Quick Start For A Cycle

[watertown28]

I have set up yet again, another 55 gallon tank.

With that said, I have a rena smart filter 55. What I was wondering something and like to have an answer to see if this would work.

on one of my tanks, I ran 30 gallon pump along side with another pump. I did not have anything for it besides a sponge for it. Its rather course, but I used it anyways. Anyways, I ran if for about a month, then took it down because it was needed.

What I did was, when I shut down the pump, I took out the sponge and put it back into the tank where it sank down to the bottom. There it has sat for about another month. I am sure you know where I am going with this.

Would any good bio bacteria be left on that and could I then take some of that and put it into the newly cycling pump? would that speed the process up at all? That filter I could open the tops of the 3 canisters and slip in parts of that sponge into all 3 of them. I just do not want to mess with it if this would not help. If this does indeed work, I may keep a few on hand just so I have some back up in case a pump goes down and I need to restart ect ect. I always figured it would be a handy thing to have on hand just in case.

 

[hensonc4098]

It may have a very small amount left, but as there is not a huge water flow over it like in the filter itself, there is going to be far less than a normally cycled filter sponge.
It may speed up your cycling process very slightly and help "seed" your new filter, but I would still plan for a full cycle with test kits and if it's any quicker then it's a bonus!