Seeding filters for new aquarium. Couple of questions.

[FreakIndeed]

Hi all,

I'm setting up a new 90 gallon Lake Malawi Mbuna tank. I'll be filtering this tank with two Rena XP3 and a Marineland c160 canister filters. LOTS of filtration for this tank. I have all three filters currently running on my 300 gallon central and south American cichlid tank that has about 19 fish. It's a very established tank that's been running for several years. The filters will be on the tank about five weeks before I'm able to stock the Mbuna tank. Do you think the filters will be established enough to handle stocking the Mbuna tank completely from the start?

Lastly, can I shock the bacteria by switching the filters from a tank running with a PH of 7.2 to a PH of 8.2? I have a filter running with crushed coral on the to be Mbuna tank already. That won't kill the bacteria will it? The switch in temperature shouldn't be any more than a couple degrees warmer on the Mbuna tank.

Thanks!

I've attached a pic of the tank!


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[Taari]

I would take some of the filter media out of your original filters on the 300 and put it in the new filters while you run them on the 300. The beneficial bactiera grow on hard surfaces, such as the glass, decorations, substrate, and on the threads and pores of filter media. Very little bacteria is floating in the water column. By putting some of the established media in the new filters, it introduces the bacteria to the filter compartments. I would then feed the tank very well for the time the extra filters are running on the 300, this will promote more bacteria to grow. If the 300 is well established, that means it's got enough bacteria to handle the current bioload. Unless you increase the bioload, you won't get much additional bacteria growth. The easiest way to do that is just feed the tank more. With some cycled media in the chambers of the new filters, and increasing the bioload, it should prompt bacteria growth in the rest of the media in the new filters.

 

[Rbishop]

swap some media as Taaari says..good to go...

 

[FreakIndeed]

Thanks for the advice. It may have been a little overdoing it but I cracked open all the canister filters on the aquarium and dumped all their bio media in a bucket of tank water and mixed it all up. I then distributed it back to all the canisters. So I definitely have a nice mix going. They will be running there for the next month. I'll feed the fish twice a day instead of their normal once and maybe give them a messy treat or two.

Any word on what a sudden PH change would do to the bacteria? They will be going from 7.2 to somewhere around 8 when I add all the Mbuna around the first of September.

Thanks!


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[Rbishop]

a severe drop could cause the nitrification to stop...giving you ammonium...ingested into gills and body tissues...a return to normal pH would shift it back to ammonia..almost instant death...

 

[FreakIndeed]

So just a severe drop upwards when switched to the Malawi tank would be fine as long as the PH doesn't drop back down?


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[FreakIndeed]

Drop upwards? That should have said a severe CHANGE upwards. Haha


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[jpappy789]

I don't think you have to worry too much about the pH change. Tanks with CO2 injections can sometimes see swings of the same magnitude without a massive bacteria die off.

Even if you do, you really don't need much bacteria to seed a tank since doubling time is about 24 hours. A lot of time spend waiting during the cycling process is for inoculation.

 

[tanker]

I think the "Shock" of going from a 7.2 to an 8.2 is good. Good bacteria works better at higher PH.