New tank cycle

[StrontiumDog]

OK im gonna be getting another tank soon, so my question is...............

If i syphon water out of my mature tank say a couple of gallons and put it in with my new tank with treated water in it will it speed up the cycle time IE: will it cut the time down? and if so how much by?

my new tank will be for breeding so the parents would go back to my main tank once they have spawned and the fry are free swimming (Dwarf Gouramis).

 

[Weirdfish]

From the little I know I think that the water will have little effect. I think you'd be better off transfering some gravel & filter stuff.

Guessing someone more knowledgable will confirm this or shoot me down.

 

[Shizat]

weirdfish is right the water will have no effect on the tank except you will have nitrates with your water in the new tank. do as he says and take some of the gravel from the old tank and transfer it.

 

[CFC]

Spot on, water only contains bad bacteria and pollutants, all the good bacteria are on the hard surfaces within the aquarium. To kickstart a new tank add a couple of handfuls of gravel and if possible a little of the filter media from the older tank but you will need to add fish straight away to supply the transferred bacteria with food. No one ever needs to cycle a tank more than once as all others can be cloned off of the original one.

 

[StrontiumDog]

if i take the spong out of my cycled tanks filter and squeeze the contents into the new tank so that it's water born again will this help cycle the new tank quicker?

 

[Yenko]

What would be ideal are a some of those ceramic biological media used in canister filters. Put them in your filter untill you get your new tank to get bacteria going in them. Put them in the new filter media in the new tank when you're ready.. I'd start off with a moderate loading and wait at least a week to increase the loading just to make sure.

Or, you could just buy the filter ahead of time (unless you're getting a package) and run it on your old tank (Don't remove the old filter). This may not be a good choice if you have a small tank and are buying a big filter, though.

 

[Tindy]

I believe Yenko is correct but with the little experience of tanks I have had and read about I have found transferring water and medias between tanks can cause/spread diseases which I can only assume is not good for pregnant fish or fry so be careful. (But I am not sure)

 

[tstenback]

You do not want the bacteria to be in the water. As CFC and others have said the bacteria forms on the hard surfaces in the tank and on the filter media. The ideal thing would be to run the filter that will go in the new tank on the old tank. That would mean you would have 2 filters on the old tank for a couple of weeks then when ready fill the new tank move the filter over and add some fish. This really speeds things up and at times completely cycles the tank. Just make sure that you add the fish a few at a time and with a week or so between groups.
If you cant do this then get a piece of the filter media and put it in the new filter and get a handful or two of the gravel in the old tank and place it in the new tank. HTH

 

[StrontiumDog]

thanks for everyones advice

AND SORRY IF IVE REPEATED A QUESTION ASKED B4