Seeding filter advice needed

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MultipleTankSyndrome

Giant Snakehead
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Sep 25, 2021
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Loachaholica
When it comes to setting up my 2nd 473 liter, I was planning on doing the following to get it started in terms of fish.

-Quarantine the first new addition(s) for 1 month prior, with a transferrable sponge filter.
-Set up the hang-on-back filters on the 473 with no seeded media, on the day that month ends.
-Transfer the quarantined fish to the 473 with the unseeded hang-on-backs but their existing seeded sponge filter.

Would the beneficial bacteria that will be transferred from the quarantine to the 473 be able to colonize those hang-on-backs from the sponge after a period of time? Or will the beneficial bacteria population crash when the sponge filter is removed, even if a lot of time (several weeks to a month) passes before that happens?

Thanks!
 
Squeeze the QT sponge filter over the media in the HOB to guarantee some of the BB moves to the new media. Move the fish the same day. Wait at least a couple of weeks (or longer if the fish are growing), and then monitor ammonia and nitrite levels of the 473L after removing the sponge. Removing the sponge won't kill your cycle, but it can cause a mini-cycle because there's no guarantee that 100% of the BB in the sponge has moved over to the HOB, even after squeezing it.
 
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Better yet, If the QT sponge filter is already colonized, why not squeeze it now into the HOB of the 2nd 473L and do a fishless cycle while the fish are in QT for 1 month? Dose ammonia up to 2ppm to maintain that cycle in the 473L
 
I would do as Rocksor Rocksor suggests but I would also steal an aged filter insert from an established tank if you have one when you transfer the fish over.
 
Thank you everyone for your input, it will be crucial for me getting things started the right way.

Concerning Rocksor's 2nd suggestion: Appreciated, but I'm always very iffy on fishless cycles since they are so imprecise - given the chance I'll always just take something from an established tank..

fishguy's suggestion is doable, but it is something I will have to take care doing. I don't want to inadvertedly throw out of whack the good bacteria in the 473 liter that used filter insert will be coming from.

Something else entirely came to me eventually, inspired by dogofwar's suggestion. Maybe I could just leave the first sponge filter in the 2nd 473 at all times (in order to keep the cycle reliably), while also keeping 1-2 at all times on standby in the existing 473 in case they are needed in the quarantine tank.
That way, whether or not I use pre-seeded filter inserts from the 1st 473, there will be a reliable base for that good bacteria.

It would go something like this:

-2 weeks or so before I purchase the first fish to be quarantined, I get 2 sponge filters running in the existing 473.
-Once the time comes to get the first fish, I set the quarantine tank up and take 1 sponge filter.
-Once a month passes, proceed as I previously described with moving the sponge filter to the 2nd 473 and permanently running it there, whether or not I also use seeded filter inserts, in order to get that reliable bacteria base.
Meanwhile, there are always sponges on standby for quarantine tanks.
 
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There's no guideline, as far as I know, for the precise amounts of NH3 to add in order to mimic the bioload of a given fish at a given size. Which makes for all that imprecise guesswork I mentioned.
 
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