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I was just wondering if it was possible to kick-start a cycle using the water leftover from cleaning my filter sponges. I squeeze them a few times in old tank water to get some of the build-up off of them, otherwise my filters slow down. I have about 16oz of the "soup" and a 5 gallon bowfront that needs to get started.

I have extra filter media stuck in my filters getting seeded for the new tank as well.

You could try it, but I'm not convinced it would help as much as seeding with solid material (filter media, substrate), because the bacteria that deal with fish waste colonize surfaces, there aren't so many floating around in the water, even in the crud in your filter, although maybe you'll kick some loose when you squeeze it.

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I'm with superlion, more of the bacteria live on the surfaces...the 'soup' is really just waste buildup.

Your best option is to swap the extra filter media. Use the existing filter media in the new tank and leave the 'new' filter media in the old tank. Since it already has bacteria all over the substrate and ornaments and glass ect it will be a lot more stable, and able to have the filter media swapped out. Especially if the 'new' filter media has already been there for a week.

After a month or two you'll be able to swap media around to where you want it permanently if one of the sponges fits in a specific filter better than the other.

^_^

That's the way to do it, seed it with your "filter media".

Good job rinsing the dirty media with tank water.


Chris