Moving My Filter Into Another Tank

[spider6]

I have two five gallon tanks. One of the tanks has been cycled and the other tank has never been cycled. Don't worry== my betta is in the cycled tank. The cycled tank has been cloudy for two weeks and I believe it may be a bacterial bloom. The LFS told me not to change too much water because my tank is newly cycled. I'm tired of seeing my little girl swim in such horrible looking water. Can I safely move the filter from my cycled tank, along with her substrate and decorations into the new tank without cycling it since the filter media already contains the beneficial bacteria or would I still need to cycle the other tank. Currently the cycled tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 ppm nitrate.

 

[gundamcichlid]

Hi

from your information, I dont think your cycle tank (the first 5G or 19L tank) has been properly cycled as the cycled water normally clear.

How long have you been cycled the cycle one? what kind of filter are you using atm?

One more question, If I may ask, why do you move the fish from 5 gallon to another 5 gallon? is it different location at home?

I normally just move 80% of the cycle tank with the filter and add 20% new water and add water conditioner. I use Seachem prime for my water conditioner.

 

[spider6]

As far as I know, my tank has been cycled for 3 or 4 weeks. My filter is an aqua-tech 5-15 gallon HOB. Now that I'm writing why I want to move the fish I realize its a silly question. I was told NOT to change the water for 3 weeks after cycling so I thought I could change tanks instead to get rid of the cloudiness. But I guess that would be the same as doing a big water change too. So here's my next question: If my tank isn't properly cycled, why would the ammonia and nitrite remain at zero? I'm new to fish (obviously!!) and paranoid so I do water tests every other day using the API liquid tests. I don't know what more I could do. Help!!

 

[Essjay]

Don't believe that shop - of course you can change the water, so long as your dechlorinate the new water. Since the bacteria live in the filter, changing the water won't harm them. When doing a fish-in cycle, you have to change the water at least once a day for a good while, and that doesn't harm the bacteria - though that shop would probably advise not doing any water changes at all.

 

[spider6]

Don't believe that shop - of course you can change the water, so long as your dechlorinate the new water. Since the bacteria live in the filter, changing the water won't harm them. When doing a fish-in cycle, you have to change the water at least once a day for a good while, and that doesn't harm the bacteria - though that shop would probably advise not doing any water changes at all.

Okay, another dumb question. Since the bacteria live in the filter, would it be okay for me to just move my filter to the non-cloudy tank without making my fish go through a cycle? I did a fishless cycle and I don't want to make a mistake and cause her to go through a mini-cycle or anything. If I move the filter and it becomes cloudy again, I will know that I did something wrong.

 

[Essjay]

Yes, you can do that. So long as the fish and filter stay in the same tank as each other, it doesn't matter which tank that is. Maybe if you had a heavily planted tank and moved the fish and filter to a non-planted tank you might have problem, but with a newly cycled filter in a tank that doesn't have a lot of well growing plants it shouldn't be a problem - though it's a good idea to monitor your ammonia and nitrite levels just in case.

 

[spider6]

Yes, you can do that. So long as the fish and filter stay in the same tank as each other, it doesn't matter which tank that is. Maybe if you had a heavily planted tank and moved the fish and filter to a non-planted tank you might have problem, but with a newly cycled filter in a tank that doesn't have a lot of well growing plants it shouldn't be a problem - though it's a good idea to monitor your ammonia and nitrite levels just in case.

Thanks for all your help. I love Missah so much and I would hate to unintentionally harm her in any way. I will move the filter today and keep testing the water like a mom with a newborn!!

 

[Essjay]

If you just move the filter and the fish at the same time from one tank to the other, that should be fine. Well, not literally at the same time, one after the other