Would a filter cartridge with carbon have BB?

I am hoping to jump start my cycle. My friend has a well established 50 gallon tank with 10 goldfish. Her filter holds two cartridges (the blue kind with the carbon that comes with the filter.) If I could get one of those from her next time she changes them, would this be an instant cycle? And can one add fish right away when doing this?

 

How big is your tank. Doing what you’re saying should jump start your tank. But not enough to put 10 goldfish at once. Maybe 2 a week for five weeks. Though 10 goldfish need a 100g tank.

 

How big is your tank. Doing what you’re saying should jump start your tank. But not enough to put 10 goldfish at once. Maybe 2 a week for five weeks. Though 10 goldfish need a 100g tank.

It’s a 46 gallon bow front. I’m not getting goldfish. That’s what my friend has. I’d like platys, mollies, swordtails, zebra danios, and maybe an angelfish and small pleco. Not all at once.

 

Then it should work fine. Add the fish slowly. A few at a time. Set up the tank. Get it to the right temp and add the cartridge. Let the filter run for 24hrs add some fish food to the tank. Next day check your water and add the fish. Recheck every day and if needed do a water change.

 

Yes you can had the filter cartridge to your filter, even if you just stuff it into the back of you filer. I would wait at least a week before adding fish. Tests need to read zero nitrite, zero ammonia, but nitrat needs to read somthing between 10 and 20 ppm. You can add fish food to feed the bio bacteria, I would prefer to add grocery store shrimp in a nylon stalking, hung into the tank. I believe that it would be less messy and more effective. but I have never used fish food to cycle a tank.

 

Don't assume your tank is cycled. Add fish slowly over time as suggested. As you start adding fish you should test daily to make sure all is well. If ammonia and or nitrite are present, stop adding fish and do water changes to get them to "safe" levels (below 0.5ppm each). When the cycle has caught up to the bioload from the fish (no ammonia and no nitrite) you can add some more.

In theory, a mature filter pad from a 50g with 10 goldfish should be highly populated with bacteria because your friends tank is quite overstocked (the bacterial colonies grow to the size of the demand).

 

Oh and another thing mollies swordtails and platties are all livebearers. These could very quickly over run your tank. I’d try the later fish first. Start with the danios. For a pleco get a bushy nose. Nothing bigger.

 

Oh and another thing mollies swordtails and platties are all livebearers. These could very quickly over run your tank. I’d try the later fish first. Start with the danios. For a pleco get a bushy nose. Nothing bigger.

Yeah, I only get males of the livebearers. I learned my lesson with the Convicts…

Thank you all for your help. The nice thing about where I live is, we’re 1 1/2 hours in any direction from the nearest place to get fish, so it’s either all at once, or a big gap between smaller amounts at a time. I am taking the “add them slowly” advice to heart, so my tank will have time to adjust between additions. Life is too busy to be making that 3 hour round trip (with time added for shopping and going out to eat) very often. I have two choices for fish. A PetSmart to the east of me, or a little privately owned pet store to the west. I would like to speak with the pet store owner and ask how often she orders, when her orders come in, and compare prices. If the prices are close, I’m all for supporting a small business owner.

 

86 SSinit is correct, that is a lot of live bearing fish, which also means a lot of top dwelling fish, You will have breading aggression non stop and you should not ad an angel fish to this. It will die of stress or from have its fins shredded. Danios are some of the most active fish in the trade, they never stop zipping around the top of the tank, they are also a bad choice with an angel fish.
How about something like this?
top dwellers =
6 Platies
1 angel
mid dwellers =
8 turquoise rainbows, or Odessa barbs, or x-ray tetra, or black neon, or glowlight tetra.
Bottom dwellers =
6-8 corie cats

or something like this?
9 zebra danios
3-4 mixed sex mollies or swords or platies that will reproduce.

6-9 of a mid dwelling schooling fish =
tetras, barbs or rainbowfish...

A dwarf pleco

 

I am hoping to jump start my cycle. My friend has a well established 50 gallon tank with 10 goldfish. Her filter holds two cartridges (the blue kind with the carbon that comes with the filter.) If I could get one of those from her next time she changes them, would this be an instant cycle? And can one add fish right away when doing this?

How long has this filter cartridge been in service? In my experience seeded media always helps jump start the cycle but it still can take weeks to get up to speed.

 

How long has this filter cartridge been in service? In my experience seeded media always helps jump start the cycle but it still can take weeks to get up to speed.

I’m not sure how often she changes or cleans her filter cartridges. That is definitely something to consider.

86 SSinit is correct, that is a lot of live bearing fish, which also means a lot of top dwelling fish, You will have breading aggression non stop

I’ve had all these fish in the past, and will only get males. Although, I hadn’t really thought of the top, middle and bottom dwelling part. That’s all good information to think about as well, thank you. Maybe I’ll go without the angel, although I really do like them. I had one when I was a kid that somehow lasted for a long time in a 10 gallon tank. (Waaaaay back when we put water in the tank, let it sit for a few days, dumped in some fish and they miraculously survived our ignorance.) I guess I’m wanting one for more sentimental reasons. I also have had neon tetras, sword tails and mollies over the years.