240G (2) XP4's and 35G sump new setup questions

[aldiaz33]

I recently bought a used 240G and I need some tips on setting it up. I already have a 270G with two Rena Filstar XP3s, two XP4s and a 35G sump with 10G of bio-balls. All of these filters have established bacteria colonies (this 270G has been setup for over a year and ammonia readings are always zero).

Here are my questions:
1.) If I move 2 of the established canister filters onto the 240G and use half of the bioballs from my existing sump and put them in a new sump on the 240, is my tank going to be automatically cycled?
2.) Can I add fish on day one of filling the tank?
3.) Can I add several fish all at once since the filters are established, or should I stock it slowly?
4.) Should I use some water from the 270G to fill the 240G?

I don't want to lose any fish to an ammonia spike and I want to do this right. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Pix for kicks:

 

[aldiaz33]

bump, anyone?

 

[Knowdafish]

1) No

2) Yes

3) Stock slowly to give the BB time to get FULLY established

4) I would as long as it has no nitrates

 

[puffcrusader696]

1) the filters would be partially cycled but not all the way...

2) NO!!

3) slowly

4) yes

 

[aldiaz33]

Update: If you don't want to read the novel below, moral of the story is that I was able to place an established (cycled) filter on a new tank and add fish pretty much right away.

On 1/13/09 my arowana decided to try to eat one of my clown loaches in my 270G. I heard a splash, looked over and saw the loach in the aros mouth. Luckily I was there to see it and grabbed a net and got the aro to releash the loach.

After only two days of cyling the 240G with my 35G sump (with 50% of the established Bio-balls from another sump), I was forced to put the aro in the 240. I installed the two XP4's that had been running on the 270G onto the 240G and did a 70% water change to bring the ammonia levels down. I had been using market shrimp to bring the ammonia up and it was at around 5 PPM. I removed the rotting market shrimp, did a 70% water change, treated the water with prime and the ammonia was down to zero. Then I placed the aro in the tank.

16" aro added to the new 240G on 1/13/09
Water Parameters:
1/13/08 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 0
1/14/08 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 0
1/15/08 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 0
1/16/08 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 5

Seems like an instant cycle to me! I used bio-balls from an established sump, I used two Rena XP4's that had been running on an established and stable 270G and I took some gravel from that tank as well and added it to the 240G. I can already see a film gathering on the tank bottom (it's bare right now) that I think is the bacteria. If my parameters go nuts, I will post another update. But I think my aro is going to be fine in his new home.

 

[puffcrusader696]

cool glad it worked out

 

[Bosa]

beautiful tank!

 

[aldiaz33]

beautiful tank!

Thanks Bosa! I spent hours buffing out scratches and giving the stand a facelift. It was in pretty bad shape when I bought it, but it came with the 2 XP4's, a wet/dry with a reeflo snapper pump, lights, stand heaters and some plumbing...all for $750, so I couldn't pass it up. I think I got a pretty sweet deal.

 

[aldiaz33]

Update: looks like the tank was not fully cycled. I'm getting Nitrate readings of 20PPM on my API test kit which is fine with me, but on 2/1/08 I had some ammonia readings of .25PPM and it's been steady at .25PPM since then. The only fish in the tank is my 17" silver Aro and I don't overfeed (he gets 2 market shrimp every other day and freeze dried krill on the non-shrimp days). As mentioned before, I have 2 XP4s that were cycled on an established tank and a 35G TruVU TruFlo series Wet/Dry that had some media (bio-balls and mechanical filter floss) taken from an established Wet/Dry.

What gives?

If I just leave the tank as is, will the bacteria population grow out enough to reduce the ammonia levels, or should I do a water change to bring the ammonia levels down?

Since the ammonia reading I am getting is only .25PPM (the lowest reading in the test kit before 0) I'm leaning towards just leaving the tank as is and letting the Nitrogen cycle run it's course. If it jumps up to 1PPM, then I'll do a water change to bring it back down. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[ozpkchris]

Sounds good!