Switching Filters

[half baked idiot]

I just set up a 50 gallon tank tank today. I want to speed up the cycling, so I am going to use the filter from my 10 gallon tank alongside the new filter for the 50g. What is the best way for me to do this? I still have fish in the 10g, and want to keep them there until the 50g is cycled. Both filters are aquaclear brand. Should I just take the sponge form the smaller filter and put it in the new one? Or should I move the whole old filter to the new tank for a little while? How long can the fish in the 10g last without a filter running? (there is an aerator going that circulates their water pretty good).

 

[tamara]

Put both filters in the 10 gallon cycled tank for a week so bacteria can build up on there
or just rub both your filter medias together so that good bacteria can be rub onto the non-cycled stuff

 

[backtotropical]

Yeah, you cant take the filter out of the 10 gallon and leave the fish in there. This is because waste would build up in the 10 gallon and your fish would suffer. Also if you put your mature filter into the 50 gallon with no fish in it, the bacteria would die off leaving you with no filter bacteria at all. This is because the bacteria need ammonia / nitrite to survive. Fish produce ammonia which keeps your filter bacteria alive. With no ammonia being produced, bacteria will die.

Are you keeping the 10 gallon running alongside the 50 gallon? If not, i would suggest take filter, fish and water from 10g straight to the 50g, top up with an extra 40g of fresh dechlorinated water and hey presto........a cycled 50g tank with livestock, just like that.

If you are keeping the 10g running along with the 50g, take half of your mature filter media into the 50g filter. This will kickstart the cycle, you must add livestock or bottled ammonia straight away (see fishless cycling pinned threads) or the bacteria will die.

I hope this helps you.

 

[fishlette]

I just set up a 50 gallon tank tank today. I want to speed up the cycling, so I am going to use the filter from my 10 gallon tank alongside the new filter for the 50g. What is the best way for me to do this? I still have fish in the 10g, and want to keep them there until the 50g is cycled. Both filters are aquaclear brand. Should I just take the sponge form the smaller filter and put it in the new one? Or should I move the whole old filter to the new tank for a little while? How long can the fish in the 10g last without a filter running? (there is an aerator going that circulates their water pretty good).

yes put your filter in your new tank and start it up. add fish food or bottled ammonia each day to complete the cycle process. your bacteria will not die off this way as earlier suggested. this is how you fishless cycle.

dont take the filter or media from the 10g otherwise you will have issues there in the form of an ammonia spike etc. but you can, as also mentioned earlier, 'rub' some of the bacteria from one filter media to another. or maybe even cut it in half and replacing the bits that were taken out. keep up on water changes for a few days while the new media catches up with the old stuff and you should be fine

 

[fishlette]

Yeah, you cant take the filter out of the 10 gallon and leave the fish in there. This is because waste would build up in the 10 gallon and your fish would suffer. Also if you put your mature filter into the 50 gallon with no fish in it, the bacteria would die off leaving you with no filter bacteria at all. This is because the bacteria need ammonia / nitrite to survive. Fish produce ammonia which keeps your filter bacteria alive. With no ammonia being produced, bacteria will die.

Are you keeping the 10 gallon running alongside the 50 gallon? If not, i would suggest take filter, fish and water from 10g straight to the 50g, top up with an extra 40g of fresh dechlorinated water and hey presto........a cycled 50g tank with livestock, just like that.

If you are keeping the 10g running along with the 50g, take half of your mature filter media into the 50g filter. This will kickstart the cycle, you must add livestock or bottled ammonia straight away (see fishless cycling pinned threads) or the bacteria will die.

I hope this helps you.

just doing this would not make the tank cycled. suggesting maybe that he takes his gravel and everything over which is what beneficial bacteria will grow on would be better. water contains very little, if any bacteria. the bacteria grows on the substrate, the ornaments, the glass etc moving tanks will always mean that the amount of bacteria in the new tank will still be less than in the old.

 

[backtotropical]

just doing this would not make the tank cycled. suggesting maybe that he takes his gravel and everything over which is what beneficial bacteria will grow on would be better. water contains very little, if any bacteria. the bacteria grows on the substrate, the ornaments, the glass etc moving tanks will always mean that the amount of bacteria in the new tank will still be less than in the old.

