How Long To Wait For Second Filter To Colonise?

[guppy_man]

My fluval2+ recently hasn't been performing well, and keeps stopping so the other day i bought a new UV internal filter, that came today.

Ive got both filters running in the tank atm, but what i want to know is, how long would it take for the new filters bacteria to colonise, before its safe to remove the older filter?


thanks

 

[guppy_man]

anyone?

 

[doubledee]

Can't you put some filter media from your mature filter in the new one? I'm pretty sure if you put a substantial amount in the new filter, it would be pretty much colonised within 24 hours or so. When I was in your predicament a few years back, I ran a second internal for about a week and didn't encounter any problems. A week might have been overkill but it worked for me. There might be some information on how quickly bacteria multiplies in one of the fishless cycling sticky topics.

 

[backtotropical]

Is it possible to take all the media out your old filter and put it in the new filter? If so, do that and you can remove the old filter straight away.

The trouble with colonising a second filter is thatyou'll end up with half the bacteria in one filter and half in the other. This could potentially cause problems when you remove one of the filters.

Cheers

BTT