New Old Tank

[pelleeklund]

I have a quick question, just got a tank back that I had lent to my sister who had been running it up until this week. I just set it up and filled it completely with water from my 220. Since all the parts including the filter and gravel have been recently established and because I used already cycled water, would the tank essentially be ready for fish? I probably won't be throwing fish right in, I was just curious. By the way my non-scientific guess is that it would be ready.

 

[Owain4]

I'd say no. More bacteria sticks to the substrate and the filters of aquariums, so if you just added water it would help alot but that wouldnt mean that its an already cycled tank. Cycling has to do with the bacteria in the filters and elsewhere that break down ammonia etc. so that bacteria has to have some time to grow. It would be the same as having a new tank, unless your filters were seeded with used filters or just the old filters weren't cleaned or replaced. It will probably speed up the cycle alot but it will still have to cycle normally.

 

[C L O W N K N I F E]

I would say its cycled and ready if you used the water from your 220 as well as the old gravel and filter

 

[spadoc79]

ive done something similar several times before and never had any problems.

 

[pelleeklund]

Awesome. Owain I would have agreed that it would have taken a bit longer if I hadn't just used the filter media my sis had in there. I know those pads are a huge piece of the puzzle when cycling. I would have bought new ones too, just didn't have the patience to wait until tomorrow after I got the tank home around 8:30pm. As a matter of fact it was the used pads that got me thinking about cycling to begin with, I used the water in hopes to speed it up but after I re-used the media I got to the question of whether any cycling was necessary. I figured I would throw it out to MFK members before I assumed anything though, so I appreciate all of your answers.

 

[Owain4]

well i assume she didnt clean the filters and substrate spotless even if you did throw out the filters im sure there is still a trace of bacteria already established in the tank.