Keeping bb alive

[Chiasmus]

I’m about to buy a 90 gallon tank running on a canister filter. The guy selling it had a 14” pleco in there until today. I’m not getting the pleco but wanting to keep the beneficial bacteria alive. We’ll probably have a week before the tank is setup because we’re wanting to paint the stand first. Could I run the canister in a bucket and/or the gravel with a bubbler and keep it alive until then? Any other suggestions? My experience until today is mainly a 3 gallon nano with shrimp. Thanks! 

[Cory]

You could run it in a bucket. However I'd say a good cleaning of the canister is what I'd do then let it sit empty. Setup the tank again, the gravel will have some bacterial, and let the tank establish itself as you normally would. Bacteria is abou the easiest thing to establish in a tank, getting everything stable, some algae growing and different strains of hardy bacteria takes time and won't survive a move like this.

[Chiasmus]

Thank you so much for your insight. I’ll try that then. I was planning on doing a planted tank running on sponge filters and eventually adding honey gouramis, cherry barbs, green neons, and otos. I’m not in a hurry to add the fish. Do you think sponge filters or the canister or both would be best for these fish since either way I’d be starting over? I was leaning toward just sponge filters for lower flow until I got this tank that already had the canister. 

[Chiasmus]

I’d still appreciate any advice about the best filter for those types of fish, but the 90 gallon fell through. I went with cash in hand only to discover that there was a half dollar sized chip in the glass right in the corner by the seal that the seller hadn’t disclosed, and other areas where the plastic edges were cracked. Back to the tank hunt! 

[Bill]

Hi @Chiasmus, I have no experience with plecos or larger fish, but you may want to look at a Sunsun 304b (and check out Ben Ochart's YouTube channel). They're around $100. I'd consider that for a 90 gallon, and have one on my 53 (my smaller tanks have Fluval 07 filters). The 304b has a large tray capacity for lots of bio media. For larger tanks I know some people like the Fluval FX filters. No matter which one you go with, check out Pondguru's youtube "pimp my filter" series for optimizing a variety of poplar filters. Good luck!

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by Bill