2nd 20 gallon set up-cycling

Just bought a 2nd 20gallon and stand for my booming shrimp and snail population.

I'm going to separate more colors.

Cycling
I have a cave on one side of my old tank.
Its covered with marimo moss and java moss/ferns. Moving it to the new tank.
I was also going to move some gravel and media from the old filter to the new tank/filter. As well as some old tank water.
To seed good bacteria.
I have bacter ae and liquid aquarium bacteria.

Do I have to follow the same long cycling process to start the second tank?

I want to move some less desirable colors to the tank first. Some of my wilder looking ones as testers.

I'm not into actually culling my shrimp, but I have so many that if some not so pretty didnt make it through the moving process, it would not be a big loss.

I wouldn't do it immediately of course.

Just wondering if seeding from an established tank speeds up the process.

 

In a nutshell no! You don't have to follow the full cycle, Are the new and old filter the same?

 

From personal experience. Seeding from a well established tank does decrease the cycle time. But I did learn that putting in old filter media, in my case, one of the sponges of a sponge filter from a well age tank is a game changer.

I'm saying this because I recently set up a 3 gallon as a snail holding tank and threw in a couple guppies. I used substrate, driftwood and water from a well established tank. But it wasn't until I took out the hob filter, put in a sponge filter and used a good old slimy sponge from another tank that the tank stabilized. Water testing this morning were great.

Granted, a smaller tank is far harder to maintain than the 20 you are working with, but the theory is still the same, you'll just have an easier time.

Glad you are separating the colors. A skittle tank is way prettier than one color at first, but in the end, you end up with the wild color of brown. My rcs have stolen my heart, I call them the silly little red things and so want to set up another tank with a neo of another color, leaning towards blue. Been hinting to the hubby, maybe I'll use the b-day card, that's coming up in a couple weeks, lol.

 

In a nutshell no! You don't have to follow the full cycle, Are the new and old filter the same?

Yes they are the same. They each have mixed media in 2 sections. I will just use one of the old sections on the new and switch a new into the old.

From personal experience. Seeding from a well established tank does decrease the cycle time. But I did learn that putting in old filter media, in my case, one of the sponges of a sponge filter from a well age tank is a game changer.

I'm saying this because I recently set up a 3 gallon as a snail holding tank and threw in a couple guppies. I used substrate, driftwood and water from a well established tank. But it wasn't until I took out the hob filter, put in a sponge filter and used a good old slimy sponge from another tank that the tank stabilized. Water testing this morning were great.

Granted, a smaller tank is far harder to maintain than the 20 you are working with, but the theory is still the same, you'll just have an easier time.

Glad you are separating the colors. A skittle tank is way prettier than one color at first, but in the end, you end up with the wild color of brown. My rcs have stolen my heart, I call them the silly little red things and so want to set up another tank with a neo of another color, leaning towards blue. Been hinting to the hubby, maybe I'll use the b-day card, that's coming up in a couple weeks, lol.

Great I'll try a sponge from my old tank too.
I do recommend blue diamond. I got mine from Shrimplife on Ebay.
They are super deep blue and the color breeds true even with orange genes mixed in to some of my dark blues. I have some that are lighter blue or rili. This is also striking for a mixed shrimp.

 

Yes they are the same. They each have mixed media in 2 sections. I will just use one of the old sections on the new and switch a new into the old.

That is the correct way so you have a complete 50/50 new and old filter, I do it with sponge filters so if you have a spare old one use it I didn't add old substrate but that will help, I then add 100% water from my other tanks on water change and let that run for two weeks with a couple of fish to keep the cycle going and let the biofilm take old i then replaced the fish with shrimp and that works, although I used mature shrimp it took 6 weeks+ for them to breed and I used shrimp that were breeding in other tanks, it something I can't explain

 

That would be great because my first priority is slowing the breeding of my less desirably colored shrimp.

 

That would work better as you'll use them as sacrificial shrimp which is more of a benefit