Old filter floss not working?

Hello, I added a second filter floss in my 10 gallon about 3 weeks ago in preparation for a new 40 breeder tank.
I added floss to the 40B on Friday, and dosed with ammonia. The ammonia has not dropped at all. I was under the impression that given a used filter media you were essentially instant cycling the tank. Now I didn’t quite expect that, as I’m taking it from a 10 gallon and moving it to a 40 gallon, however by day 4 I’m surprised the ammonia hasn’t dropped at all? Or are my expectations way off lol.

I only dosed it to about 1ppm because my tank is heavily planted and I’m a little nervous dosing it to 4ppm as I heard it can melt the plants. I figure once the bacteria starts consuming the ammonia I will dose it higher.

I have no problem being patient I know cycles can take a long time I just would think with the used filter it would have kicked in by now...

 

How old was the floss you added to the new tank’s filter? If it was the newer floss then perhaps that’s part of the problem. If you can spare it, take the oldest and nastiest filter media you have and add that instead, maybe even rinse all the other media into the new tank so the gunk (and bacteria) can coat all the surfaces and really get spread around.

I’d give it a week or so to really tell if it’s helping move things along.

 

What was your stocking in the 10g to cycle the filter floss?

I ask because if your filter in the 10g was already cycled, then a ton more beneficial bacterial wont necessarily colonize on the added floss pad. The bio-load is probably not that large to begin with in the 10g and the size of the floss pad I am assuming couldn't be too large, since it was in a filter for a 10g.

That being said, dosing 40 gallons to 1ppm ammonia is a lot larger ammonia load compared to th 10g the floss pad was in before.

It is true that in some instances, you can move cycled media from one tank to another and it is instantly cycled, or at least partially cycled and the BB colonized quickly to fully cycle new tank.

In these instances, a large enough amount of media from a larger tank was transfer over to a smaller tank for example, I can move a fully cycled sponge from one of my larger tanks (55g-75g) over to a temporary quarantine tank (old 20g) tank and more than likely it will keep the 20g cycled.

In your case, you've taken media from a small filter on a small tank and placed it on a tank 4x larger than the one it came from.

Results wont be the same in that situation.

What filter do you have currently on your 40g, and is that tank only stocked with plants and no fish ?

 

Hello, I added a second filter floss in my 10 gallon about 3 weeks ago in preparation for a new 40 breeder tank.
I added floss to the 40B on Friday, and dosed with ammonia. The ammonia has not dropped at all. I was under the impression that given a used filter media you were essentially instant cycling the tank. Now I didn’t quite expect that, as I’m taking it from a 10 gallon and moving it to a 40 gallon, however by day 4 I’m surprised the ammonia hasn’t dropped at all? Or are my expectations way off lol.

I only dosed it to about 1ppm because my tank is heavily planted and I’m a little nervous dosing it to 4ppm as I heard it can melt the plants. I figure once the bacteria starts consuming the ammonia I will dose it higher.

I have no problem being patient I know cycles can take a long time I just would think with the used filter it would have kicked in by now...

In my experience, adding already cycled tank water from other tanks helps me jumpstart the cycle. However if you don’t own any other tanks or don’t have any cycled water, bottled bacteria is helpful. That is if you are cycling the tank with fish food or something along those lines. Not sure if this can help but that’s what I usually do.

 

Islandvic said basically what I was going to say. The amount of bacteria on the media is going to depend on the stocking of the tank you got the media from. It may add a bit of bacteria to help jump start this tank but it is still going to take time and patience to complete the cycle.

 

How old was the floss you added to the new tank’s filter? If it was the newer floss then perhaps that’s part of the problem. If you can spare it, take the oldest and nastiest filter media you have and add that instead, maybe even rinse all the other media into the new tank so the gunk (and bacteria) can coat all the surfaces and really get spread around.

I’d give it a week or so to really tell if it’s helping move things along.

I did use the newer filter floss, so I will return that to the 10 and try the old nasty one. Thanks for the help

 

What was your stocking in the 10g to cycle the filter floss?

I ask because if your filter in the 10g was already cycled, then a ton more beneficial bacterial wont necessarily colonize on the added floss pad. The bio-load is probably not that large to begin with in the 10g and the size of the floss pad I am assuming couldn't be too large, since it was in a filter for a 10g.

That being said, dosing 40 gallons to 1ppm ammonia is a lot larger ammonia load compared to th 10g the floss pad was in before.

It is true that in some instances, you can move cycled media from one tank to another and it is instantly cycled, or at least partially cycled and the BB colonized quickly to fully cycle new tank.

In these instances, a large enough amount of media from a larger tank was transfer over to a smaller tank for example, I can move a fully cycled sponge from one of my larger tanks (55g-75g) over to a temporary quarantine tank (old 20g) tank and more than likely it will keep the 20g cycled.

In your case, you've taken media from a small filter on a small tank and placed it on a tank 4x larger than the one it came from.

Results wont be the same in that situation.

What filter do you have currently on your 40g, and is that tank only stocked with plants and no fish ?

So I am overstocked on the 10, I have 6 Serpae tetras, 3 zebra danios, 3 red eye tetras. However what you said makes total sense that going from a small tank (albeit an overstocked one) to a big one will not produce the same results as going the other way.
On the 40 I have an Aquaclear 70 and a sponge filter. Right now it is only plants as it is brand new and doing a fishless cycle.
I appreciate the info, it didn’t occur to me that the bacteria wouldn’t necessarily colonize on the new floss (which is quite small as you guessed).