Bio filter question please help

[creative]

hi guys, im new to the forums, and had a question about bio media.
i currently have a 55g tank with some community fish in it and my filter is a hagen aquaclear 300.
my neighbor gave me a rena xp2 ? canister filter as he is moving out of the country and does not want to take it with him. he told me i should set it up on my tank along with my aquaclear and just use the rena filter as a bio media filter.
now i know about bio balls, bio max and some other stuff for bio filtration, but my question is this,
can i just set the filter up, add some bio balls and away we go ?
or do i have to do something to them first?
my tank has been running for the past year or so and everything seems ok, but i figure if i want to get some more fish i will probably need some more filtration.
any input on this subject would be a great help.
thank you.

 

[chesterthehero]

welcome!!

as for your question...
it will take some time for the media to get established with the good bacteria... but yeah.. thats prettymuch all their is to it... more filtration is always a good thing.. since your bioload is not going up it may take a while (weeks) for the media in the xp2 to get established.. but it wont be a problem as long as you keep your ac300 (aka ac70.. they renamed them) running...
just make sure your water isint swirling around so much that your plants are getting uprooted/fish constantly have to fight currents.. (i dont think this will be an issue)

id suggest washing out the xp2 as well as any media in it.. bio media dies off pretty quick.. but more than that if he had any "bad stuff" in there you dont want to introduce it into your tank

 

[creative]

well i plan on washing everything down really well,
and he tossed all his media so im going to go buy some new stuff.
i just wanted to know if this would affect my water levels such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
i didnt know if adding more bio media would start a cycle again or not

 

[chesterthehero]

should have no effect on yer cycle status at all since you are not removing any media, only adding to it

 

[creative]

cool !
im kind of a noob with it comes to fish tanks, my bro moved away for school and it was kinda both our tank, but he took care of it and everything heh, now its up to me, so im trying to learn what i can.
im not to familiar with everything yet and was worried about adding stuff to the tank.
thanx so much for the help.

 

[chesterthehero]

no problem.. thats what were all here for... if this site cant answer yer question.. then theres a good chance you dont know whats wrong..