Adding a cycled sponge filter...

I am setting up a new 33 gallon long aquarium. I currently have a 10 gallon that is heavily stocked with a sponge filter and a hang on back. They question is will this sponge filter be enough to help boost the cycle in the 33? It's been in there for 6months or so.

Wasn't sure because of the difference in size of the tanks. This is my first "big boy" tank as the 10 gallon was kind of a trail for the past year to see if I took the the hobby. Obviously I did take to the hobby... since the new tank is a heavily planted dirt substrate aquarium. Lol

 

Anything from a cycled tank will "boost" the cycling of a new tank, the question is how much.

I would think that a 6 month seeded sponge from a heavily stocked 10 gallon tank would help significantly. How much? Who knows, but it will certainly help.

You may instantly have a cycle that is sufficient for a light bio-load. You could probably add fish immediately, feed lightly and build the cycle up gradually.

Or you could use ammonia and do an accelerated fishless cycle and then stock more heavily.

You could test the extent of the instant cycle by starting with a small amount of ammonia. Try 0.25 ppm, see if it processes to zero ammonia and nitrites, then try 0.5 ppm and so on until you get to where it is not processing. Then you would know how much it helped. You could continue this process until you got to the cycle strength you feel you need to support your planned stocking.

 

Let the filter run a few days on the new tank before adding the aged media. You don't want to accidently wipe out the BB.

 

If you just clean out the sponge filter in your new aquariums water, billions of bacteria will be set loose in it. As long as they have something to metabolize they will attach and grow/ propagate the new aquarium.

 

The new tank has been running for a week.

Already seeing algae growth. I think the decaying plant matter is helping the process. I planted it up on start up and had some melting back and leaves that have fallen off. Also have stow away snails that I missed that are probably helping the process along with some waste.

Let the filter run a few days on the new tank before adding the aged media. You don't want to accidently wipe out the BB.

I am setting up a new 33 gallon long aquarium. I currently have a 10 gallon that is heavily stocked with a sponge filter and a hang on back. They question is will this sponge filter be enough to help boost the cycle in the 33? It's been in there for 6months or so.

Wasn't sure because of the difference in size of the tanks. This is my first "big boy" tank as the 10 gallon was kind of a trail for the past year to see if I took the the hobby. Obviously I did take to the hobby... since the new tank is a heavily planted dirt substrate aquarium. Lol

If you just clean out the sponge filter in your new aquariums water, billions of bacteria will be set loose in it. As long as they have something to metabolize they will attach and grow/ propagate the new aquarium.

Great advice.

FYI... This pic is after a little over a week. No help whatsoever. So it appears to be starting to cycle... but the nitrites are fairly minuscule.

 

Did you add an ammonia source when you moved the seeded sponge over to this tank? Gotta keep that good bacteria fed.

 

I did not move the sponge yet.

 

I did not move the sponge yet.

That's good. Are you going to run both tanks? If you are just upgrading to a bigger tank you can just move the cycle in the 10 gallon over to the 33. Just move everything in the 10 gallon over to the 33 including fish and water. Then finish filling up the 33. The fish and bacteria will just feel like they've had a big water change.

 

That's good. Are you going to run both tanks? If you are just upgrading to a bigger tank you can just move the cycle in the 10 gallon over to the 33. Just move everything in the 10 gallon over to the 33 including fish and water. Then finish filling up the 33. The fish and bacteria will just feel like they've had a big water change.

New tank. Keeping both running.

Cycling the tank properly is important to me since I screwed up on my 1st tank (like many of is do on tank #1).

 

New tank. Keeping both running.

Cycling the tank properly is important to me since I screwed up on my 1st tank (like many of is do on tank #1).

Moving the well seeded sponge should shorten the cycling time by a lot. Since you said the 10 gallon is heavily stocked there should be a good strong colony of bacteria on the sponge. As long as the bio-load in the 33 is less than the bio-load in the 10 gallon it is possible to get an instant cycle. The amount of water in a tank doesn't determine whether or not the sponge from a 10 gallon will cycle a 33 gallon tank. The bio-load is the determining factor.

I actually run 2 dual sponge filters in my heavily stocked 55 gallon tank. When I need to set up another tank I just pull one or 2 sponges out and put them in another tank along with the fish I am setting the tank up for. By doing this I never get an ammonia or nitrite reading and normally see nitrates rising within a week or so.

the bio-load of the fish I add to the newly set up tank is much lower than the bio-load in the big tank.

 

Moving the well seeded sponge should shorten the cycling time by a lot. Since you said the 10 gallon is heavily stocked there should be a good strong colony of bacteria on the sponge. As long as the bio-load in the 33 is less than the bio-load in the 10 gallon it is possible to get an instant cycle. The amount of water in a tank doesn't determine whether or not the sponge from a 10 gallon will cycle a 33 gallon tank. The bio-load is the determining factor.

I actually run 2 dual sponge filters in my heavily stocked 55 gallon tank. When I need to set up another tank I just pull one or 2 sponges out and put them in another tank along with the fish I am setting the tank up for. By doing this I never get an ammonia or nitrite reading and normally see nitrates rising within a week or so.

the bio-load of the fish I add to the newly set up tank is much lower than the bio-load in the big tank.

So in this scenario... your source of ammonia is your new fish stock. Correct?

