Best way to seed filter media?

Hey there. Here pretty soon I'm gonna be setting up a 10 gallon tank for my grandpa, as he's in a senior living facility that only allows pets under 30 pounds, and he doesn't want a cat or dog. He's not going to be there for too long until he moves somewhere else, so I'm trying to get a tank going for him as soon as possible. I was thinking about replacing the intake sponge on my 40-gallon and using the old one as filter media in the new filter. I was also considering taking a small amount of the ceramic rings from my filter, but I really don't want to mess with my cycle at all. Does that sound like a good idea if I want it running ASAP?

I will also be giving him water lettuce from my tank, so I'd imagine that will help a bit as well

 

Using your intake sponge in his tank and getting a new one for your tank shouldn't set your cycle back enough to matter, assuming it's a well established tank and not one that's just barely cycled.

 

The tank's been running for about 5 months, and I figured the intake sponge would be pretty safe. The sponge is about 3 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide and long. How much do you think that it'd speed up the cycle?

 

The tank's been running for about 5 months, and I figured the intake sponge would be pretty safe. The sponge is about 3 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide and long. How much do you think that it'd speed up the cycle?

If the intake sponge has been in the tank for a month or longer you should be able to start stocking (lightly) right away. Adding seasoned filter media to a new tank is referred to as "instant cycle."

Be sure to keep it wet when transporting it from your tank to the new one. You probably already know that, but someone else reading this might not.

 

Typically the way i seed a filter, i usually set up an extra sponge filter to run in an established for 2-4 months before i need it. Or, because i tend to run 2 sponge filters in all my tanks, i just grab one out of a tank to put in a new tank and replace it with another sponge filter to start seeding all over again. Granted, both require time and foresight. But your plan sounds pretty OK as well

 

thanks, glad that my plan sounds solid. One other question: if I placed some ceramic rings in my tank (probably in a small mesh bag or something) for a little bit before I place them in the new filter, would that help at all? or would the amount of bacteria be negligible?

 

thanks, glad that my plan sounds solid. One other question: if I placed some ceramic rings in my tank (probably in a small mesh bag or something) for a little bit before I place them in the new filter, would that help at all? or would the amount of bacteria be negligible?

Yes I did something similar when I got a new tank and that worked out great. The tank I seedeed from was running for over a year so I took about 1/3 of my ceramic rings and I put it in a new filter and it cycled almost instantly. I also used Seachem's Stability for a week too just to be safe. but my new tank never had any issues

 

thanks, glad that my plan sounds solid. One other question: if I placed some ceramic rings in my tank (probably in a small mesh bag or something) for a little bit before I place them in the new filter, would that help at all? or would the amount of bacteria be negligible?

It depends on how long "a little bit" is, and how heavily the tank is stocked. In any case, adding the intake sponge will probably be enough to get it jump-started as long as you don't try to heavily stock the new tank immediately.

 

awesome, I think I'm just gonna stick with the sponge then

 

Hey there. Here pretty soon I'm gonna be setting up a 10 gallon tank for my grandpa, as he's in a senior living facility that only allows pets under 30 pounds, and he doesn't want a cat or dog. He's not going to be there for too long until he moves somewhere else, so I'm trying to get a tank going for him as soon as possible. I was thinking about replacing the intake sponge on my 40-gallon and using the old one as filter media in the new filter. I was also considering taking a small amount of the ceramic rings from my filter, but I really don't want to mess with my cycle at all. Does that sound like a good idea if I want it running ASAP?

I will also be giving him water lettuce from my tank, so I'd imagine that will help a bit as well

I see a few options here. You could take whatever filter you intend to run on his tank and just run it on yours for a while. You could also fill up a gallon jug of your aquarium water and a couple handfuls of your substrate over when you go to set up his tank. In fact, if you do all of the above, it’s pretty much as close to an instant cycle as you could possibly get.

 

I run two filters in all my tanks except my betta tank. My reasons are two fold. First, should one filter somehow fail, the other is there to keep things in line. And then I can also use the second for seeding. Some have an hob w a sponge and others with two hobs. When I set up my 60g with two AC 110s, I merely took the media out of one of my established 75g tank AC 110s and put it into one of the AC 110s in the 60g tank. And yes, start with a lower bioload in the seeded tank. When I know in advance of a media need, I‘ll often just plop a sponge filter in an established tank for a bit beforehand. Seeding like this is (imho) the best way to jumpstart a newer tank bb wise as long as I take it easy with the fish introduction. When one does this, put the seeding filter media in wo cleaning it even if it looks disgusting. Btw…..all my hobs also have prefilter sponges which are valuable as well.