Mature Media - New Tank

[Jamiemoose]

I have a u2 filter running in my little tank, that has been running for about 6 months now, and it is perfectly cycled and full of bacteria. i now want to set up my new tank with a u4, is it best to use some of the biomax from the u2 and put them in the u4? but obviously not too much otherwise there wouldnt be any left in the u2. or should i just use water from my old tank, and add it to my new tank? will this contain the appropriate nitrite/nitrite/ammomnia to help get the tank going? obviously i know im going to have to give it nearly a month to cycle, but is there any way of using anything out of my old tank to help set up the new one, but still leave my small tank in operation, with fish inside and no problems, otherwise i'd just put the u2 in as well as the u4 and use that for a while to help cycle it...
i hope you understand what i mean, i know it might not be the clearest of explanations!

thanks guys

 

[ZoddyZod]

swap about a third of the media over to the U4, and you could also give the U2 sponges a good squeeze in the new tank to add a bit more bacteria. The U2 will restablish it's bacteria colony pretty quickly (no risk to the fish) and the new tank can be stocked to about a third of the current tanks biomass right away.

 

[the_lock_man]

I understand where you're coming from.

Don't bother with water, you need the filter to contain bacteria, and the water contains negligible bacteria.

What you can do is to take a max of a third of the mature media from the existing filter, and replace it with the same quantity of new media that came with the new filter. Your existing bacteria colonies will regrow veyr quickly, and you should not experience any issues in that tank.

Then put this mature media in the new filter, and top up with the remaining new media, ensuring that you keep it wet, and that you do not starve the media of ammonia for a long period (ie 24hours+)

You should then find that the new tank is instantly cycled for a third of the bioload of the small tank, and you can build numbers very gradually, OR, the length of time taken to do a proper fishless cycle is greatly reduced.

HTH.

 

[Jamiemoose]

swap about a third of the media over to the U4, and you could also give the U2 sponges a good squeeze in the new tank to add a bit more bacteria. The U2 will restablish it's bacteria colony pretty quickly (no risk to the fish) and the new tank can be stocked to about a third of the current tanks biomass right away.

ahh, this is exactly the reason i love this forum so much!
i'll use 60% of the biomax from the u2, and replace it with the new stuff i have with the u4 (which hopefully i will be upgrading to a fluval 305/6 or a tetratex ex--- soon) then that should be sufficient, i'm sure the bacteria will multiply well enough, and if i add some water from the old tank as well to help feed the bacteria, then after 2 weeks i'll run some tests, see what the levels are like, and then maybe add a few fish to the new tank. or will this be too soon?

thanks a lot zoddy! love your other threads btw!

 

[the_lock_man]

swap about a third of the media over to the U4, and you could also give the U2 sponges a good squeeze in the new tank to add a bit more bacteria. The U2 will restablish it's bacteria colony pretty quickly (no risk to the fish) and the new tank can be stocked to about a third of the current tanks biomass right away.

ahh, this is exactly the reason i love this forum so much!
i'll use 60% of the biomax from the u2, and replace it with the new stuff i have with the u4 (which hopefully i will be upgrading to a fluval 305/6 or a tetratex ex--- soon) then that should be sufficient, i'm sure the bacteria will multiply well enough, and if i add some water from the old tank as well to help feed the bacteria, then after 2 weeks i'll run some tests, see what the levels are like, and then maybe add a few fish to the new tank. or will this be too soon?

thanks a lot zoddy! love your other threads btw!

As I understand it, the bacteria prefer the biomax to the sponges, so I would say taking 60% of the biomax would probably be a bit much. That's not to say that bacteria do not ever live on sponges, because they do, but I believe you would normally have a greater concentration of bacteria on the biomax than the sponge.

 

[Jamiemoose]

just read the last reply, okay, ive got it, sorry for my reply, ignore it! i will start on it tommorrow, as im just getting tank in position and still have to wash gravel ect.

thanks