Quick Cycling question....

[SimonWoodstock]

I have read a few posts on here about cycling and saw something that i want to verify before i do it and kill fish when i get some new ones....the reason i want to do this instead of putting them in my tank with the rest of the fish in my cycled tank is i want to start keeping them in a seperate tank for a few weeks to make sure they aren't bringing any diseases with them.

Anyway the question is: If i do a 100% water change in my tank and get a new filter for it, can i just put the new filter on my cycled tank for a day or so and then move it to the new tank? Will this allow the bacteria to grow in the filter media and, i guess, "instantly" cycle my tank, or is there anything else that i should do?

thanks

[blitzen25bm]

why are you going to change all the water? you should get some gravel from the established tank and put it into a filter bag and that that into the filter that will help because you cant get all the bio on that filter in just a few days. you can put the old filter in the new tank -john

[JSchmidt]

I usually piggyback a new filter on an existing tank for at least 2-3 weeks to populate it with bacteria. Two weeks is very much a minimum, 3 or 4 is better.

Jim

[Gunnie]

I think I follow you. The tank you are wanting to establish is your quarantine tank where your new fish will go temporarily to make sure they are not sick? If this is what you are saying, I would go with what blitzen said and just take some gravel from the established tank. You could also pre-plan your Q tank, and run the new filter for a couple of weeks on your established tank, and then just move it to the new tank when you get your fish.

If you are starting completely over and have no cycled tank in which to put all your fish in, you may want to try bio spira. You can learn more about this
here (http://fishgeeks.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=7372)

[superjohnny]

Not to be mean, but if you used punctuation I think your question would be more clear.

I didn't follow which tank you were going to do a 100% water change on, but that's never a good idea. If I had an established tank and was setting up a new tank I would either seed the new tank with water from the old tank or go through the cycling process.

Remember, only bad things happen fast in fish tanks.

[stoopid]

That is a little mean... this isn't a scholastic site or anything...

[anonapersona]

Originally posted by SimonWoodstock
....the reason i want to do this instead of putting them in my tank with the rest of the fish in my cycled tank is i want to start keeping them in a seperate tank for a few weeks to make sure they aren't bringing any diseases with them.

Setting up a Q tank is a great idea, especially when the main tank is stable.


Anyway the question is: If i do a 100% water change in my tank and get a new filter for it, can i just put the new filter on my cycled tank for a day or so and then move it to the new tank? Will this allow the bacteria to grow in the filter media and, i guess, "instantly" cycle my tank, or is there anything else that i should do?


Pass on the big water change.

Getting a new filter for the Q tank is a good idea, particularly if it can use the same sort of cartridge as the old tank. On the other hand, a sponge filter is cheap and easy to use and is useful if you get fry someday, that assumes you have an airpump to use. In either case, you want to run some filter or filter media in the old tank then move it to the new tank.

I've done this by

1 - taking some floss media, putting it before the filter cartridge in a HOB filter (penguin) for a week or two then putting it inside a new cannister filter (fluval).

2 - taking the filter biobag out of a used filter (whisper) and putting it on the new tank that has the same sort of HOB filter (whisper).

3 - taking the filter biobag out of a used filter (whisper) and swishing and squeezing it in a bucket of the tank water from the old tank and dumping that into the new fllter (whisper mini) on the new tank.

4 - taking the entire old filter from the old tank and moving it with most of the old fish to a new tank, putting a new filter on the old tank.

5 - I have a sponge filter that sits in the pond, just in case I have to bring one of the pond fish in to a Q tank.

I think a 'few days' may not be enough. A week or two would be, but filter squeezings (#3) probably will be enough to make the cycle instant. Repeat as necessary.

[TKOS]

In my HOB filters I always stick an extra piece of sponge or foam in the media chamber. Then if I need to setup a QT tank I can just take that piece of foam out and stick it in the new filter. It at least jump starts things.

[SimonWoodstock]

Thanks,my question has been answered.