Cycling with another tank's mature media

[michelle767]

Okay, so I did the unthinkable…fishy cycling…not once, but twice. I'm not proud of this. Lost my fish both times and I swear I will never attempt it again. So, what I’ve done now is acquire a cycled 20L from a breeder…I took none of his water, but had his gravel, filter, sponge, rocks, and fish – 6 Bolivian rams (5 are juvies and they will be graduating to a larger tank when they get bigger). This tank has been up and running for over a week now and my water readings are perfect. Now I want to set up my 29 gallon again…correctly this time so it doesn’t become a fishy concentration camp.

For now, I’ve taken a new sponge and put it in the filter with the old sponge on the Ram tank.
My questions:
1) How long should I let it run on the Ram tank before it will be prepped with beneficial bacteria? Would a week or so be long enough?

2) When I do transfer it to the 29 gallon, along with a cupful of mature gravel and a few rocks (can’t hurt)…then what? Should I wait a day before putting fish in, or will the beneficial bacteria die?

3) I’m still running the 29 gallon without fish – I have a few plants in there. My fish all died of ich. I changed the water (50%) and replaced the charcoal to help get rid of the medication. Given that I won’t be putting a sponge and fish in for at least another week and it’s been almost a week since my last fish died…will the tank be free of ich? I ran the tank at 86F for a day, just as an extra precaution, but from what I’ve read the ich parasites will die fairly quickly if they don’t have a host. Is this true or am I setting myself for another massacre?

Thanks in advance.

 

[tstenback]

First i woould wait at least another 2 weeks before adding any fish to the other tank. You need to give the ich time to complete its lifecycle and have a buffer to be sure. Second once you add the sponge to the 29 gal i would add a teaspoon of ammonia an wait 24 hours then test. If the tank is cycled, which it should be, you should read zero for ammonia. If this is OK then you can add your fish. If you do not have access to the ammonia then add 5-6 paltties or other hardy fish and see if you have an ammonia reading after a day or two. if you do not then all is well and you can add more fish a few at a time and a week or two between addings. Third let the sponge run in the Ram tank for at least a week and preferable 2 as you will have to wait for the ich lifecycle anyway. HTH

 

[michelle767]

Hi, thanks a lot for the response. I'll be sure to wait a full two weeks then just to make sure the ich life cycle is over and then do as you suggested. Going to do it right this time.