Filter seedimg question

[batang_mcdo]

I'm currently trying to seed the filter of my
New pond, i have added one ray into my pond and washed media from
My arowana pond into the new ponds filter chamber, i also washed some media from the rays old ranks filter into the new ponds filtwr and also added 2 old bags of media from the old tanks filter into the pond, yesterday morning , i detected .25 ammonia, but im the afternoon it was gone, i fed the ray this morningamd detected .25 ammoni again. Just curious, will more dirt in old filter mean
More bacteria to seed? Or does the bacteria depend on bio load,?

Planning to wasy
Pleco tank's canister filter tomorrow in my new ponds filter, it should be full of gunk as its been a while already since i
Last cleaned it, will drain all the dirt into my new ponds filter. Will this help to hasten the cycle?

 

[twentyleagues]

While it's probably possible that the "dirt" has bacteria in it I'm thinking you are doing more harm then good. Established media or good bottled bacteria is what you need.

 

[batang_mcdo]

While it's probably possible that the "dirt" has bacteria in it I'm thinking you are doing more harm then good. Established media or good bottled bacteria is what you need.

Thanks i have added 2 bags of media also from
My old ray tank into the new pond, buy I'm
Not able to transfer all the media as i still have 3 rays im the old
Taank which i will alao transfer one by one after im sure new
Pond is cycled.

 

[twentyleagues]

Did you put new media in the filter also? Imo bacteria from the old media will colonize the new. Since I've run sumps I keep extra media in established sumps to use as media in new filters for new tanks. I'll seed sponge filters in my sumps also incase I have to set up a qt tank on the fly. I have also used a couple bottles bacterias that work well too. In all cases I've established a good nitrogen cycle in new tanks almost immediately. Some will say bacteria will only inhabit what they need. I believe bacteria will inhabit all of your media just at a lower density based on available food sources. So in a sump with good flow all the media has bacteria but it may be less populated in certain areas based on available resources. Think of how humans live in high population cities then as you move away from the cities there are still people living in the suburbs and surrounding countryside but the population thins. As you get farther from the point of supply it gets harder to live but not impossible so population thins but it's still populated. So you take any media from a seasoned filter and it will have bacteria on it, you just need to allow for the possibility of a less dense population and therefore slowly rise the available resources for the bacteria to grow the population.

 

[batang_mcdo]

Did you put new media in the filter also? Imo bacteria from the old media will colonize the new. Since I've run sumps I keep extra media in established sumps to use as media in new filters for new tanks. I'll seed sponge filters in my sumps also incase I have to set up a qt tank on the fly. I have also used a couple bottles bacterias that work well too. In all cases I've established a good nitrogen cycle in new tanks almost immediately. Some will say bacteria will only inhabit what they need. I believe bacteria will inhabit all of your media just at a lower density based on available food sources. So in a sump with good flow all the media has bacteria but it may be less populated in certain areas based on available resources. Think of how humans live in high population cities then as you move away from the cities there are still people living in the suburbs and surrounding countryside but the population thins. As you get farther from the point of supply it gets harder to live but not impossible so population thins but it's still populated. So you take any media from a seasoned filter and it will have bacteria on it, you just need to allow for the possibility of a less dense population and therefore slowly rise the available resources for the bacteria to grow the population.

thanks yes , i also moved 2 bags of media into the new pond. I think the media should be arpund 10 kilos. So far the ammonia is staying at .25 ppm.

my problem is my nitrate testers are all
Expired

 

[batang_mcdo]

What is the reading in my ammonia test kit? Is it at 0? Its been steady at this for a few days with my atingray in the pond.

 

[twentyleagues]

I have a very hard time telling the color contrast on that test. Looks .25 to me, but I've been wrong on that so many times. I take a sample of water from any tank I'm concerned about to my lfs and have someone else test it too. I'm usually wrong on my concern about the level of ammonia. For some reason nitrate and most of the others I'm spot on with.

 

[tlindsey]

I suggest after testing if you have white or boned colored sinks pour water from test slowly down the sink. You should see a tint of green if any Ammonia. No Ammonia the color will be yellow .

 

[batang_mcdo]

Was able to borrow another test kit feom a friend here's the ammonia result and nitrate test also . There is 5 ppm nitrate i think? Added a 2nd ray , but will keep a close eye in water parameters , if all goes well , i will move a 3rd ray into the pond this weekend.

 

[batang_mcdo]

also how fast are the bacteria in the filter able to adjust to bio load?
planning to transfer 1 more ray this coming weekend, was thinking if i can get away with transferring 2 more at the same time instead.