New Tank. Mature Filter Media. Quick Question

st24rsap · Feb 22, 2008

right i have a quick question.

when i started my large 240L tank up a few months ago i transfered a blue filter from my 100L juwel tank across and put it into the eheim filter to give the large 240L tank a bit of a kick start. The 240L tank is now fully cycled and i just remembered the juwel filter thats still in the eheim.

if i was to remove the blue juwel filter from the eheim, transfer it to my new 60L juwel tank do you think i would be able to stock the tank straight away obviously after doing a large water change to remove any ammonia or nitrite in the tank as its still cycling

the 240L tank is fully stocked so in theory there should be enough good bacteria just on the 1 blue juwel filter to run the new 60L tank

Miss Wiggle · Feb 22, 2008

It's one of those things that's near impossible to quantify, what i'd recommend you do is a lrage (90%) water change on the 60l tank, then add the mature media to the filter, then add 5ppm of pure ammonia as you would for fishless cycling. then test the ammonia and nitrite after 12 hrs, if they've both been processed to 0 then you can fully stock the tank straight away, if not then it should certainly kick start your fishless cycle and you can carry on adding 5ppm of ammonia daily until teh cycle is finished which should just take a few days.

penguin22 · Feb 22, 2008

If your new tank isnt in the middle of a cycle, then an already cycled filter (sounds like yours is) will cycle your tank with immediate affect. I have now done this 4 times and not even a mini cycle has appeared. If your filter was enough for the fish in your big tank it will be enough to fully stock your little one. Obviously keep an eye on your water stats and be ready for water changes but in my opinion it is a pretty safe thing to do.

Miss Wiggle · Feb 22, 2008

penguin22 said:
If your new tank isnt in the middle of a cycle, then an already cycled filter (sounds like yours is) will cycle your tank with immediate affect. I have now done this 4 times and not even a mini cycle has appeared. If your filter was enough for the fish in your big tank it will be enough to fully stock your little one. Obviously keep an eye on your water stats and be ready for water changes but in my opinion it is a pretty safe thing to do.

it just depends on the quantity of cycled media that you move, as far as I know, there's no way to calculate if it will be enough for a full stocking or not by looking at the quantity of media nd size of the tank etc (also bear in mind the OP has just said 'the blue filter' this could be a bit of sponge 1cm x 1cm for all we know which undoubtedly wouldn't contain enough bacteria for a 60l tank... just don't know without more info, and even with more info we can only hazard a guess). however adding 5ppm of ammonia is equivalent to the tank being fully stocked so should test the capability of the amount of media you move across.

Scotty001 · Feb 22, 2008

i cant see a problem in doing that.

ive done this a few times myself, only difference, however is when i set up the 60l again i did it at the same time i was due a large water change on my 165,

I put the origional filter media which i took from the flval 2 and put in the tetratec 700 on my 165l and put it back in the fluval 2, then transfered 60l of water from the 165l tank that had been filtered with the fluval 2 media in it and put that into the new 60l .

this then made it possible to stock my 60l strait away, as the filter meda and the tank water had already been together for 3 months (whilst doing water chnges too lol)

st24rsap · Feb 22, 2008

the blue filter i transfered is basically 50% of the filter system in the new 60L tank. There are 2 sponges in the juwel 60L tank and i have replaced 1 of them with the seeded filter that was still in the fully cycled 240L eheim filter.

i did a 90% water change last night and added the seeded filter

penguin22 · Feb 22, 2008

Sorry miss wiggle I suppose it could be a little piece of sponge. But if it is a whole filter that has been running in the old tank I think its safe. My Fluval 2 (tiny) cycled my 440 ltre with my new big filter running along side it with no ill effects. Jack Dempsey and Pleck were added same day as filter.

st24rsap · Feb 22, 2008

sounds like with the media i have transfered the tank should be good to go then, ive transfered 1 of my plecs into there and will check the water stats every day and do any changes as necessary but fingers crossed it will all go smoothly

penguin22 · Feb 22, 2008

st24rsap said:
sounds like with the media i have transfered the tank should be good to go then, ive transfered 1 of my plecs into there and will check the water stats every day and do any changes as necessary but fingers crossed it will all go smoothly

In my opinion its sounds like you will be ok. Good luck :good:

st24rsap · Feb 22, 2008

lets hope so, my breeding bristle noses will have there own tank then and hopefully get down to business lol

darkwolf29a · Feb 22, 2008

st24rsap said:
lets hope so, my breeding bristle noses will have there own tank then and hopefully get down to business lol

Hey, I'm doing the same thing to my BNs.

You should be ok. Just keep an eye on parameters for a few weeks, and be prepared to do a couple of more water changes, if things start to go a bit funny.

st24rsap · Feb 22, 2008

darkwolf29a said:
st24rsap said:

lets hope so, my breeding bristle noses will have there own tank then and hopefully get down to business lol

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm doing the same thing to my BNs. You should be ok. Just keep an eye on parameters for a few weeks, and be prepared to do a couple of more water changes, if things start to go a bit funny.