Migrating Filters In Middle Of Fishless Cycle...

[martinking]

Hiya All,

Im on day 31 of my fishless cycle and I currently have a Fluval 2+ Internal Filter but I have just bought a Fluval 205 External Filter.

So 2 questions really...

Can I just move the media into one of my 3 trays in the Canister? Theoretically all of the water will still pass through it, so surely it would do the same (everything works better in theory!) and then add 2 trays of new Biomax?

Or how else should I do it?

And the other question is will this stall my cycle?

OK so I have just thought of a 3rd question, seen as fishless cycles are all about getting the water through the filter so it can grow bacteria, is it now going to go quicker as I have a higher flow rate filter?



Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Your post shows you are already very perceptive about how seemingly straightforward things can go a bit off sometimes!

I'd say go for it. You're making a good step up and the time is probably never going to be better than now anyway!

The technical answers are that yes, making a change like this can indeed cause the bacteria to "feel disturbed" (to anthropomorphize about it!) and cause them to "pause" for a while in their progress toward full working-size colonies. The positioning and flows may be somewhat different or somehow the mechanical disturbances may effect them somehow but it is sometimes noticed that they will pause. Just as often though, we hear reports that they just keep going without a hiccup!

Oh, and to go at your second question, just because a filter has a higher flow rate doesn't mean the flow rate through the media is higher. It might very well be slower because of a larger volume of media and a different design of what pathways the flow takes inside the box.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[martinking]

Thanks for your great reply waterdrop! Very thorough! Well i've just finished changing the filters, the new one is great, takes up alot less room in the tank and is substantially more powerful! What a great deal I got there! I also have a nice backup filter now too!

It's all good! Thanks for the help!