How long for beneficial bacteria to colonize new filter?

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Longimanus

Longimanus

Candiru
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2009
405
19
48
BC, Canada
My sister has an Aquaclear 110 that she is giving to me for my new 90 gallon. She currently has it on her 75 but the flow is too much for her community fish. I'm buying her a new Aquaclear 70 tomorrow in exchange for it.

So my question is, how long does the AC 70 need to run on her tank before I can take the 110 off and bring it to my house? She also has a Fluval 304 cannister filter that will keep running. Since she has that, will it be okay to just take the 110 off right away when we put the 70 on?

The 110 has been on her tank for years, it should pretty much give me a cycled tank right away right? I will also be using a brand new Rena XP4, but I've put the Chem Stars under the foam pad of my AC70 on my smaller tank to get some BB on them.
 
Putting a cycled filter on a uncycled tank does not = a cycled tank. But it is a good start. The bacteria will still have to colonize the tank. If you are going to do a fishless cycle it should not take more than a couple weeks with that cycled filter on there. Or you could just start off with a few fish and build up over time. As the tank colonizes. If you want to go ahead and fully stock the tank, I recommend adding a bottle of aqua safe safe start after the fish have been in the tank for a day. And then just monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels. i have been using that safe start for a few months on 3 different tanks and i have never seen a ammonia spike but the nitrites will raise for a few weeks and have to be controlled with water changes. Once the nitrite gets up around .5ppm or more do a 50% water change each time.----------good luck
 
I put used filter media in my brand new Aquaclear 70 on my 37 gallon tank and had zero cycle. There was a bit of old tank water and some wood, plants and ornaments too but I'm not sure how much of a difference that made.

Sixteen fish went in there right away (not on purpose, they came with the tank) and there was never an ammonia or nitrite spike, they have been zero since I set it up. So it is possible. I will be adding a bit of driftwood from old tank, probably ten or more gallons of old tank water with filter sponge squeezed into it for good measure as well. As well as the bio stars for my new canister filter are currently sitting under the sponge on my AC 70 on my 37 gallon to build up some bacteria as well.


But I was thinking, switching her 110 for a brand new filter, isn't it the same as if she cleaned out the filter? Like I said, she does have a canister filter running too. But, she could also take some of the media from the old Aquaclear and put it in the new one, would that help? I was hoping to get the 110 off of her this Sunday.
 
sxdtlzd1234;2978195; said:
怎么发贴子呢，我是在中国的鱼友
Click to expand...

Thank you for replying, but I'm sorry I cannot read that.:)
 
I haven't started too many tanks, but I would think if her tank is only 75G & runs a big HOB plus a XP4, you could just swap anytime. Right? Cuz the XP4 is plenty big for the whole 75G & there's a lot of bacteria on decor. I hope one of the big dogs around here will weigh in on this. You got me curious...
 
She has a Fluval 304 on her tank, I have a new XP4:)

But I still am thinking the 304 has enough beneficial bacteria to hold the tank while the new filter colonizes. But I could be wrong, so I hope I get more opinions!
 
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