Running In New Filters

[Cro-Baller]

I currently have a Rio 240 tank which is being filtered by a Fluval external 104 and a Fluval external 304. I am going to replace these filters with 2 Eheim 2071's (just waiting for them to arrive in this country).

So my question is how would the more experienced members run these in? My plan was to take out the 104 and just swap it for one of the new Eheims, then after 3-4 weeks swap the 304 over. I wasn't planning on swapping any of the media over.

Is this a good plan or is there a better way?

I know that I don't require 2 Eheim 2071's but I think the more filtration the better, and I like to filtrate from both ends of the tank to ensure as good water quality as possible.

 

[rabbut]

That would work, but I'd leave longer for the new Eheim to "bed in" and gain a good bacteria colony. Moving media across would be quicker, but as you have said you don't want to do that, running an established filter along side one of the new ones for a while is the next best alternative

 

[Cro-Baller]

That would work, but I'd leave longer for the new Eheim to "bed in" and gain a good bacteria colony. Moving media across would be quicker, but as you have said you don't want to do that, running an established filter along side one of the new ones for a while is the next best alternative

Cheers Rabbut.

It's not that I don't want to move the media across, just that I wasn't sure if I needed to as I would still be running an established filter. If I were to transfer the "hoops" across that would help a lot?

I was thinking about keeping 25 litres of water to one side each week from the weekly water changes and running that through the other new filter, changing the 25 litres each week. Would this be a good idea? Would the water go stale? Would there be enough bacteria in that small amount of water to colonise the filter whilst the other one is running in the tank?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I am new to this and want to do it in the best way I can.

 

[rabbut]

There is nothing of benefit in the old water, not even enough ammonia to start a cycle if the tank it has come from is cycled, so sitting new media in old tank water is of little use

Moving the hoops across will speed the colonisation of the new filter(s), but the quickest way to swap over is to remove all the media from the existing filters and wang it into the new ones, ensuring that it is tightly packed in the new filter's media trays, such that no water can "by-pass" the mature media by flowing around it, only through This effectively "instantly cycles" the new filters

All the best
Rabbut