Speeding up Cycle, Adding established gravel

[tetraboi]

i'm reading nitrites now for some time. doing water changes everyday to keep it about .25. My fish have a good appetite now and are showing good colors.
To speed up the cycle can i add gravel from an established tank? and should the gravel be brought over in that tanks water? or can i just bring it over dry? will the bacteria die if i do?

 

[brookelyn]

I believe gravel from an established tank should help the cycling process, but the gravel would need to be wet. Once the gravel taken from the other aquarium dries out, it will be useless as all the good bacteria will have died off.

 

[got_nailed]

I just finished a cycle on my 75 gall. It was a fishless cycle and I was putting in one handful of gravel a day form other tanks. IMO yes it will speed up a cycle by some time but don’t know how much time you will cut off of it. It will cut the time because you’re adding some of the bacteria that are needed to brake down the nitrites in to nitrates. To move them I would just grab a rag to help with the drips grab the grave and toss it into the “cycling” tank.

Just look at the tank and make sure you’re not going to move stuff like Ich, body fungus, and ext

 

[anonapersona]

Better than gravel would be to get some filter squeezings.

Take the pad or cartridge out of the old tank and swish it or squeeze it out in a bucket of tank water. If you let it sit, some of that junk will settle to the bottom and you can pour off some of the water, so there is less to carry.

Pour that junk directly into your filter or right at the filter inlet so it passes through the filter without clouding up the tank too much.

After that, you shouldn't be able to test any nitrites or ammonia at all. But do keep testing until you know for sure that you are past needing to do water changes.

 

[tomm10]

IME, gravel from an established tank doesn't work all that well unless its from a tank with an undergravel filter. The bacteria colonize areas of the aquarium that have the greatest oxyben exchange. In a tank with a UGF, that would be the gravel since the water is constantly flowing through it. In a tank with a HOB though the bacteria will really colonize the filter media.

If you want to speed up your cycle I would get some filter floss (or whatever media is in the filter) from an established tank and add that to your existing filter. I would also do a good sized water change before adding the media. High levels of nitrites and ammonia can be poisonous to the bacteria too so putting it in a tank with elevated levels could result in some of that bacteria dying off. Seems like you're well on your way to being cycled so it shouldn't really be an issue but better safe than sorry.

Tom