Seeding a new tank?...

I have a 3 gallon and a 10 gallon that are cycled and healthy freshwater community tanks. I'm expanding, bc as seems to be the case usually fish keeping is addictive! I have a 20 gallon and a 50 gallon that I want to get ready and cycle. My question is if I save used cartridges from my 3 and 10 gallon filters, will that suffice to seed my new tanks with good bacteria and if so how do I store the cartridges and how do I use them in the new tanks? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!!

 

Do you have to store the cartridges? Are you taking the small tanks down before setting up the new ones? Because the cartridges have to stay wet....and just keeping them in tank water won't help because the BB would die off.

If it were me, I would keep those cartridges running on the cycled tanks all the way up until the time you plan to put them in the new tanks. And if you ARE taking down the small tanks, then just move the whole filter over! No need to just move the cartridges in that case! If you are NOT taking the others down, then be careful not to lose the cycles on those tanks by removing all of their media....

 

You could just cut out the floss on those old cartridges and place it behind the new cartridges to seed them. Just monitor your water parameters for the next several days for any spikes.

Edit: Ninja'd!! Yup, as bizaliz3 said, you can also just move the filters over if they fit on the new tanks.

 

Welcome to the forum and glad you joined us. Alison

 

I plan on keeping all of the tanks going, and thank you all for the quick replies! I was afraid that they couldn't be saved for any length of time and as you said bizaliz3, the bacteria will die off I cannot keep them in the tanks until time to use them bc they needed replacing. I suppose when time comes I'll just use the most recent ones when I change them out. The filets will be didn't sizes so I cannot just put them in the other fleet that's why I was asking how to use them?.... I bought a Fluval 40-70 gal aqua-clear power filter for the 50 gal. And I have a Nat Geo IFS20 internal power filter for the 20 gal. The 3 gal. has a 3-5 gal Marineland penguin filter and the 10 gal has a top fin 10 internal filter as well as a 20 gal. Marineland penguin bio-wheel filter. So ALL the media's are different. I was thinking about burying a cartridge under the sand for a while in the 20 gal. Or maybe using soon of the media in one of those mesh bags and just have it float about. Does that sound good?

Ooh and thank you for the warm welcome aliray!!

 

Your welcome

 

Welcome. You have an acute case of MTS = multiple tank syndrome! Great!
Any chance you could run a new filter on the 10 gallon for a month, along with your current filter? Then it will at least have some beneficial bacteria in it. I don't know much about HOB filters, but do you have space to add a small bag of matrix or other biological media to your 20 gal filter which you could then move over to another tank?

 

Yes I believe I could do either of those things!

Yes I believe I could do either of those things!

That's a good idea, ty

That's a good idea, ty

Lol as you can tell I'm still trying to figure out how to properly post

 

I plan on keeping all of the tanks going, and thank you all for the quick replies! I was afraid that they couldn't be saved for any length of time and as you said bizaliz3, the bacteria will die off I cannot keep them in the tanks until time to use them bc they needed replacing. I suppose when time comes I'll just use the most recent ones when I change them out. The filets will be didn't sizes so I cannot just put them in the other fleet that's why I was asking how to use them?.... I bought a Fluval 40-70 gal aqua-clear power filter for the 50 gal. And I have a Nat Geo IFS20 internal power filter for the 20 gal. The 3 gal. has a 3-5 gal Marineland penguin filter and the 10 gal has a top fin 10 internal filter as well as a 20 gal. Marineland penguin bio-wheel filter. So ALL the media's are different. I was thinking about burying a cartridge under the sand for a while in the 20 gal. Or maybe using soon of the media in one of those mesh bags and just have it float about. Does that sound good?

I am not the smartest when it comes to all the scientific cycling stuff....but I THINK that floating it in the water isn't going to help. Even if there are fish to keep BB in the tank. because I think it has to have water running through it....like it does in the filter itself....I could be wrong though. Someone else might be able to explain that better.

AS far as different sized cartridges, you can cut the floss and stuff off of the plastic cartridge and shove it into another filter. That way it can fit any filter.

ALSO, for the record, those cartridges really don't need to be replaced until they start falling apart. You just have to put them in a bucket of tank water and scrub them off really good with your fingers every once in a while. it can be pretty nasty gross, but it saves a lot of money!

Welcome. You have an acute case of MTS = multiple tank syndrome! Great!
Any chance you could run a new filter on the 10 gallon for a month, along with your current filter? Then it will at least have some beneficial bacteria in it. I don't know much about HOB filters, but do you have space to add a small bag of matrix or other biological media to your 20 gal filter which you could then move over to another tank?

Great suggestions! I didn't know if the OP had the time to seed a new filter.

Gingerbaby9 if you have time to spare, I agree with Mom2some ! Put the filter(s) you plan to use on the new tanks on one of your established tanks for a while. A few weeks to a month or more. You might have trouble fitting 3 filters on your 10 gallon though. So that is where the suggestion to squeeze some bio-balls into one of the HOBs can be helpful.

If you can fit your new fluval filter that you got for your 50 gallon on your 10 gallon (alongside the current filter), that would be the best. Those filters use bio balls. So once that new filter gets good and seeded you can put it on the 50 gallon and take a few of those bio balls out and put them in the filter for the new 20 gallon.

if you can't fit the filter on the 10 gallon with it's current filter, Then see if you can squeeze as many of the bio balls from that new filter into one of the established HOBs for a few weeks.