Luniyn

One thing to remember with any of these ideas, is that the good bacteria will only grow if it has enough food (ammonia) to feed it. If it grows bigger then there is food available then that growth will quickly die off. So when putting a rag, extra sponge, whatever, into an established tank and don't change any other variables, 1 of 2 things will happen. 1- Any new colony of good bacteria that tries to grow on the extra bio-media will die off before it gets started due to lack of food. 2- Any new colony of good bacteria that grows on the extra bio-media means some of the good bacteria in your tank (the media that is staying) dies off. If its 1 then you didn't get any start to your cycle, and if it's 2 then once you remove that extra media you will have a mini-cycle as some new growth occurs to make up for it. The way around this is simply to make a larger need for good bacteria to grow, and the way to do that is give it more food. Increasing the amount of times a day you feed your fish means that they will create more waste and there will also be a few more bits of food in the tank that doesn't get eaten right away. This will make more ammonia over time and since you now have an extra place for good bacteria to grow, it shouldn't create a problem for your fish (just take it slow). Once you are ready to remove this extra bio-media and place it in your new tank, just cut back on the feeding again. You can even skip a day so the amount of waste really drops off quickly and allows the tank time to adjust.

armadillo

Gawd, Lunyin, is there anything you don't know about cycling? Am very impressed - but also intimidated. There seems to always be more to know. Just as I thought I had the hang of it, another subtlety comes to the fore. It'll take time to all sink in I think.

timg

You know, I never give these little details a thought, but now you mention it, it's something that I just do, I suppose. I never thought about it really, but I instinctively over-feed the tank when loading a new filter. It's something that comes with experience and it just becomes part of the operation I guess. Good point though, must remember to mention it when making suggestions in the future!