Kick Starting The Cycle.

[Maxta]

Sorry to make seperate posts, but feel its neccessary.

Im only getting a 35L tank for my room, for a few fish.

Would it be beneficial if i took water out of the 190L tank downstairs when my dad comes to change 1/3 of the water, and use the water hes took out fill the whole of my 35L tank up with it?

People have said take filter media out, but with the filter im getting it cant be done...he has an external huge one, im getting one of the new design elite internal filters (kinda look like a stingray shape lol?).

Would doing the above kick start the cycle?

Thanks
Ian

 

[Rillan]

errrrm. I dont think it will work. The water you get will be dirty and your filter needs to spend some time running so it builds up the good bacteria.

 

[Maxta]

Okie doke no problems!

Bout to set up my tank in a mo after food. I got the 35L one i spoke of, with some fine black gravel, a few small plants, bit of bogwood and a little ornanment with holes.

Also with my tank i got an Elite Stingray 10 underwater filter. So i dont think i can take any media from my dads pump as its a totally different kind.

Edit: Hangon, someone explain filter media cartridge? I thought it was the filter foam.

 

[bogusmove]

If you fill the little tank with water from the big one, there's no harm in that, assuming your taking good water from say the middle of the tank, not siphoning the comparitively mucky water and detrius from the bottom of the tank...

Taking some filter media is always the best way, but if you then took some filter media from your big tanks filter and gave it a good squeeze in the little tank before putting it back where it belongs, I think your little one would cycle very quickly. Lots of bacteria would get dumped into your little tank that way and these would start a colony in your little tanks filter. Make sure you then immediately start a fishless cycle or add some fish, so that the bacteria will have food , or else it will die. This could cause your little tank to cycle 10 times as quickly, although results will vary...

"Filter media cartridge" could mean anything really, anything that does into a filter. Sometimes it may be a foam pad, or else some ceramic bits. Strickly speaking I would say "cartridge" means the box/crate/bucket/section that the "media" (foam/ceramic/anything that does into a filter for mechanical or biological filtering) goes into, but such words and definitions are often misused, so "filter media cartridge" may mean the cartridge, the media or both.

 

[Maxta]

Oh right. Well the compartments on my stingray are way too small to have any from the big filter.

Busy rinsing/cleaning the gravel, its dirty as hell, pour water in the bowl where im cleaning it and instantly turns black lol. Think i bought too much gravel, oh well least i have some in case of emergency.