Cycled?

[Nolapete]

Discus and angelfish breeders keep their pairs and growouts in empty tanks except for a sponge filter. I haven't investigated their tank setup procedures, but I have a question about it.

If you have a filter on a cycled tank then move the filter to a tank freshly filled with treated water, is the new tank cycled?

If you did the same thing except used water from the cycled tank to fill the new tank, would that be better?

I have my own opinions and experiences with this. I want to find out if they follow what other people think.

I'm currently running 4 Aquaclear 500s and 1 Aquaclear 300 on my 110. I'm curious as to how effective and safe it will be to set up new tanks with the extras.

 

[jm1212]

yep, the new tank will be cycled.

the water holds very little bacteria and doesnt make much of a difference.

 

[Rbishop]

Provided the bio-load was within the capabilities of the bacteria on the sponge and the bacteria on all other surfaces in the originating tank, even if bare bottom.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

agree with bob. if your moving over a filter from a low bio load to a high bio load it wont be cycled right away. as you get more tanks its very easy to cycle. i just pull media from 2-3 tanks.

 

[Nolapete]

I've always taken a sponge filter from one tank and moved to another without giving it much thought and never had any problems. I was curious as to how they get by with doing that considering the bio load is relatively high with keeping the pairs well-fed. I find that I'm second guessing a lot of what I've done in the past since I've seen so many people having problems where I never did. I have rarely had even a case of ich, much less all these other diseases people are reporting. The times I've had something though, one was viral and the other was bacterial that caused the most losses. I'm sure I'll get my confidence back once I get all my tanks up.

 

[Rbishop]

Just keep at it Nolapete. When I establish a new set up, I pull 2-6 sponges over from other tanks, the kind that are on Penguin 660 powerheads. And then stock lightly.
In some cases, with large tanks, I move whole canisters with expended carbon over.

Then just do daily water changes until I feel comfortable.

 

[dbcb314]

How long to fishless cycles normally take to cycle a tank?

 

[Nolapete]

No different than fish, usually 4-6 weeks. But that's not this topic. I'm specifically talking about bare tanks.

I'm thinking that in order to be accurate, a filter must come from a tank that has a very similar bioload otherwise it will be thrown into a mini-cycle which would be harmful to the new tank inhabitants.