I placed the bio media of one of my aquaclear 110 filters from the new tank over the output of my fluval 2 plus in my 46 gallon, the bio media from the other one I put infront of the output from my aquaclear 50 on my 29 gallon, I thought it wuld b good that way cause water gets pushed through it, my question is how long will it take for bacteria to colonize on the new media so I can move it into my new tank?

anyone?

Moving all the media over should give you a small, if any, cycle. When we moved to a new tank, we moved over the old filter the gravel and (some of) the old water, and we didn't see any noticible cycle at all. Now, that may not be the case all the time, and you should monitor daily (even twice daily) for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates for a while, but if you're moving a bunch of things over from the old tank, I, personally, would not hesitate to move the fish over, and just watch closely for a week or two.

ok, but how long will it take for the bacteria to colonize on the new media, I might also move the cycled cascade 100 filter from my quarantine onto the new tank for awhile while it cycles.

Can you explain the scenario a little better? Sorry if I missed some background. Is this a replacement tank? If so, is everything moving over? Or is it an additional tank? etc.

Since you're cycling that big 'ole tank, I'd suggest a bac starter, assuming you're doing a fishless cycle. I've heard the bigger tanks can take forever and a day (months!) to cycle, so I wouldn't hesitate to get a double start on that cycle:

1. established media

and

2. Turbostart or Bio Spira

I used Turbostart and it definately accelerated the ammonia/nitrite phase...but I had to do too many water changes to get the benefit of the nitrate phase. I'm betting if the Turbostart is left alone with zero water changes, it could do it's thing. I'm going to give it another try on my 125 when I start it back up again...since it will definately be a fishless cycle.

where can I order bio spira or turbostart in canada? All I have right now is stability. Now back to my actual question lol, how long will it take for the bacteria to grow on the new media that I placed in the cycled tanks?

fredct, this is a new tank, Im just moving some ornaments, seeded media and maybe my small cycled cascade 100 filter. There's no fish in this tank yet, although once my new media is seeded I will try and move them over with Snowflake my little white common and see how it goes, I have a seachem stickon ammonia monitor on the tank so that I wont have to test it as often, if this doesnt work out I will move Snowflake out and do a fishless cycle, one more question. I cant find any ammonia here that is safe for fish, only one kind that I dont think is pure ammonia, so if I were to do a fishless cycle I will use food, but what kind of food would work best and how much each day?

It should start colonizing in 1-2 weeks.

Here's the Turbostart website: http://www.fritzpet.com/nitrifying_bacteria_main.html
Here's the Bio Spira website: http://www.marineland.com/products/mllabs/ml_biospira.asp

Email or call them and find out if you don't see the answer on their websites.

I might try putting the media along with my cascade 100 filter, some ornaments and some gravel from my 5 gallon platy tank in the tank tonight as well as one of my little commons and then I might see in the morning if params r still ok or if I need to remove the fish, or I might wait and do this tomorrow I dunno yet. Im gonna try and find some biospira or turbostart somewhere.

Others may disagree, but if you're moving the filters over to the new tank as well as the gravel, etc, you should be bringing over just about all the bacteria that you need. The bacteria in a tank is proportional more to the number and types of fish, not the size of the tank. That's because the bacteria feed on the amount of fish waste, not on the value of water. You're bringing over the majority of the bacteria over, and multiplying a bit more is much less of an issue than establishing the colony in the first place.

Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch the parameters closely (the seachem meter is okay, but those kind of meters are often suspect around here - I'd do at least a daily backup drop tests (two-bottle types) ), but I wouldn't be too hesistant about doing the move. When the bacteria colonize the new filter isnt really that important if there are enough on the old filter to process the waste.

Additional note:
I am speaking from experience. We moved our common goldfish from a 5 to 20 gallon tank, moved over the filter, added a new one, and moved over the river rocks and some water, and never did I see a drop of ammonia or nitrites in twice-daily monitoring. I can't guarantee so smooth for everyone, but the fact is you'd have a major major headstart on a normal cycling process.

I will first move over 1 small not even 2 inch common goldfish with the filter that he has now with a bit of additional stuff. So u think it should b ok to move him over tonight and check the params later this evening and tomorrow morning? I also have a drop test and I was planning on testing with that too, I just wanted the monitor cause it'll make it a bit easier, I wont have to test as much, but I wont rely on it 100%.

I would think so. Again, monitor it closely just as you would if it was a completely fresh cycle. But, dont be surprised if its mild or even less (no guarantees though). If you're more comfortable waiting until the morning so you can keep an eye out all day, feel free. If you also want to wait to see if anyone disagrees with me, I wouldn't blame you either - I often do that .




That sounds sensible to me.

I moved him over last night, i'd say I have a pretty good cycle going, params this morning are ammonia 0, nitrite 0.1, nitrate 12.5. Im going to add some prime later just to detoxify that little bit of nitrite. I will not add any of my other fish until nitrite goes down to zero.