New 20 Gallon

[matt295]

i got a new tank for christmas as some of you know. the hang-on filter wont fit where i put the tank so i took the filter from my 35 gallon and used the hang-on in there. will this speed up my cycling since i am using an already-used filter that has good bacteria and all that stuff?

 

[dthoffsett]

Yup, just be sure to start adding your ammonia immediately as the bacteria will start to die off without a food source in a few hours.

 

[n3ont3tra]

What about the fish from your 35 gallon?

 

[matt295]

they got a new filter

 

[dthoffsett]

What about the fish from your 35 gallon?

they got a new filter

I think what n3ont3tra means (and I completely missed) is that if you put a brand new filter on the larger tank and take away the old (cycled) one without waiting a couple of weeks for the bacteria to move over to the new one, you'll have a mature filter on your tank that is cycling and an un-cycled one on your tank that has fish.

So you'll end up with an empty tank that is basically cycled (called cloning), and a tank full of fish that will go through the process of cycling all over again. No exactly what you're aiming for.