New tank, how to cycle

I've been given a 40 litre tank for free, my current tank, the ammonia, nitrate, nitrate, are all nil, my ph is 7.5, if I fill the 40 litre tank with the water from my current tank, would this help in cycling, or would I better adding Goop, which looks a good way to cycle.

Water won't help; Goop might. But a sponge from your 125 litre tank would also help.

Remind us, how long since the 125 has been cycled and had fish? Do I remember correctly, you did a fishless cycle with the 125?

Just take half the filter media from your established tank and use it in the new tank. Instant cycle, no need to stuff about.

Essjay said:

Water won't help; Goop might. But a sponge from your 125 litre tank would also help.

Remind us, how long since the 125 has been cycled and had fish? Do I remember correctly, you did a fishless cycle with the 125?

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Tank was cycled 1st of May 2024 fish were added,
As you know the juwel filter system, was thinking of adding the white sponge that sits on top, the one I change weekly would this do.

Since the white pad is changed weekly there will be few bacteria in there and they don't have time to build up before it's thrown away.


One thing we haven't asked - the 40 litre, what filter is in it? What kind of media does it have? If there's a make and model number on the filter can you post it please so we can look it up and see it.

Colin_T said:

Just take half the filter media from your established tank and use it in the new tank. Instant cycle, no need to stuff about.

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I've sent away for a small Fluval internal canister filter you might think it's strange, but I don't like mucking about with my 125 tank. As I replied to Essjay i could use the white floss sponge that I change weekly, would this hold enough bacteria.?

No the white pad wouldn't. It's changed too often to grow many bacteria. That's why you can replace it without affecting the cycle. When someone changes to a new filter, if the old media won't fit we recommend running both filters for at least 6 to 8 weeks for the new filter to grow enough bacteria.
You'd need one of the sponges or Cirax (assuming that's in the 125's filter) as they've been in there since the tank was set up.

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Essjay said:

No the white pad wouldn't. It's changed too often to grow many bacteria. That's why you can replace it without affecting the cycle. When someone changes to a new filter, if the old media won't fit we recommend running both filters for at least 6 to 8 weeks for the new filter to grow enough bacteria.
You'd need one of the sponges or Cirax (assuming that's in the 125's filter) as they've been in there since the tank was set up.

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If I take the cirax sponge out, I have a brand new juwel course sponge will I replace it with that sponge, I don't know if sponge will fit new filter it's a Fluval mini underwater filter 200 litres per hour,

Can you give a link to the Fluval filter - then we can see what media it comes with and suggest ways to 'adjust' the Juwel media to make it fit.

Sorry can't do lines, but I have said the make, waiting on it co ING from amazon

You could put the filter from the new tank on your established tank for a few weeks to allow bacteria to build up.

Essjay said:

Water won't help; Goop might. But a sponge from your 125 litre tank would also help.

Remind us, how long since the 125 has been cycled and had fish? Do I remember correctly, you did a fishless cycle with the 125?

Click to expand...

I thought it would be better to use tank water from a water change rather than tap water, as it is nil of ammonia, nitrite, and a ph of 7.5, maybe not better for cycling but better than tap.

In theory, if you do regular large water changes, tank and tap water should be very similar. One reason for doing regular water changes is to keep the two very similar.
Tank water contains waste products and secreted products from the fish that we can't measure; tap water doesn't contain these. That's why, assuming tank and tap are very similar for GH, pH etc, most people use all new water when setting up a tank.

Essjay said:

Water won't help; Goop might. But a sponge from your 125 litre tank would also help.

Remind us, how long since the 125 has been cycled and had fish? Do I remember correctly, you did a fishless cycle with the 125?

Click to expand...

Hi, My small fluval filter arrived today I have a few questions.
It has a small course square filter sponge, 8cm long, 4.5 cm wide, and 3cm thick, I could remove this sponge and maybe get two pieces of the cirax sponge from my current tank in, but would this keep the aquarium water clean, or would I be better leaving the small sponge in and adding one small piece of cirax sponge to it. And would there be enough bacteria in one small cirax sponge.
And as I have a unused juwel course sponge will I just replace the cirax sponge in my 125 tank with this

Cirax is small ceramic balls, not sponges.




You could take a coarse blue sponge from the Juwel filter and cut it to the same size and shape as the sponge in the new filter. Then either get a new Juwel sponge or put the Fluval sponge in the Juwel filter together with the cut off bits of Juwel sponge.


It is possible that there won't be enough bacteria in that piece of sponge to support the fish you intend to keep in the new tank. You will probably need to grow some more. To make certain, I would add enough ammonia to get around 2 to 3 ppm and see what the ammonia and nitrite readings are after 24 hours.
I once used a sponge from my filter to use in a quarantine tank and luckily tested it with ammonia only to find there was no drop next day. I ended up doing a 7 week fishless cycle before it was ready. If I'd just assumed there were enough bacteria and gone out and bought fish I'd have found myself doing a fish-in cycle in the quarantine tank.