harvestin bacteria

That would probably work actually, just taking some filter media from your old tank would do it even. Wash it out in some water you take out of your tank during a water change and use that in your other aquarium. I've used that method several times and it's worked almost every time. The only time it never really worked was when I did for my brackish tank and the salinity was too high for the bio load to handle.

any chance of pre-buying the filter? then let it run on the current tank for a couple weeks to a month before you setup the 55..... when you get the 55, fill it with clean water, drop the filter on and start stocking lightly.

i just did something similar a couple days ago, it's how i always cycle anymore. in this case what i did was take one of the bio-wheels off an emp 400 on my currently running 55 and put it into the newly setup emp 400 on my newly setup 29. i put a dry bio-wheel in its place on the 55. i could have also added the other bio-wheel and even the filters from the 55, but i wasn't ready to do it as i thought one of the new fish was sick.......

A spoge without water flow through it is not going to develop any significant bacterial population. For the same reasons bacteria tend to concentrate in filters (despite the myths to the contrary), the bacteria will dvelop where conditions are best - good water flow bringing food in the form of ammonia and nitrites, plus good oxygenated water, help establish and maintain a good population. Without flow-through, the surafce may have a few bacteria, but no significant numbers.

ewok's suggestion is excellent.