Tank swap question

[ericjc42]

Hey again this is kind of a longer-ish 2 part thing.

I am in day 4ish of my "new" tank's cycle. I am moving my cichlids/Bichirs over from a 46 gal bow front to a 75 gallon. I bought the 75 gal and canister filter second hand. (It was running a Freshwater tank with Peacock Bass in it.) I also put all of my driftwood, rocks and about 1/3 of my gravel from the 46 over. In the process I also put about 8-10 gallons of water from the 46 into the 75. I placed 4x small Anubis and 5x small Java Fern as well.

I have done water tests everyday since. The PH is sitting around 7. Nitrates and Nitrites are at 0. But the ammonia is sitting around .5ppm.
I have also read that moving media over/decor over will speed up the cycle of the tank. Running temp at 83. (I have read through all of the fishless cycle pinned posts)

2 questions:
Any thoughts on how long the tank will take to clear out the ammonia?
If I add more plants, will that help?

Part 2:

Tank Inventory:
2x Blood Parrot (3.5 in)
1x Green Severum (4in)
1x Syndontis (1.5 in)
2x Red Headed Geo (1.5in)
1x Chocolate Cichlid (2in)
2x Bichir 7-9in
2x Nicaraguan Cichlid (1.5 in)

(Plan in the next 6-12 months is to purchase a 125 gal. Space and Money are limited at the moment)

The canister filter I bought is an AquaTop 264 gph (20-75 gal) would it be wise to purchase a sponge filter or some kind of secondary filtration?

Thank you everyone. Any advice is gladly taken.

 

[duanes]

Was the canister running up until you picked it up, or sitting dry. If it was off a while, none of the bacteria in it should be considered viable.
And yes moving any decor, or substrate will help, but not if you've let it sit dry, or stagnant for any length of time.
If using a filter from the 45 and expecting it to maintain the cycle, it should go right from the running old tank to the new with only a few moments lag time. The longer you wait, the less effective it will be.
Using old water really doesn't do anything, all the useful bacteria are a biofilm attached to objects, not floating i the water.
This is why you don't want them to sit and dry out, they need to be in aerated tank water to stay alive.

 

[ericjc42]

All gravel and decor were immediately swapped over. The Canister was closed but hadn't run for a few days. I have some extra sponge I have thrown into my current HOB filters on my 46. If I swap that over into the canister, will that help?

Thank you for your response