Cycling New Media on a cycled tank

[moganman]

Setting up my girl's 72 bowfront and all of the media is new. I have some new Eheim media running on my tank that I'm planning to transfer to her Eheim that's running on her tank. How long would it take to cycle on my already cycled tank?

[SunnyHouTX]

Re: Cycling New Media on a cycled tank

I put new media for other filters in one of my sumps for about two weeks. Seems to work fine.

[Totenkampf]

not sure the exact time since it depends on how much is colonized and that depends on the bioload of the tanks its with now and the time its been there. it will help significantly though. i always wait for the nitrites to drop out and dont worry about the timeframe. you can further speed the process up with a fishless cycle regime. you can buy janitorial strength ammonium hydroxide at ace hardware, just look for something free of artificial colors and fragrances along with no surfactants.

[mistahoo]

I seed new tanks with filter padding from an established tank and then add livestock within hours. Livestock never died and seemed fine, so I kept doing this.

[Totenkampf]

some fish are more tolerant than others. try that with your soon to be new baby killifish and you may be disappointed. on second thought, please dont try it lol.

[crazy42bmx]

Prior to setting up a new tank i usually just take new bio and put it in an already running filter and get it established for a week or so.

[moganman]

Thanks guys. Just making sure. I should be set now.

[TexSun]

Re: Cycling New Media on a cycled tank

All solid advice.

[Crude]

When setting up my new 17g, I used new substrate, but used all seeded media from my existing 90g filter, as well as water from the 90g. Everything stayed stable for the most part, and fish are happy, but I did record some minor spikes about 2 weeks in. Make sure you still monitor the water parameters and respond accordingly

[mistahoo]

some fish are more tolerant than others. try that with your soon to be new baby killifish and you may be disappointed. on second thought, please dont try it lol.

Definitely not! The long wait isn't worth trying this! Fortunately for me, all of the tanks in the house are cycled.

[moganman]

When setting up my new 17g, I used new substrate, but used all seeded media from my existing 90g filter, as well as water from the 90g. Everything stayed stable for the most part, and fish are happy, but I did record some minor spikes about 2 weeks in. Make sure you still monitor the water parameters and respond accordingly

I guess I was wrong when I thought that adding old water was pointless and all of the good bacteria was in the media.

[Crude]

Probably not, but I was doing a water change so I figured why not fill up the new one in the process

[mistahoo]

There is some good bacteria in the water, but not as much as the media. Which is why I don't bother grabbing the water from an old tank, just the media.

[Totenkampf]

i like grabbing some of the old water myself, since it is aged. i think it helps to prevent new tank syndrome some but maybe thats in my mind.

[mistahoo]

No clue if it does or not. I just started up a 10g with filters from a cycled tank and a few rocks from the old tank. It's super clear and seems to be fine. I don't have any test kits, but I'm pretty sure it's safe for fish now.