Buy A New Filter Or Chance A Mini Cycle?

[Tag2008]

Hi Guys,

Ive 2 Juwel tanks sitting, One is running with an external filter and the internal it came with and the other tank is just sitting waiting to start a cycle with no filter as yet...I just got a new lighting unit and lid flaps and heater so the filter is the last on the list i need to get it going finally..lol

I wondered what would happen if I took the external from the tank thats running with 2 filter and added it to the new tank waiting? Im guessing the new tank would be cycled right away?

Should I just save up for a new filter?

I was looking at the price of the internal juwels and they are soo dear as are some others and my wifes kicking up a stink at the cost of everything and why do I have to buy something new again when I have 2 on one tank....

If I did this would the old tank go through a mini cycle and if so what does this mean and is it too riskey to do? Im not entirly sure what a mini cycle is apart from an asumption that its like cycling again except I have some bacteria already it just needs to build up a little more and maybe wont take so long??

Thoughts appreciated.

Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you're correct about what a mini cycle is, basically it means you don't have enough bacteria to support the fish load so you go through a short fish-in cycle until the filter catches up. There's a lot of variables so it's hard to predict how long it takes, can be anything from a few hours to a couple of weeks. Obviously you'd need to do daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite down.

What size is the old tank and what fish do you have in it?

You need to ask yourself, could the internal filter cope with that bio-load long term or not? If not then you'll need to get another filter anyway so whats the point, you'd just be robbing peter to pay paul. If it could cope then by all means do it.

 

[Tag2008]

you're correct about what a mini cycle is, basically it means you don't have enough bacteria to support the fish load so you go through a short fish-in cycle until the filter catches up. There's a lot of variables so it's hard to predict how long it takes, can be anything from a few hours to a couple of weeks. Obviously you'd need to do daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite down.

What size is the old tank and what fish do you have in it?

You need to ask yourself, could the internal filter cope with that bio-load long term or not? If not then you'll need to get another filter anyway so whats the point, you'd just be robbing peter to pay paul. If it could cope then by all means do it.

Thanks Miss W

I think I may have to wait, I dont have all that may fish in the old tank and they are all young, it has its own inbuilt Juwel filter for the Vision 180 so I think from what I read its a capable enough filter. The new tank is a second hand Rio 300 and its internal was taken out sadly..

I dont want to upset the fish as Ive had zero problems with this tank since it was cycled but just wondered if it was safe to chance a mini cycle or would it hurt the fish and upset everything.

I think I will just wait a week or 2 its realy hard sitting watching the new tank comming together and patience has never been a strong point.. lol

Im hoping to get a pair or electric blue JD's into the new tank and the anticipation of them is eating me up

Thanks again

 

[Tag2008]

Hi again..

Just An After thought to your reply Miss W

If I take one filter from the old tank the new tank would be cycled right away yea? and this being the case I could take half of the fish into there thus lowering the load from the tank that just gave up a filter and would this not balance things out?

Thanks again..

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes that would certainly help

it's all becomes a bit of guesswork from that point, what fish load will cause a cycle, what is the filter capable of etc...... fact is there's so many variables that it's impossible to preedict it with any accuracy, all we can say is give a general idea of the trends, the more bio load you have the old tank the higher the chance of a mini cycle...... so it stands to reason if you moved some of the fish to the new tank then it would reduce the chances. No guarantees that it won't happen though.

 

[Tag2008]

yes that would certainly help

it's all becomes a bit of guesswork from that point, what fish load will cause a cycle, what is the filter capable of etc...... fact is there's so many variables that it's impossible to preedict it with any accuracy, all we can say is give a general idea of the trends, the more bio load you have the old tank the higher the chance of a mini cycle...... so it stands to reason if you moved some of the fish to the new tank then it would reduce the chances. No guarantees that it won't happen though.

Thank you,
Seems a little like russian roulette but I needed to ask...
I will just wait a bit longer and get a new filter.
Regards as ever
Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah it is, you can mitigate the risk but you can't get rid of it and it's v hard to measure/predict what will happen.

I'd just say be patient, get the new filter, take a small amount of the media from the old filter (no more than a third is usually considered safe) to seed it and then doa fishless cycle to finish it off. Should just take a couple of weeks to cycle that way

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, I was about to say just about the same thing a couple of posts back, but since I "only" type 60 words per minute accurately and she types... like 1000, I knew to just blink and then read both of her next posts

Seriously though, I agree. At any given point, a filter has enough bacterial colony for a given size of fish load, so you could move it to any tank and support that fish load. But knowing exactly what that fish load -is-, is another matter entirely and mostly you have to use judgement (or trial, measurement, and error, so to speak..)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Yeah, I was about to say just about the same thing a couple of posts back, but since I "only" type 60 words per minute accurately and she types... like 1000, I knew to just blink and then read both of her next posts

 

[Tag2008]

Yeah, I was about to say just about the same thing a couple of posts back, but since I "only" type 60 words per minute accurately and she types... like 1000, I knew to just blink and then read both of her next posts

Seriously though, I agree. At any given point, a filter has enough bacterial colony for a given size of fish load, so you could move it to any tank and support that fish load. But knowing exactly what that fish load -is-, is another matter entirely and mostly you have to use judgement (or trial, measurement, and error, so to speak..)

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks WD