Ammonia and Nitrite

[n-e-w-land]

Hi,
I have just recently setup my 160 gallon tank transferring some seeded media over to the new filter and alot of the fish from my old tank. I have just tested the water and their is a reading of both ammonia and nitrite. So I was going to transfer the whole of my established filter on the other tank to the new tank as well as doing a water change. Would this potentially end this nightmare?

Thanks.

 

[Lupin]

There wasn't enough beneficial bacteria to cope with the bioload produced by your stocks. Transfer the whole filter and then do water changes as necessary.

 

[n-e-w-land]

I've just done what you said. The bacteria won't have died during the move will it? There was no water in the filter for about 2 minutes and no water movement through the filter for 2 hours!

Thanks for your help