Switching from HOB to Sump

slapnutz

slapnutz

Obsessed? Nah....
Jan 2, 2009
132
0
0
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Kenosha, WI
I am in the process of building a sump setup for my 55 fw tank, soon to be the home of SA/CA cichlids. I wil be removing my UGF as well. What would be the best way for me to go about making the change so I don't have to worry about cycling the tank again?
 
I bought the aqueon 55g kit. So I would take the filter and the plastic filter holder out and add to the sump?

Let me describe the setup. I have 2 10g tanks. In one I have a divider so there is a drip tray, then filter floss, then bio balls. Water goes through those then under the divider into the open part. Here it drains into the other 10 gallon where the water pump is. Where would I add the media?
 
I would add it in with the bio balls if you have the room of course. Then in about 2 months you could remove it.
 
I would fill a media bag with some of the gravel, sense there should be alot of bacteria there from running the UGF.

I'd cover the top of the Bio-balls with this. And leave the HOB running for a while(couple of weeks?).

Depending on how much you clean your HOB. I've always "cleaned" mine when running an UGF, because I wasn't worried about bacteria up there.
You could always put a bag of gravel in their too.

With all of this, you should start right back up fairly quick.
I'd probably plan on leaving the bag(s) of gravel in for at least 4 weeks.
Or if you use multiple bags, you could start removing one a week at week 2 or 3, depending on how the tank reacts.
As in, if you remove one on week 2 and get an ammonia spike. I'd probably wait a couple of weeks before taking out another.
 
Sumps require more cycle time than HOB due to size and amount of water. I would suggest you just do a normal start-up and change 50% water every 2 days for a week or two then go to every 3 days, and a week later to once a week. Test kits will tell you when you need to do a water change. Minimum is weekly.
 
excuzzzeme said:
Sumps require more cycle time than HOB due to size and amount of water. I would suggest you just do a normal start-up and change 50% water every 2 days for a week or two then go to every 3 days, and a week later to once a week. Test kits will tell you when you need to do a water change. Minimum is weekly.
Click to expand...

So adding the gravel (in bags) to the bio balls wouldn't do a whole lot of good?
 
Why not just hook up your sump and run the other filters for about a month or so then take one off at time. that should seed your sump and reduce any cycle that you were worried about. I did that with my 90 and I had no cycle what so ever.
 
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