Cycling Quarantine Tank

[Banky]

Is it ok to just siphon established water from my large aquarium into the 5 gal quarantine tank when I need to use it for new fish? The levels and temp is perfect, so why or why not?

[Leopardess]

Most of the bacteria in an established tank is on surfaces, rather than in the water.

There are many threads on this. You can run a small extra filter on your main tank and switch it over when needed. Or keep the tank going with ammonia. You could also just help it along a little bit by taking some of the gravel out of the main tank and putting it in the qtank.

[Banky]

Thanks for the reply Leopardess, you seem to answer a lot of my questions. Im going to put in a small filter tonight so it will be ready for my QT.

PS:
Thanks for the lighting tips, I got all I need for 2WPG from AH supply.

[JesseJ]

another option is to do a sponge squeeze in the new tank. take a filter sponge from an established tank and gently wring it into the new tank. you'll add in a lot of bacteria and a bit of waste to kick start the cycling before you add fish.