Worthwhile Plan??

[Thyra]

I am in the process of starting another tank. My original one has cycled and is 4 months old. I have not changed the filter material. The filter for the new tank is larger (filter material isn't interchangeable). I am thinking about taking the filter off the cycled tank and putting it on the new tank and putting the new filter on the cycled tank and letting them run for "X" amount of time. There are no fish in the new tank. What should "X" equal to make the plan worthwhile?

 

[littletankbigworld]

If you run the old filter on the new tank with no fish in it, all the good bacteria in the filter will die because there is no ammonia for it to eat. Can you cut up old filter media and stick it in the filter to add to the new tank? You can also add rocks or gravel (in a container or pair of panty-hose) from the old tank to the new tank to help it cycle.

 

[Thyra]

Thanks LT, I forgot about "feeding the bacteria" although I was just thinking (again) that just feeding it with food that would rot, should add some bacteria and I could put a couple of fish in it from the other tank. I am going to do a fish in cycle like I did the first tank due to the lack of pure ammonia in this vicinity. I actually bought the test kit before I even added water to the first tank - thanks to you guys - and then sort of pretended it was a diabetic and tested almost daily and changed water accordingly.

 

[ryanoh]

You could run your new filter in your old tank, but just watch your parameters a little more closely. I did that once, then put the new filter and old tank water into the new tank after about a month, then waited a few days, everything checked out, and I added some fish. It worked out fine that way for me.

 

[OrangeCones]

+1 on ryanoh's plan. I do the same thing when setting up a fry tank for fish that have spawned. I run two filters in the parents' tank and when the time is right, I remove one to put in with the fry and start transferring fry to the new tank. Instant cycle.