it's a community tank, and the bio load must be guesstimated. Erring on the side of caution, and feeding lightly for a bit gives you the advantage in these cases. I've done this so many times, with so many tanks that I don't bother with any water tests, though I did the first few times. I constantly have spare filters running, never know when I might need to set up a new tank. If I take down a tank due to low stock the filter gets run on a stocked tank, ready to go.

This is also how many people keep filters available for quarantine or hospital tanks.

 

[plecostomus-mad]

thanks tolak for such a detailed reply. i think i might just make a clone filter and try that instead. thanks very much

if i took 1/3 of the media out of my main filter and placed it in lets say a fluval plus 2, and run them side by side for a few months in the 50ukg, would that be sufficient to stock the maximum allowed in a 60l?