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Hi guys

Looking at getting a 38.1 litre tank (which is 10.1 US Gal and 8.4 british Gal.

I have a Juwel-180 that has been running for about 6-7 years now. I was wondering could I take some water out of my Juwel-180 and put it in my new tank to help it cycle. Then after a few weeks, i was going to put to black neons in the small tank for a few weeks to help it to cycle. Then put the black neons in the the large Juwel tank (as i all ready have 8 in there all ready) and then put to Dwarf puffers in the small tank.

Simple Q will this work

Tank water does not house much bacteria compared to surfaces like filter media, gravel, ornaments etc. A faster way would be to use some of the filter medium from your existing tank in the new one.

You would need to put the fish in the new tank almost immediately so that there is a continued food source (ammonia) for the bacteria that are already living on the old filter media. It won't take long for the new filter to be populated with bacteria.

Alternatively, you could run 2 filters on your current tank while you are getting the new one set up how you want it, then when you are ready just move one of them onto the new tank.

Just a caution when using an established tank instead of cycling from scratch... you need to be fairly certain that things are well in your old tank with no disease etc or you would just be spreading it between your tanks.

Good luck & Have fun

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

thanks for the help, the only probs i had in the tank was white spot which cured its self about 3 years ago. As the juwel media pump is made up of 6 pads should I take one of them out and put it in the new tank? I dont really want to start from scratch as this will take forever, and i dont want to add any quick start solutions as i prefer the natural tank, if that makes sence . I plan on moving some of the plants from my main tank across if this will help it? Do you think setting up from scratch again would be best?

Hi,
Take a handful of gravel from your established tank,
and sprinkle it across the top of the new gravel.
Also use one of the filter pads from the old tank
filter and put it in the new tank filter (I assume both
filters are the same make/model), add your fish and then
monitor the water with your test kit.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi frank

The filter systems are not the same, but with the big filter in my main tank you are ment to replace the pads as follows. top pad every week, carbon pad every month, course pad every 3 months and fine pad every 6 months to 1 year. So as the pads in the main tank are alot bigger than that in the new little pump tank. I was going to replace one of the filters in my main tank with a new one washed in a bucket of the tanks water. And then with the older filter from the main tank I was going to cut it down to size and put it in the new pump system, the thickness of the pad is the same but the smaller pump pad, well is just smaller. Do you think this would work? And would I be better off taking the carbon pad or one of the main bactieria pads? Both pads are comming up for being replaced any way. Thanks for the help so far guys

Hi,
Be sure to sprinkle a handful of gravel from the old tank
across the new tank's gravel as well. I'd not use the
carbon pad but rather the upper, fiber, pad after
rinsing it out.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Your initial post stated weeks. If you wait this long all of the bacteria will likely be gone. I've done the quick cycle a few times. Setup the new tank and get everything stable. Add the pad, gravel and a few neons at the same time. Wait for signs that the tank has completely cycled before adding more. Stock slowly as usual.

thanks for the help

I will certainly do the bit with the filter and the gravel. Final Q is would it be best to use the water out of my all ready running fish tank that the pads will be comming from? or shall I just use normal tap water and add aqua safe from tetra (which i normally do with any tap water). So really my final Q is should i use existing and well established water or new treated water from the tap, So really tap OR tank?

Thanks for all the help guys, this is why i love this forum

Not really important providing you dechlorinate before you put the filter pads in

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi,
The whole idea is to try and shorten the 4 to 6 weeks
(average time) that it takes to establish a cycled tank
down to as little as possible, and within the
owners budget.

If you use products such as Bio-Zime its darn near
immediate. To the bare tank you add washed gravel,
fill with water to the half way point, add plants and
ornaments where wanted, top off tank, add the product,
and the next day, or in some cases that same day,
add the fish.

When shortening the time it takes to cycle the tank,
one needs to remember that it takes fish, or ammonia
to fuel the cycle. If you add gravel from an established
tank, and/or exchange established filters, if there are
no fish, or insufficient fish in the tank, or you
don't add pure ammonia to the tank, then the
transplanted bacterial colonies will die back, or die
off, as they have no "food." The colonies grow, or shrink
according to how much waste product (ammonia) is
available.

Instead of letting "Nature take its course" by adding
hardy fish to the tank, or more humanely, adding pure
ammonia to the tank, and allowing time for the bacteria
to grow that converts the ammonia to nitrite, and
then more time so another type of bacteria grows that
changes the nitrite into nitrate, and then at the end,
the colonial "system" nearly instantly converts
ammonia to nitrate, we try to shorten that time by
adding established colonies by adding a handful or
two of gravel to the new tank.

You really don't need to even mess with exchanging filters
or parts of filters. These bacterial colonies exist on
the surfaces of every object in an established tank.
Every grain of gravel, the inside surfaces of the tank,
on the surfaces of every rock or ornament, all host the
bacterial colonies that make up the Nitrogen Cycle.
Simply reach into the established tank and gouge out a
container of gravel including all the brown mulm that
exists between the grains and sprinkle it over the gravel
in the new tank.

I don't know that anyone has done any real empirical work
nor of any article that says that by adding gravel AND a
filter or a part of a filter, shortens the time it takes
for a tank to cycle, by X amount of time.

Just be sure to either add pure ammonia to the tank
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html
or have the fish in the tank to support the colonies.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--