question about cycling tank with old filter media?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
First, relax....
Keep an eye on ammonia levels and WC as needed.
Treat the tank as a new cycle with fish and forget about the media from the cycled tank.
You should have a shorter cycle time, but you might not.
Just because you used some media from a cycled tank dosen`t guarantee a short cycle time.
It certainly should help, but how much is the question.
Too many variables for anyone to give you any time frame.
Your water quality will be your gauge.
 
im trying to think of a way to explain how bio works in an aquarium. the way i see it and the way others see it are different but have the ultimate same goal. if you take fish and put them in a new tank, new water, treated for chlorine of course and temps are fine the fish will live like they are supposed to. as soon as there is food added to the water some eaten, some digested and excreted, the water parameters change. living things such as plants, in most of our cases ben bac use this to feed on and grow. the bb will only grow to the level of waste in the water. also if theres more waste than bb it will take time for the bb to catch up to the level of waste in the water and thats what we call trying to cycling the tank. basicly we want to add more bb from another source wich you have done to the new tank. it will either be too much wich is what you are looking for, or too lil and thats what i think your seeing. if you add say 10 ppm of bb and theres only enough waste to support 7 ppm the 3ppm will die off until the waste reaches the level required. still feel like im writing a paper for college right now and ive had a few cocktails so forgive me.... anyways, if your waste is say 20 ppm and you only add 10 ppm of bb you will see spikes on your test until your bacteria has time to grow and catch up.
if any of that made sence, awsome! if i was a ramblind drunk that has absolutely no clue what im talking about pleaseeeeeee make fun of me! ill wake up and say omg did i really just say that?

heres a quik example.. i set up a pond, it had been running for 5 weeks with just a pump. it was cloudy as hell, couple of goldfish just swimming in there and 2 turtles. i finally got around to building a filter. it ran for 1 week straight. it was only bio... pond stayed filthy. i day i did a complete water change on 1 of my tanks and had to completely clean 1 of my canisters. i poured the entire canister into my pond and rung out the sponges as well. the next day i came out and my pond was crystal clear. my bb from my loaded canister found a new home in my newly made filter for the pond. ok om finished for now and im making another drink. mfk is awsome ! i almost just pushed delete but here i go im pushing post.. lollllllll
 
well guys its cycled, i added a spare cannister filter that was on another established tank, when i added the filter it was on 0.50 ammonia and slight nitrites, 24 hours later it was on 0.25, 0 nitrites with a slight show of nitrates, and this morning we have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 5-10 nitrates, think it took about 6 days in total, so apart from the innitial panic cos iv always cycled my tanks the long way, this is definately the way il be doing it from now on. thanks for the help guys
 
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