In my case where I am kind of mid cycle (low reading of nitrites) will I harm the fish by doing the same thing? I am curious if I am too late into the cycle process to do it this way.

I know these questions probably sound stupid...

 

So in this scenario... your source of ammonia is your new fish stock. Correct?

Correct

In my case where I am kind of mid cycle (low reading of nitrites) will I harm the fish by doing the same thing? I am curious if I am too late into the cycle process to do it this way.

Since you are already into your cycle you probably don't want to add fish yet although if I were doing it I would go ahead and add fish. I have been at this for a very long time so in this case you may want to "do as I say not as I would do".

If you are adding ammonia it will do the same thing the fish would have. I am just assuming you are adding ammonia. Please correct me if I am wrong. Go ahead and move the seeded sponge over to this tank and continue adding ammonia each time it goes back down to or close to 0.

I know these questions probably sound stupid... 12]

Not at all. How else can we learn

 

Correct


Since you are already into your cycle you probably don't want to add fish yet although if I were doing it I would go ahead and add fish. I have been at this for a very long time so in this case you may want to "do as I say not as I would do".

If you are adding ammonia it will do the same thing the fish would have. I am just assuming you are adding ammonia. Please correct me if I am wrong. Go ahead and move the seeded sponge over to this tank and continue adding ammonia each time it goes back down to or close to 0.


Not at all. How else can we learn

Actually not adding anything yet. I believe that the cycle has started due to the organic matter in the tank. Soil and plant decay?

I was going to start by adding some food. I could easily pick up some ammonia though.

 

Actually not adding anything yet. I believe that the cycle has started due to the organic matter in the tank. Soil and plant decay?

I was going to start by adding some food. I could easily pick up some ammonia though.

Food will produce ammonia but it has to decay before it does. Actual ammonia would be better if at all possible. With it you can control the amount easier and you won't have all that decomposing food in there once the cycle is done.

 

Food will produce ammonia but it has to decay before it does. Actual ammonia would be better if at all possible. With it you can control the amount easier and you won't have all that decomposing food in there once the cycle is done.

Great! Just regular old ammonia in the cleaning isle (with no scents added)? Or more something like this... Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Solution for Cycling Aquariums, 2-oz bottle - chewy ?

 

I used Dr Tims. Worked well for me. Many on this site have reported using regular cleaning ammonia. Just make sure it is pure and you understand the concentration. Dr Tims is not expensive and designed for fishless cycles so that is what I would use.

 

Great! Just regular old ammonia in the cleaning isle (with no scents added)? Or more something like this... Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Solution for Cycling Aquariums, 2-oz bottle - chewy ?

I agree with Sorg67 You might get more for the same amount of money by buying regular household ammonia but since you are going to use a well seeded sponge you probably won't need a great deal of it. At least the Dr. Tim's is pretty well guaranteed to be the good stuff.

 

Hey yall cycling was a breeze with the Dr. Tim's ammonia and bacteria. I never even bothered with the sponge filter.

Here's my next question. Stocking. Of course everyone says stock slowly. So the question is HOW SLOW?

Let's say I add a small school of lemon tetras for my first batch of fish. How long should I wait so I don't throw the tank into a mini-cycle? A week... 2 weeks... a month?

 

Hey yall cycling was a breeze with the Dr. Tim's ammonia and bacteria. I never even bothered with the sponge filter.

Here's my next question. Stocking. Of course everyone says stock slowly. So the question is HOW SLOW?

Let's say I add a small school of lemon tetras for my first batch of fish. How long should I wait so I don't throw the tank into a mini-cycle? A week... 2 weeks... a month?

How much ammonia is this cycle processing daily? That will determine how many fish you can add all at once.

 

How much ammonia is this cycle processing daily? That will determine how many fish you can add all at once.

4-5ppm

 

4-5ppm

With that much ammonia you should have lots of bacteria so can pretty well add your full stock of fish all at the same time. If you just add a few fish at a time most of the bacteria you have grown will die off due to lack of enough food and will have to catch back up after each addition of fish. The beauty of doing a fishless cycle and feeding it this much ammonia is the ability to fully stock the tank once it will process that much ammonia back down to zero.

 

With that much ammonia you should have lots of bacteria so can pretty well add your full stock of fish all at the same time. If you just add a few fish at a time most of the bacteria you have grown will die off due to lack of enough food and will have to catch back up after each addition of fish. The beauty of doing a fishless cycle and feeding it this much ammonia is the ability to fully stock the tank once it will process that much ammonia back down to zero.

How long do you think I have? I brought a school of lemon tetras home today along with some amano shrimp. I want to add gourami and I'm thinking about the other stock at the moment.

You think just a few days? I will keep these tetras fed well today to keep the process going.

 

How long do you think I have? I brought a school of lemon tetras home today along with some amano shrimp. I want to add gourami and I'm thinking about the other stock at the moment.

You think just a few days? I will keep these tetras fed well today to keep the process going.

I wish I could answer this question but I really don't know how quickly bacteria starts dying off.

 

I wish I could answer this question but I really don't know how quickly bacteria starts dying off.

That's ok. I really didn't expect anyone to know that one for sure. Figured it was worth a shot.

 

I wish I could answer this question but I really don't know how quickly bacteria starts dying off.

I ended up squeezing out my sponge filter from my other tank in there to boost my bacteria just in case. I have some zebra danios and blue emporer tetras in there now! Woo hoo!