cycling a q tank

[lereg15]

I have a 10 gal. tank that I want to set up as a quarantine/ hospital tank. First of all, if I put the filter media from the 10 and put it in an existing cycled aquarium, along with some of it's existing gravel, would that be sufficient enough to use, or will I still have to cycle?
The tank has been running and had fish in it, up to about a month ago, so I know that all the bacteria has died off.
Secondly, How can I keep the bacteria in the tank while there is no fish in it?
Thanx in advance.

 

[sdb]

I have AquaClear filters on my tanks and in them I keep extra foams. When I need my hospital tank set up, I take a seeded foam out and put it in my spare AC Mini. Then I set up my hospital tank with conditioned water. I run it for about an hour with the seeded foam in the filter, then add the sick fish. I've never had a problem.
I don't keep my hospital tank running all the time. I just set it up when needed, adding the seeded foam. To keep an empty tank running 24/7, cycled, would be a pain and a hassle.

 

[ArkyLady]

I keep a sponge filter going in one of my established tanks and I keep an empty 10 gallon handy. If I need a quarantine/hospital tank, then I just set it up and move the sponge filter to it. Pretty much same as sdb's method.

This is the easiest way and if it's easy we'll be more likely to actually quarantine our fish when we get new ones

 

[lereg15]

Thanks for the advice. One more question, How do I keep the ph up, since this will be for a mbuna tank?
Can I put cichlid gravel in the tank to keep the ph up and still just use my filter media? Iguess what I'm asking is if I can leave a little high ph gravel in the tank just to keep up the ph without worriing about the bacteria?
Once again, I appreciate the advise. I've kept fish all my life, but never cared about thier well-being, so I want to make it as easy on them as possible, thanks to the info that I've recieved from this forum. I use to think that fish were for looks, but now I know better.