Super speedy cycle? Upgrading tanks...
Ok, sorry to write a friggin book, but I have a question for y'all. First I supose that I should explain my current situation. I have three tanks set up right now. My first is just a little 10gal. my second tank is a 20gal long, and my newest tank is a 45gal. Filtration is: a bio-wheel mini rated for 20 gallons on the 10 gal; a bio-wheel 170 rated at 50 gallons on the 20gal; and a fluval 303 canister as well as a "Regent" hot filter on the 45gal. Not sure on the rating, but it is basicly the bio-wheel 330 without the bio-wheels.
Alright, so those are my tanks, now I need to explain my fish. Right now I only have 1 fish. Yessss I know I have three tanks, but You'll see why in a minute. When I first got Felix, my catfish, he was just a little guy. I wasn't even sure what the heck he was till yesterday, I just knew what species and family he came from. Last night I did some hardcore research and I belive i have determined that he is a brown bullhead. I was relived cuz till now I have been calling him a channel cat and they reach like 4 feet when full grown. The brown bullheads usualy only obtain like 14".
He fit fine in the 10 gal with just a little box filter. Well pretty soon he outgrew that tank, so I bought him the 20gal and the bio-wheel 170 filter. He also got a bunch of other cool stuff as I learned more about his needs. I bought him a heater, got a bunch of cool rocks and live plants, and the plant lights to go along with it all. I cycled the tank and moved him over. As a result I shut down the 10gal. I recently bought the bio-wheel mini and set up the 10gal again to hold his extra feeder goldfish. I didn't want to overload the bio-culture by dummping like a dozen goldfish in there with him all at once.
Well again he has reached the point where he is 1/3 the length of the tank. So I was looking around online and found this really niffty mirror back 45 gal setup with filters, heaters, air pumps, chemicals, etc. all for $100 I went for it after looking at the price of all this stuff new (The canister filter goes for $150 around here). I have had it all set up and running for about a week to get it to start cycling. I put some old filter media in there from my 20gal and stocked it with a few of the feeders so get things started.
Well last night it dawned on me that I might be doing this the slow way... I want to move felix over asap, but I was waiting for the new tank to cycle. Well the tank he is in now is already cycled, so here's my idea. Can I just move the filter from the 20 gal over to the new tank along with felix right away? I would just leave the filter on there in addition to the two already on there and the bactiria would just catch on in the new filters. Once this happend I could move the filter back to the 20 gal and set up my molly tank right away because the old filter would still be cycled. Am I correct on this? or will it take longer than that? If it would still take like 6 weeks before I could add Felix, then screw it, but if it would only take a day or two, then I could put the mini filter on the 20 for a few days and run the 170 in the new tank. I'm afraid that might hurt the bactiria in the 170 though, because without all the waste that felix produces, some of the bactiria might die. I guess what I'm really asking is how fast will a filter cycle when placed into a tank that already has a fully established bactiria culture?
Also, I have read that the brown bullhead is tolerant of nearly toxic waters and extreamly low oxygen content. I know it probably wouldn't kill him to just put him in and let him cycle the tank, but if it's going to stress him, then I don't wana do it.
Ok, sorry to write a friggin book, but I have a question for y'all. First I supose that I should explain my current situation. I have three tanks set up right now. My first is just a little 10gal. my second tank is a 20gal long, and my newest tank is a 45gal. Filtration is: a bio-wheel mini rated for 20 gallons on the 10 gal; a bio-wheel 170 rated at 50 gallons on the 20gal; and a fluval 303 canister as well as a "Regent" hot filter on the 45gal. Not sure on the rating, but it is basicly the bio-wheel 330 without the bio-wheels.
Alright, so those are my tanks, now I need to explain my fish. Right now I only have 1 fish. Yessss I know I have three tanks, but You'll see why in a minute. When I first got Felix, my catfish, he was just a little guy. I wasn't even sure what the heck he was till yesterday, I just knew what species and family he came from. Last night I did some hardcore research and I belive i have determined that he is a brown bullhead. I was relived cuz till now I have been calling him a channel cat and they reach like 4 feet when full grown. The brown bullheads usualy only obtain like 14".
He fit fine in the 10 gal with just a little box filter. Well pretty soon he outgrew that tank, so I bought him the 20gal and the bio-wheel 170 filter. He also got a bunch of other cool stuff as I learned more about his needs. I bought him a heater, got a bunch of cool rocks and live plants, and the plant lights to go along with it all. I cycled the tank and moved him over. As a result I shut down the 10gal. I recently bought the bio-wheel mini and set up the 10gal again to hold his extra feeder goldfish. I didn't want to overload the bio-culture by dummping like a dozen goldfish in there with him all at once.
Well again he has reached the point where he is 1/3 the length of the tank. So I was looking around online and found this really niffty mirror back 45 gal setup with filters, heaters, air pumps, chemicals, etc. all for $100 I went for it after looking at the price of all this stuff new (The canister filter goes for $150 around here). I have had it all set up and running for about a week to get it to start cycling. I put some old filter media in there from my 20gal and stocked it with a few of the feeders so get things started.
Well last night it dawned on me that I might be doing this the slow way... I want to move felix over asap, but I was waiting for the new tank to cycle. Well the tank he is in now is already cycled, so here's my idea. Can I just move the filter from the 20 gal over to the new tank along with felix right away? I would just leave the filter on there in addition to the two already on there and the bactiria would just catch on in the new filters. Once this happend I could move the filter back to the 20 gal and set up my molly tank right away because the old filter would still be cycled. Am I correct on this? or will it take longer than that? If it would still take like 6 weeks before I could add Felix, then screw it, but if it would only take a day or two, then I could put the mini filter on the 20 for a few days and run the 170 in the new tank. I'm afraid that might hurt the bactiria in the 170 though, because without all the waste that felix produces, some of the bactiria might die. I guess what I'm really asking is how fast will a filter cycle when placed into a tank that already has a fully established bactiria culture?
Also, I have read that the brown bullhead is tolerant of nearly toxic waters and extreamly low oxygen content. I know it probably wouldn't kill him to just put him in and let him cycle the tank, but if it's going to stress him, then I don't wana do it.
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