Crazy Question

I am cycleing a new tank (50 gallon) with a bunch of plants
Reading show
Ammonia .1ppm
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0


Currently in my 20 Gallon I have
Ammonia0
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Small stock
5 cobra guppies
2 BN Pleco
1 Mrystry snail
3 cherry shrimp

I was wondering if I added my 20 gallon filter to the 50 gallon tank will that help my tank cycle faster?

 

It will be an instant cycle if the filter is cycled and you just move it over. HOWEVER, if you a bigger bioload in the new tank it will take the filter a little bit to catch up so you can get small spikes in your numbers.

 

If the filter from the 20 gallon has cycled media, you may have better luck just moving some of it to the 50 gallon and it’ll instantly cycle. I would take some, put it in with new media, and it’ll eventually cycle the whole filter.

 

If the filter from the 20 gallon has cycled media, you may have better luck just moving some of it to the 50 gallon and it’ll instantly cycle. I would take some, put it in with new media, and it’ll eventually cycle the whole filter.

Alright thank you. My 20 gallon filter ilhave been cycled for 3 months so I thought it would be the easiest way.

It will be an instant cycle if the filter is cycled and you just move it over. HOWEVER, if you a bigger bioload in the new tank it will take the filter a little bit to catch up so you can get small spikes in your numbers.

Ok I can do this too. I like the idea putting the 20gal filter on the 50gallon. Although I do have a quiteflow75 on my 50 gallon now with only one fish inside it, so bio load should be good!

 

This is the beauty of having a cycled tank. You only have to go through a long drawn out cycling process one time. From then on just move media from the cycled tank over to the new tank and with a little care ... instant cycle. It helps if you keep extra media in the cycled tank so as to not disrupt your original cycle by removing too much.

I keep 2 dual sponge filters running in my 55 gallon cycled tank along with 2 HOB filters. Just last week I set up a 15 gallon tank as a grow out tank for my molly fry.

I put 2 dual sponge filters in it. Each one has a new sponge and a seeded sponge from the 55. I just took one sponge off of each of the 2 in the big tank and replaced them with new sponges so they will be ready anytime I need them. I have kept an eye on the perimeters in the 15 gallon and the test tell me I have a fully cycled tank.

 

I do the same, keep an extra sponge filter in the already cycled tank so I can just pop it over into another tank if I need to set up a hospital or QT.

 

Ok I can do this too. I like the idea putting the 20gal filter on the 50gallon. Although I do have a quiteflow75 on my 50 gallon now with only one fish inside it, so bio load should be good!

Just a warning. I may not be understanding correctly but if you are moving the whole filter over you may have a problem with your cycled tank. It is better to just move some of the media over to the filter on your bigger tank.

With just one fish in the big tank the bio-load will be pretty low so some of the bacteria will die off. If you plan on putting it back on the 20 and have more fish in it their bigger bio-load will cause a minI cycle because it no longer has as much bacteria as it did before.

 

This is the beauty of having a cycled tank. You only have to go through a long drawn out cycling process one time. From then on just move media from the cycled tank over to the new tank and with a little care ... instant cycle. It helps if you keep extra media in the cycled tank so as to not disrupt your original cycle by removing too much.

I keep 2 dual sponge filters running in my 55 gallon cycled tank along with 2 HOB filters. Just last week I set up a 15 gallon tank as a grow out tank for my molly fry.

I put 2 dual sponge filters in it. Each one has a new sponge and a seeded sponge from the 55. I just took one sponge off of each of the 2 in the big tank and replaced them with new sponges so they will be ready anytime I need them. I have kept an eye on the perimeters in the 15 gallon and the test tell me I have a fully cycled tank.

Wow that’s awesome, I should have a cycled tank in no time then!

Just a warning. I may not be understanding correctly but if you are moving the whole filter over you may have a problem with your cycled tank. It is better to just move some of the media over to the filter on your bigger tank.

With just one fish in the big tank the bio-load will be pretty low so some of the bacteria will die off. If you plan on putting it back on the 20 and have more fish in it their bigger bio-load will cause a minI cycle because it no longer has as much bacteria as it did before.

Yes I thought of that. Instead of moving the whole filter I just took some cycled media and put it in my 50 gallon filter

 

Great!!!! That should work out very well.

 

Great!!!! That should work out very well.

Thanks again mattgirl / everyone

I am cycleing a new tank (50 gallon) with a bunch of plants and just one flame dwarf
Reading show
Ammonia .1ppm
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0


Currently in my 20 Gallon I have
Ammonia0
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Small stock
5 cobra guppies
2 BN Pleco
1 Mrystry snail
3 cherry shrimp

I was wondering if I added my 20 gallon filter to the 50 gallon tank will that help my tank cycle faster?