Theoretical - Mature Filter Into New Tank

[charlatan]

Hi There, am currently a week into a fishless cycle of my new 60L tank.

Also have a 14L coldwater tank, that is mature and been used for 12 months. Theoretical question here, what advantages/disad's would there be if I was to remove the whole filter and put in in the new tank alongside the new one?

Would this cut the cycle time, or even negate the need to cycle?

There's a lot to get yer head round in this here fishkeeping ;o)

 

[Twinklecaz]

Do you have any fish in your cold water tank? As long as the bacteria in your filter is still alive (so it's had something "feeding" is and it also hasn't dried out) then yeah, to put the filter in your new tank will help loads.

The only thing is that the filter in your old tank is much small ( I would imagine) so you'd need to give it time to transfer to the new filter (I'm not sure how long, someone will know though. Also I'd stock very slowly to give your new filter time to produce enough bacteria so it isn't overloaded and sends you in a fish-in cycle situation.

 

[charlatan]

Do you have any fish in your cold water tank? As long as the bacteria in your filter is still alive (so it's had something "feeding" is and it also hasn't dried out) then yeah, to put the filter in your new tank will help loads.

The only thing is that the filter in your old tank is much small ( I would imagine) so you'd need to give it time to transfer to the new filter (I'm not sure how long, someone will know though. Also I'd stock very slowly to give your new filter time to produce enough bacteria so it isn't overloaded and sends you in a fish-in cycle situation.

Yep, we have 2 x Zebra Danio's, 2 x White Cloud Mountain Minnows and 1 x Platy. The filter is still in there. Thanks for the reply!

Anyone any idea how long the new filter would need to "get up to speed"? We are planning to move all the above into the new tropical tank, so may be worth considering. We are then gonna clean the old tank and give it to a friend for her little girl who took a shining to our fish when they stayed lol

 

[OldMan47]

I would not trust the new filter for at least a month. I have experienced mini-cycles on new tanks even when using filters that had run in parallel with an established one longer than that.