cycling new tank w/...??

[maxpain]

i want to start a new 65 gallon tank for juvies. i put a hydro sponge filter(rated for 80 g) in an established 90 gallon discus tank. i also put new media in the ac filter that i plan on transferring to the new ac for the new tank. was planning to keep it in there for 18 days. i do a wc once/week. i wasn't planning on cleaning the filters so to keep all the goodies that's built up. the 90 gallon is a community tank with plants, substrate and driftwood.
1) do you think that is enough time to cycle that sponge filter and ac filter?
2) should i mix water from the 90 gallon with fresh water to fill the new tank?
3) will this work?
i will check water conditions before i add fish of course.
i'm trying to avoid adding any products.
opinions welcome. thanks

[Len]

If there are no fish in the tank you are cycling, just go to the supermarket and buy some pure ammonia. If you add some of the mulm from an established filter or use some of the media from a cycled filter in the new tanks filter and add enough ammonia to get the levels up to 3 or 4 ppm (around a couple tsp per 10 gal). Heating the tank will make it a bit faster. Test regularly and you will soon see that the ammonia is dropping back to zero pretty quick. At this time you will also see that your nitrite levels are spiking. Keep dosing the ammonia and when the nitrites start dropping rapidly, your filter is cycled. Do a massive water change and your ready to add fish. If you have a walmart near you look for the goldex brand of ammoinia. You want a brand that has no other agents or perfumes added to it. Shake it really hard and if it doesn't foam, then your ok.

[discuspaul]

i want to start a new 65 gallon tank for juvies. i put a hydro sponge filter(rated for 80 g) in an established 90 gallon discus tank. i also put new media in the ac filter that i plan on transferring to the new ac for the new tank. was planning to keep it in there for 18 days. i do a wc once/week. i wasn't planning on cleaning the filters so to keep all the goodies that's built up. the 90 gallon is a community tank with plants, substrate and driftwood.
1) do you think that is enough time to cycle that sponge filter and ac filter?
2) should i mix water from the 90 gallon with fresh water to fill the new tank?
3) will this work?
i will check water conditions before i add fish of course.
i'm trying to avoid adding any products.
opinions welcome. thanks

Not quite sure I understand just what you are doing.
If you have now placed a new sponge filter in your established (i.e. cycled) 90 gal tank, and you're planning on running it in there for 18 days, and in addition to that, you've also placed another ac filter that you're also going to run in your existing tank for the same length of time, and then you're going to transfer both over to the new tank, then your 65 gal. should be good to go immediately at that time. Just add fish then, to provide the necessary ammonia to maintain the bio-filtration system you have just placed in the new tank. No need to add any water from your existing tank to the new tank - conditioned tap water will do. Just to be on the safe side, run those filters in your existing tank for 3 weeks instead of 18 days.

[Len]

It will work that way too, but there is only so much biological filtration or bacteria that will grow in his established tank because of the lower levels of ammonia in the water. If he were to start by taking some of the established media and putting it in the new tank and dosing pure ammonia and doing no water changes while cycling, it will cycle faster and he will end up a fully seeded filter giving stronger biological filtration right from the start because the amount of the bacteria you want will be far greater. Once the fish are added the bacteria will reduce based on the amount of ammonia being produced by the fish instead of needing to build up more based on the same. I guess it really depends on if all the fish are going in at once or will be added gradually. Always more than one approach, I just like being able to add larger numbers of fish right from the start.

[ericatdallas]

I agree. I think he should set up his new tank and put mulm in there to get the bacteria going. That way the tank has time to grow the bacteria while he waits for his filters to get up and running.

Not exactly sure how long it takes for a new filter to get populated, but 18 days sounds good. I usually keep an extra filter going at all times for situations like this even though I have no plans to start another tank. You just never know what deals can be found though, so I always want to be prepared to setup another tank if certain fish become available.

The mulm on the established tank will have bacteria on it too... the more surface area he has for growing it out the better. Actually, I would probably use the old filter from the 90G and put it on the new tank (or at least the media). Since the 90G is already cycled it has nitrifying bacteria in every nook and cranny...

[maxpain]

i plan on adding 22 2+" juvies in all at once. wish i would have put the filters in a month ago. well, thanks everyone for your thoughts on this matter. i will apply some of the ideas i've learned here. juvies arrive next week, crossing my fingers. :)

[discuspaul]

That's quite a large bio-load to be adding to that 65 gal. all at once, with a relatively short time frame to adequately colonize your new tank, before you get your 22 juvies. In addition to what you are doing by seeding 2 filters in your existing 90 gal., as well as using the ammonia dosing fishless approach if you choose to do that too, why don't you also see if you can purchase a seeded sponge filter from your juvie discus supplier, and add that initially as well. You can then remove one or more of those filters once you are up and running without problem.