The 150 gal move

[Iffrat]

i really would have figured more people would have chimed in on this one... but i guess i will leave it on there for a few days and see what happens .. but since i put everything from the old tank into this one i dont think its going to take months to get the new filter ready

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

If you want to have less worries about a tank cycle then wait 1+ months.

4-6 weeks is about average for the amount of time it takes bacteria to colonize a bio filter fully to support a medium sized stock level. (3-4ppm ammonia per 24hrs)

But if your old tank was run soley on the old canister before. Then it will more than likely go thru a mini cycle even if you waited 6 months to remove it.

Your going to get some bacteria growth in the fx5 no matter what. But if the old canister was handling the full bio load by its self before. And its now being used on the same bio load. Then the new media in the fx5 will not have a huge food source until the old cycled filter is removed. And then once the old is removed the influx of food (ammonia) will be seen as a mini cycle.

I would guess that if you waited 4 weeks you would then have a 3-4 day mini cycle. And that is just a guess based on what I have seen with my tanks. In my situation I went from a canister to a sump on a 125g. And a few hob's to a sump on another 125.

 

[12 Volt Man]

if you just transferred the old tank to the new one and simply added a second filter, you only need a few weeks for the new filter to become seeded properly, because you have tons of bacteria in your gravel too. the old filter will handle the load just like it did on the old tank.

you shouldn't see any mini cycle at all.

however, if you let the gravel dry out, then you lost all that bacteria.

how long did the transfer take? if it was right away, you should have no issues.

two weeks or so of the new filter being seeded with all the bacteria from the old filter and gravel should be all that is needed. but you can monitor ammnonia and nitrite levels to be sure (they should remain at zero)

cycling a brand new tank from scratch takes about 36-38 days classically, but with all the media and existing gravel kept wet and healty, this is not a new set up..

 

[Iffrat]

if you just transferred the old tank to the new one and simply added a second filter, you only need a few weeks for the new filter to become seeded properly, because you have tons of bacteria in your gravel too. the old filter will handle the load just like it did on the old tank.

you shouldn't see any mini cycle at all.

however, if you let the gravel dry out, then you lost all that bacteria.

how long did the transfer take? if it was right away, you should have no issues.

two weeks or so of the new filter being seeded with all the bacteria from the old filter and gravel should be all that is needed. but you can monitor ammnonia and nitrite levels to be sure (they should remain at zero)

cycling a brand new tank from scratch takes about 36-38 days classically, but with all the media and existing gravel kept wet and healty, this is not a new set up..

everything wad done in a matter of hrs and there is still about 50 gal of water in the old tank. rocks where in water the whole time so i figured it would be as if i had done a 50% water change and cleaned the filter all in the same day if i had not put the old filter on the new tank.. but since it is almost the 100% same tank .. the only thing new is the Fx5 and a new location i would not think month on months would be necessary for the new filter to get a bio load on it. but then again i have no idea .. and thats why i asked. and since im going to be doing some shifting around with the new filters i wanted to know what would be best.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

if you just transferred the old tank to the new one and simply added a second filter, you only need a few weeks for the new filter to become seeded properly, because you have tons of bacteria in your gravel too. the old filter will handle the load just like it did on the old tank.

you shouldn't see any mini cycle at all.

however, if you let the gravel dry out, then you lost all that bacteria.

how long did the transfer take? if it was right away, you should have no issues.

two weeks or so of the new filter being seeded with all the bacteria from the old filter and gravel should be all that is needed. but you can monitor ammnonia and nitrite levels to be sure (they should remain at zero)

cycling a brand new tank from scratch takes about 36-38 days classically, but with all the media and existing gravel kept wet and healty, this is not a new set up..

Since it is a well known fact that there is no biological bacteria present in the water column.

Please further explain how a new filter with all new media can be seeded by another filter running beside it in the same water column?

The term seeded is when you take media from a fully cycled filter and place it in a new filter. That way the cycled media is mixed with and touchig the new media. So that the bacteria can populate the new media.

Also seeding with substrate is when you take substrate from a cycled tank and place it on top of some new substrate. So the bacteria from the old can colonize the new.


Top the OP if you wanted to seed your new fx5 with some bacteria. I would add some of the old media from the cycled canister to it. OR wash out the cycled media inside the tank while the new filter is running and allow it to suck in all the filter cleanings which contain a high level of biological bacteria. In a sense you have allready partially done this while transfering the substrate. Unless you cleaned the substrate dearing transfer.

Since bacteria grow on surfaces only and can not swim I think it would be highly beneficial to seed the new filter.

 

[12 Volt Man]

Since it is a well known fact that there is no biological bacteria present in the water column.

Please further explain how a new filter with all new media can be seeded by another filter running beside it in the same water column?

because it is wrong that there is 'no bacteria' in the water column.

most of it is on substrate/gravel, tank walls, filter lines etc, but there is always bacteria to some degree in the water coloumn itself. the bacteria are in the system itself. granted, there is very little in the water column itself, but you don't need much to start a new colony - they multiply very quickly in a non-new tank such as this..

I have done what Iffrat has done many times over the years and it works.

granted, its much QUICKER if you were to take some media from the old filter and place it inside the new filter with the new media.

thats the best way to properly seed a new filter.

 

[12 Volt Man]

remember, bacteria are ubiquitos. they are everywhere.

why do you think you can take a brand new tank, brand new water, filter etc.

throw in a few fish and in a month you have a cycled tank full of nitrifying bacteria (a fish in cycle without any old media/water etc of any kind).

the bacteria will colonize the new tank no matter what.

and they will colonize the new filter too

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

I see what you are saying and i guess i could agree that to a very minor extent there has to be some bio bacteria in the water column.

Or atleast some sort of a spore/egg that they release to mutliply in other area's.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

For the next question to the OP

Why not just run both canisters on the 150?
I mean a fx5 filled with media only churns out around 500-550gph. And that will give you a very low 3.0-3.5 turn over rate.

With the right bio media in the fx5 3-3.5x will take care of the bio filter needs. But a 3x turn over will never keep a 150g tank clean.

Just wondering?

 

[12 Volt Man]

^

good idea. you can never overfilter a tank. you can probably pay some excess hydro, but you cant really over filter