Cycling using established material?

[junglekatt]

Hi,
I have a 29g rainbowfish tank that has been established for about 5 months and is doing great so far (I love it!). It is also moderately planted. To cycle this tank I used 2 minnows (6 week cycle) and it worked awesome.
My question is, I want to get another tank and I heard of people using some gravel, filter media, etc. to help the new tank cycle.
I don't want to use any chemicals....for me, the "fishy" cycle worked.
So, how exactly do I go about using the established media to speed up the cycle of my new tank? How long do you think it would take with a few hardy fish?
Thanks!!

 

[Jericho]

Well depending on the type of filter you have in your present tank you can split the media and put some of it in a new filter to seed the tank, just do not stock heavy at first. If you use gravel from the old tank it is recomemded that you take some off of the top and put it on the top of the new tank gravel. Or if you are going to take your time finding a new tank get a second filter (to be used on the new tank) and start running it as an aditional filter on the old tank to seed the filter.