How to use HOB filter in canister to help cycling along?

There are some limited options if you choose to do it. Here are a few. I have done similar things to these on new tanks, but never while trying a fishless cycle nor with such a large difference in size between the established tank and the new one.

You could take the established biowheel apart, keeping the wheel wet and not allowing it to dry out, cut the media portion up just a little bit and put it immediately in the new canister filter with the new media. Same goes with this idea as below. You are providing enough bio materials to handle most of the fish load from the 35 hex, but not a fully stocked 120, yet. But it should speed things up. Since you are doing the fishless the stocking for right now until it cycles fully shouldn't matter.

On the other hand, you could move the entire filter onto the new tank while the new filter is on there as well and it should help speed things up a bit. But remember, you are moving a filter from a 35 to a 120 so there isn't going to be enough bio there to handle a fully stocked 120 imo, so you would need to stock lightly at first, until the 120's filteration builds up enough. But since you are doing the fishless it shouldn't be that much of an issue.

To handle the older tanks filtering if you remove the entire filter not just the bio wheel you would need to buy a new filter for it, but the existing biobed in the tank on surfaces, decor, gravel etc should be enough to handle the time needed to cycle the new filter.
Personally I would tear apart the biowheel, cut up the media, and add it into the media compartment in the new canister filter.

Whatever you decide, good luck with it!

not the wheel just swish it

I suggest leaving the wheel alone.

Take the filter cartridge and swish it in some tank water from the old tnak, then pour that right in front of the intake of thenew filter. Then, swish the cartridge in the big tank every day. Some of the bacteria should be dislodged and ought to find their way to the new filter.

The thing to remember is that every little bit helps, the more you add the merrier. heat suggested some good options, If it were mine, I'd leave the biowheel on the 35 replace the filter cartridge with new, and take the old cartiridge from the penguin and hang it in the new tank. Persaonally I would hang it very near the intake to the cannister. I really don't know if this matters, but I like to seed near where I am trying to estabilish a new colony. In all honesty if you have ammonia, water and O2 the bacteria transfer will be OK no matter where in the tank you put the media. I would also vacum the 35 repeatedly and add that water complete with crud in. the water carries very little bacteria, but the crud that comes out with the water carries a lot. With 4+ ppm ammonia, the bacteria you add will grow at a fair rate, and it shouldn't take very long to get through your fishless. You should see nitrite within 24 hours of seeding even if your ammonia doesn't drop rapidly. With the addition of bacteria, they will start processing ammonia immediatly. Nitrite levels are your indicator. Even with a good seed, you will still have some time in the cycle do to the tank size difference, but it will be far more rapid than fishless without any help

Good advice, for the most part. I'm not sure I'd mess with the biowheel, either, especially if it involves cutting it up. Lots of bacteria inhabit the surfaces in the filter, so sticking a dirty cartridge in the new tank should work fine. I'd swish it around and rub it in the new tank, too, to dislodge as much stuff as possible.

Good luck,
Jim

Give the old tank a good, deep gravel vacuuming. Then rinse the old filter out in the syphoned water. Get it nice and clean looking. You should now have a bucket of brownish, gross looking water. Swish/squeeze your canister filter media (all of it) in the brown water. Then pour the water into the new tank. This should add tons of bacteria.