new 2ft tank

[Italian_Stallion]

i alredy have a 3 ft tank that has been up and running for well over 2 years. i have a 2ft tank lying lying around (it alredy has gravel, stand and the light) and i decided 2 start it up and put some small guppys or something in there. so i went to my lfs and purchased a filter and a heater and i asked the guy there how can i bypass the cycling procces. i thort i could just add some gravel from my old tank in there. but they guy said i can just fill it up with old water from my 3ft and that should be enough...

i thort the bacteria is in the filter and the gravel not floating in the water. is this correct ??

i havent filled up the tank yet so i was wondering wat is the best way 2 bypass the cycling proccess ??

thanks

 

[cheekeyarab]

What absolute rubbish! The guy in the store is totally wrong and you are right.
The most adding the tank water will do is perhaps help to acclimitise fish if you are transferring them from your old tank.
Put the new filter media in your 3ft tank to allow a colony of bacteria to establish itself on it. I would imagine two weeks would be plenty for this. Yes a small amount of bacteria will also be present in the gravel so by all means move some of this across when you are ready to put the filter media back across.

Good luck and hopefully some more experienced members will be along in a mo to give you more tips (or correct me!!!)

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Cheekey is correct. The lfs guy is a moron. There is absolutely no way to "bypass" the cycling process but it can be done faster. Follow cheekeys advice. There is also lab produced bacteria you can buy at the lfs that grow many times faster than the natural bacteria and supposedly this will accelerate the cycling process, but I personally do not know if it actually works. I am in the process of finding out.

 

[Sky042]

I've had good luck accelerating a cycle of a tank by cleaning my existing media into a tank. I cycled both my 125 and my 54 by cleaning the sponge pads from my fluval 304 into them. Both tanks cycled in under a week start to finish using the fishless method.

 

[Sky042]

Now mind you when I say I cleaned the media into the tanks I didnt' just dip them. I really shook them out and squeezed them out till the sponges were basically back to original whiteish color and the tank water was pea soup green.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

thanks for all the replys. i thort he was wrong but i just wanted to make sure... so if i put the filter in the 3ft tank for about a week i can move it back 2 the 2ft and add fish straight away??

thanks

 

[sylvia]

Yep.

 

[OohFeeshy]

But just to be on the safe side I'd put some hardier fish in first. Thats what I'm doing, I put some danios from my other tank in just to make sure and keep the bacteria going while I decided what else to put.