New Tank Help.

[Shaddex]

Little advise needed.

My current tank is 3'x1'x1' and it is now running well.

Just bought a 4' tank with new filter etc etc,.

Can I setup the new tank and put my old filter into it as well as my new one.
Will the bacteria from my old filter develop in the new one or will I still need to cycle the tank with just the new filter in ?

Current filter is an internal stingray 15 I think. New one is external aqua one cf700

 

[KittyKat]

Yes, you can do that. Just be sure to do regular tests on the water for the first week or so and try not to increase the feeding. Generally, it is safe to remove the old filter after 6 weeks or so.

The other option is to use all old media in the new filter, alongside some new media.

 

[TheDarkGoby]

So what filter would you use for the (30g?) other tank?

 

[Shaddex]

So what filter would you use for the (30g?) other tank?

No filter at all as all my fish would be in my 2x1x1 tank

 

[Shaddex]

Just had a call from my friend and he says if I take the media to his house he will put them in his pond and "drop the vortex" which will instantly populate my media with bacteria ?

Anyone know about this ?

 

[KittyKat]

Sounds like passing water at high pressure through old media, then new..? Never heard of it, but in theory should work..

 

[Shaddex]

Sounds like passing water at high pressure through old media, then new..? Never heard of it, but in theory should work..

So I could do this and then my tank is cycled straight away ?

 

[waterdrop]

Even under the most promising conditions and ideas one should never assume that bacteria will "take" in a new situation after they've been disturbed or moved. While it is correct that most situations with truly mature media have high reliability, the viability of the biofilter in the new situation should either be tested or watched closely.

For a biofilter to pass a viability test means a fishless tank brought up to 5ppm ammonia concentration with pure ammonia and then tested with a good liquid test kit at intervals 12 hours after dosing the ammonia. There needs to be no trace of ammonia or nitrite at the 12 hour test for a week. Ammonia is dosed at the 24 hour interval, regardless of the reading at the 12 hour test.

If the biofilter is going to be used without passing a qualification then one needs to be prepared to perform water changes to save the fish from gill damage (ammonia) or nerve damage (nitrite) which can become permanent if either poison spikes higher than 0.25ppm, which is not hard when media is disturbed. Unfortunately, damage does not necessarily correlate with observable symptoms in the fish.

Filter cloning proceeds much more quickly when mature and new media are interlaced in a manner to allow them to share a lot of surface area and in which more of the mature media comes slightly prior to the majority of new media in the water flow path inside the filter.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[KittyKat]

Sounds like passing water at high pressure through old media, then new..? Never heard of it, but in theory should work..

So I could do this and then my tank is cycled straight away ?

I wouldn't do this in my own tank, I would go for the tried and tested "running two filters in parallel". What waterdrop said is true.

If I had space and time, I would experiment with this though.

 

[Shaddex]

I will run both filters at the same time.
Question is can I put my fish in straight away if I use the old filter and also substrate ?

 

[KittyKat]

Question is can I put my fish in straight away if I use the old filter and also substrate ?

I have done so before without any problems. Think about it like this: the bacteria in the old filter don't change, so they should be able to support the same fish as before.