Filter seeding

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DB junkie

DB junkie

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Jan 27, 2007
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You have a well established aquarium. You buy a brand new filter or dig a dried up old one out of the closet. How long does it take that new filter to seed after putting it on a well established aquarium?

I want to set up yet another tank. I ordered a few new filters. How long do I have to let them run on the established tank before they are capable of supporting the new tank?

Thanks!!!!
 
Since the tank is established, I am assuming you still have the old filter for it, right? Put the dirty media in the new filter with the new media. There isn't just one answer as far as how long. There are thousands of different types of bacteria that will do the job and at different rates. Other factors that influence the time of maximizing the bacteria population are temperature and available food.
 
OK If I rob the old media won't that crash the established tank?

Or am I better off just dumping boughten bacteria into the new filters?
 
nope. i use bio-wheels and when i set the 150 up i took one wheel off the 75 and switched it with a new one and let it run like that.
 
I use AQ 110s. I guess I'll just filet the foam blocks. From what I read most people just double up the foam anyways.
 
Several weeks... Since you are seeding multiple filters, rinse the old filter material off over each of the new filters (or rinse the old filterr in a bucket of old tank water into which you have placed the new filter materials, take out the old mat.and return it to its filter. Let the new filter mat.s stay in the bucket for a hour or so, the put them in the new filter housings hung on the old tank and run them. The new filters will take longer to cycle because the bio-load has been divided by the amount of new filters +1.

When the filters have cycled put them on the new tank Add fish (the amount you have now divided by the amount of new filters +1) and slowly raise the bio-load.

Or you can do the fishless cycle in the new tank with ammonia and bottled bacteria in about a week (your mileage may vary).

I prefer the first way myself.

Dr Joe

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I should have been clearer.......I will only be running 1 new filter per established tank. I have many tanks. This is the way I got from 1 to many...lol

Several weeks...ouch...I guess I didn't think it took that long.

The fishes will not be happy to hear of this news.

So I guess the wise thing to do is to buy a bunch of AQ 110 sponges and throw them in a sump. That way when new filters arrive they are ready to go.
 
I just went through the same exact thing. I upgraded my old Penguin filters to 2 new Emperors.
I took the old Penguin filters, put them in the Emperors and floated the old BIO-Wheels in the tank for 2 weeks. I would have liked to have left them in a little longer, but I had sold the old Penguins and needed to get them shipped. Water parameters never even twitched.
I just upgraded to a 125 and all I could transfer over (other than the Emperors) were some of the decorations. I also went from gravel to sand so I didn't have the benefit of all the BB the gravel contained.

Cut to the cheese - one week later and my parameters are 0/0/20.
 
DB junkie;707826; said:
I should have been clearer.......I will only be running 1 new filter per established tank. I have many tanks. This is the way I got from 1 to many...lol

Several weeks...ouch...I guess I didn't think it took that long.

The fishes will not be happy to hear of this news.

So I guess the wise thing to do is to buy a bunch of AQ 110 sponges and throw them in a sump. That way when new filters arrive they are ready to go.
Click to expand...


:thumbsup:... Patience is good for the fish, and your wallet too, if they're expensive ones...

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USMC Sniper;707855; said:
I just went through the same exact thing. I upgraded my old Penguin filters to 2 new Emperors.
I took the old Penguin filters, put them in the Emperors and floated the old BIO-Wheels in the tank for 2 weeks. I would have liked to have left them in a little longer, but I had sold the old Penguins and needed to get them shipped. Water parameters never even twitched.
I just upgraded to a 125 and all I could transfer over (other than the Emperors) were some of the decorations. I also went from gravel to sand so I didn't have the benefit of all the BB the gravel contained.

Cut to the cheese - one week later and my parameters are 0/0/20.
Click to expand...

Alright, glad that worked for you...Now go do a W/C to get the nitrates down :ROFL: (I'm never satisfied:grinno: )


(and that's cut to the chase)

Dr Joe

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