View Full Version : establishing new tank
jaredb
07-01-2003, 3:05 AM
i just set up a 230 gallon tank ,aqua clear 300 wet dry. what i was wondering is if i were to hang my penguin 330 from my 55 gallon ( tank has been running for about 5 months) would that help out with the cycling and bacteria build up on the bio balls, mainly so i dont have to change so much water.
NJ Devils Fan
07-01-2003, 7:58 AM
Yes, using a filter from an established tank will speed of the process of cycling in a new tank. What other filters will be permanently on the tank?
wetmanNY
07-01-2003, 9:26 AM
1. Siphon all over the gravel of the established tank, even taking some of it, without disturbing it. Let the siphoned-off water settle overnight. Pour off the water carefully till you have just a little-- and the "gunk." Pour all that into your nice raw new tank. (You get a founder population of plankton this way.)
2.Take a flat-sided deli container and scrape up as much of the very topmost half-inch of gravel from the old tank-- without disturbing the underlayers. Scatter it all over the new gravel, with the dirt it contains.
(This should shorten the "cycling-in" by at least a week.)