Bacteria does grow on the substrate etc. however very little compared to in your filter. My previous suggestion would not cycle your tank as mentioned but this is because it is already cycled.

Bacteria reproduces at roughly 2x every 24hrs, so if you take your filter across, although you will lose some bacteria from the substrate, glass etc, this as i said is very little bacteria compared to whats in your filter and your filter would more than cope with it in less than 12hrs IMO.

As said, water contains very little bacteria, if any, however taking your water across IMO would help your filter by giving you the best possible chance of keeping existing bacteria alive.

Taking your substrate, ornaments etc over to the new tank would certainly make it look nice, but would have little if any effect on your bacteria levels. Moving the water across could play a vital part in keeping your bacteria alive.

 

[fishlette]

just doing this would not make the tank cycled. suggesting maybe that he takes his gravel and everything over which is what beneficial bacteria will grow on would be better. water contains very little, if any bacteria. the bacteria grows on the substrate, the ornaments, the glass etc moving tanks will always mean that the amount of bacteria in the new tank will still be less than in the old.

Bacteria does grow on the substrate etc. however very little compared to in your filter. My previous suggestion would not cycle your tank as mentioned but this is because it is already cycled.

Bacteria reproduces at roughly 2x every 24hrs, so if you take your filter across, although you will lose some bacteria from the substrate, glass etc, this as i said is very little bacteria compared to whats in your filter and your filter would more than cope with it in less than 12hrs IMO.

As said, water contains very little bacteria, if any, however taking your water across IMO would help your filter by giving you the best possible chance of keeping existing bacteria alive.

Taking your substrate, ornaments etc over to the new tank would certainly make it look nice, but would have little if any effect on your bacteria levels. Moving the water across could play a vital part in keeping your bacteria alive.

im not going to get into this one any more than to say that on dozens of occasions, mostly on this forum, have i heard said about substrate, ornaments etc containing the majority of the bacteria when comparing to the water. tis well known throughout reputable lfs' as well when giving advice to people asking this exact same question (know this because i own an lfs and also have many friends in the industry). water has nothing for the bacteria to grow on. gravel, ornaments, plastic plants, filter media etc is where the bacteria grows.

obviously as previously mentioned though, the bulk of it is in the filter. if he is wanting the process to be as quick as possible then taking over these items would certainly help

just taking one filter from an established tank and putting it in an unestablished tank, does not make the tank cycled, only the filter. the bacteria growing in your tank also contributes to the breakdown of ammonia etc correct me if im wrong but this is something that i actually learned from this forum and have always put into practice. having said this, i usually take a percentage of water into a new tank mainly to try and keep the water as close as possible to the same as the environment they have come from

 

[backtotropical]

im not going to get into this one any more than to say that on dozens of occasions, mostly on this forum, have i heard said about substrate, ornaments etc containing the majority of the bacteria when comparing to the water. tis well known throughout reputable lfs' as well when giving advice to people asking this exact same question (know this because i own an lfs and also have many friends in the industry). water has nothing for the bacteria to grow on. gravel, ornaments, plastic plants, filter media etc is where the bacteria grows.

obviously as previously mentioned though, the bulk of it is in the filter. if he is wanting the process to be as quick as possible then taking over these items would certainly help

just taking one filter from an established tank and putting it in an unestablished tank, does not make the tank cycled, only the filter. the bacteria growing in your tank also contributes to the breakdown of ammonia etc correct me if im wrong but this is something that i actually learned from this forum and have always put into practice. having said this, i usually take a percentage of water into a new tank mainly to try and keep the water as close as possible to the same as the environment they have come from

I agree, substrate, ornaments etc do carry a lot more bacteria than the water. However, that said, i also believe that the amount of bacteria concerned is immaterial as compared to the bacteria in the filter.

I put my hands up, i said halfbakedidiot could cycle the tank. What i was referring to was cycling the filter, my understanding being that the tank does not really cycle at all, with probably 99% of the bacteria being in the filter.

This is because the bacteria really need the water passing over them, not just to be sat in still water and that is why the filter bacteria outweighs the substrate bacteria etc by such a long way. More water movement.

I would be interested to hear other opinions on how substantial the bacteria are which colonise the substrate, ornaments, glass etc is. Do we have an in-house expert in the forum?

Also, my reason for recommending to transfer water across was exactly the same as your reason stated above. Sorry if this was unclear.