15 Gallon Tank Swapping filter betta fish troubles

So I might be overthinking this but I started with a 52L (15ish gallon) community tank with my betta and 8 cardinal tetras and it has been established for about a month now but recently my betta started having issues with the tetras and chasing them flaring ect, so I moved him to his own 30L tank and i moved the established filter over to the small tank and put a new filter in the 52L, my question is would there be enough BB in the 52L on the decor and plants ect, to recolonise in the new filter media semi quickly or would I need my old established filter in there with it

 

How long has the 52l been running?

 

How long has the 52l been running?

About a month fully cycled, I cycled it for 6 weeks adding 2ppm of ammonia every time it reached 0 so 2 and a half months since I first set up the tank

 

So the tank is not long established. One of the 2 tanks will more than likely have to recycle.
Welcome to Fishlore Btw.

 

So the tank is not long established. One of the 2 tanks will more than likely have to recycle.
Welcome to Fishlore Btw.

Thanks , so there wouldn’t be enough BB in the tank as is u think?
What if I just ran the old established filter in the 52l for a week or 2 with the new filter would that give it enough BB so I could put the old filter in the 30L

 

What would the 30l have in between? Risky IMO.

 

What would the 30l have in between? Risky IMO.

I have a spare hang on the back filter

 

So still 1 tank recycling

 

I have a spare hang on the back filter

So still 1 tank recycling

Well how long would it take for enough bb to go into the new filter if I had the old filter running with it in the same tank? Then could I not just take the old filter back out and into the 30L?

 

It takes pretty much around a month or more to get a filter cycled good to seed another tank. If you took that filter and moved it to another tank it may be fine but the tank you took it from will be kind of starting from scratch. If that was the only filter in that tank.

 

Darn ok that’s kind of a bummer cycling is such a pain.
Do u think it would take just as long if I just left the 52l as is with the new filter and the 8 cardinals doing regular water changes?

 

Gonna take just as long with one tank either way.

 

Gonna take just as long with one tank either way.

Ah ok im just going to leave the 52L as is and hope it cycles quickish so my tetras dont suffer, I’ll keep up the regular large water changes though

 

Since the 52 liter tank was cycled enough to process 2ppm ammonia before adding fish and it has been running for 2.5 months I have to think there is enough bacteria on everything in the tank to seed the new filter. I would move the old filter to the new tank and put a new filter on the original tank. Of course I would keep an eye on the numbers but I suspect both tanks will be fine 'specially since the bio-loads in both are very low. The original tank may experience a mini-cycle but it shouldn't last over a day or so. Just watch the numbers in both tanks and do water changes as needed.

I know it is said that the most bacteria is going to be on the filter media and removing/replacing it can crash a cycle. That isn't always true. In my humble opinion and from experience I know there is also a great deal of it on every surface in our tank. For years I used the cartridges in my filters. That was before I joined this forum and learned of a better way. Once they started clogging up I would take them to the kitchen sink and clean them with hot running water. By doing so I could use them a little while longer. Soon though the carbon clogged them up so much water would no longer flow through them. At that point I would replace the cartridge. Never did replacing the cartridge affect the cycle in my tanks. The bacteria in the tank was still hard at work.

Bacteria is some very tough resilient stuff. Once we have grown it it is going to take something pretty drastic to affect it. Think about the virus we are all having to deal with right now. The invisible world of bacteria and viruses are strong and often very difficult to kill off. It multiplies so quickly. If there is any in a tank it is going to multiply very quickly and keep going until it consumes all the food available to it. In this case I have to think there will be enough bacteria left in the bigger tank after removing the original filter to handle the bio-load of a few neons.

 

Thanks for all the help yeah im just going to leave it and watch hopefully the tetras are hardy enough to survive a mini cycle, i was planning to put a female dwarf gourami in that tank with the tetras but I think I’ll just leave it for a couple months now

 

Since the 52 liter tank was cycled enough to process 2ppm ammonia before adding fish and it has been running for 2.5 months I have to think there is enough bacteria on everything in the tank to seed the new filter. I would move the old filter to the new tank and put a new filter on the original tank. Of course I would keep an eye on the numbers but I suspect both tanks will be fine 'specially since the bio-loads in both are very low. The original tank may experience a mini-cycle but it shouldn't last over a day or so. Just watch the numbers in both tanks and do water changes as needed.

I know it is said that the most bacteria is going to be on the filter media and removing/replacing it can crash a cycle. That isn't always true. In my humble opinion and from experience I know there is also a great deal of it on every surface in our tank. For years I used the cartridges in my filters. That was before I joined this forum and learned of a better way. Once they started clogging up I would take them to the kitchen sink and clean them with hot running water. By doing so I could use them a little while longer. Soon though the carbon clogged them up so much water would no longer flow through them. At that point I would replace the cartridge. Never did replacing the cartridge affect the cycle in my tanks. The bacteria in the tank was still hard at work.

Bacteria is some very tough resilient stuff. Once we have grown it it is going to take something pretty drastic to affect it. Think about the virus we are all having to deal with right now. The invisible world of bacteria and viruses are strong and often very difficult to kill off. It multiplies so quickly. If there is any in a tank it is going to multiply very quickly and keep going until it consumes all the food available to it. In this case I have to think there will be enough bacteria left in the bigger tank after removing the original filter to handle the bio-load of a few neons.

How long do u think i should wait before adding somemore fish to the 52L?

 

Did the fish survive the mini cycle? Always add fish slow and keep an eye on parameters.

 

Did the fish survive the mini cycle? Always add fish slow and keep an eye on parameters.

Yeah theyre all good They’ve been a little stressed from all the changes though but their starting to settle down now i havent even noticed any ammonia spikes but then iv only been testing once a day, im pretty sure the 30L is also cycled as i havent seen any amo in that tank either , do u think it would be too soon to add a dwarf gourami a week after changing the filters?