Starting Tank For Friend...

[BIGbadJOHN]

I'm going to be selling my 10 gallon Aqueon starter kit to my friend since I've recently gotten a 28G Marineland bowfront. He's very new to the hobby and I need to suggest some fish to him that are the easiest to keep. I'll also be cycling his filter for him before I give it to him so it will be ready to go. How long should cycling the filter take if I just hang it on back with the filter that is up and running now? The tank has been cycled for a couple months now. I still have all of the filter floss used from the lfs in my filter for cycling so I was planning on putting that in his filter to keep for a couple months until his tank is well established. Will it take the same amount of time for the bacteria to build up in the new filter as it did to start a fresh cycle? Or will they colonize the filter more rapidly since there is an abundance of the bacteria in the tank and the filter I will be keeping?

 

[Mowbz]

Providing you have a fully mature tank to take it from, your filter can cope with losing up to a third of its media with no real hardship on maintaining the bioload.

I would recommend taking what you can from your own filter, and placing it into your friends, set up his tank, and run it for a few days to check the levels.