Cycling new HOB in cycled tank

[Ruud]

Quick question guys, 

I am trying to cycle a new Aquaclear 70 HOB by using it in a cycled tank with a cycled Fluval cannister. How quickly would bacterias settle in the new HOB so I can use it in a new uncycled tank safely? I always see people toss existing filter material in new tanks so thinking this is also a good way to speed up cycling. 

Thanks! 

Ruud

 

[Ben P.]

I do about a week to 10 days.  Haven't had an issue but others may have more info

[lefty o]

3 days is a good start. cant go wrong with longer, but if in a hurry, give it 3.

[Ruud]

Cheers Lefty! I have supporting bacterias from a bottle as well to support so should be good. 

[Lennie]

I would say as long as you can. 

Even when I grab a handful of biomedia from an established tanks and add it directly into the new HOB, it has never been instantly cycled. I tried this 3 times in the tanks where aquasoil leeches ammonia. It took weeks with often water changes and established media to stop reading ammonia.

 

Testing would be a key but I dont think running 3 days would work. I cant see how it would potentially work better than me adding a handful biomedia in the basket where the filter has access to ammonia reading in the tank. 

Squeezing 2 established filter to seed+ using stability+ ghostfeeding until reading 1ish ppm ammonia made me complete cycle for my new sponges around 2-2.5 weeks. By adding it directly do a new tank, you dont even squeeze anything and seed manually. You just expect it to be seeded by time running there 🤔

Edited October 31, 2023 by Lennie

[Guppysnail]

I cheat when I need to do this quick. I take half of the media needed for the new hob from the one on the tank or the canister on the cycled tank. I’m using to jump it. and use half new media. I replace what I took from the one on the seasoned tank with new media. 
 

This works well for me and I only ever see a tiny bit of ammonia and nitrite in the new tank and have never seen any in the tank I stole media from.  
 

This might not be an option for you but in case it is I wanted to share. 

[Galabar]

If you are just waiting for the bacteria to travel through the water column to your new filter, it may be a while, and might not be much less time than a "standard" cycle of a new tank.  In addition, just bringing that cycled HOB to a new tank may not be enough to handle the bioload in the new tank.  Unfortunately, it just takes time.

I've taken media from a canister filter and added it to a new HOB, and dosed with ammonia (to 2ppm).   It still took a week for the ammonia to reach "0" and another several days to a week for the nitrite to reach "0".

That could probably be sped up by adding nitrite at the start (although I'm not sure there is a great source for nitrite available).  I'm not sure that anyone has actually tried adding both ammonia and nitrite at the start for a new aquarium, but it would be interesting (folks, please let us know if you've tried this).

In any case, you are looking at up to 2 weeks to cycle, even when adding media from an established filter.

p.s.  If anyone has been able to achieve an "immediate" cycle, please let us know. 🙂

Edited October 31, 2023 by Galabar

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/31/2023 at 9:51 AM, Ruud said:

I am trying to cycle a new Aquaclear 70 HOB by using it in a cycled tank with a cycled Fluval cannister. How quickly would bacterias settle in the new HOB so I can use it in a new uncycled tank safely? I always see people toss existing filter material in new tanks so thinking this is also a good way to speed up cycling. 

It really depends on what your method is.

First. You can take some of the AC rings and toss those in the canister.  Then, take half new media, half used media to seed your media bag in the AC70.  That alone will seed everything as you need.

[_Eric_]

I’ve done 3 or 4 weeks.  

[Ruud]

On 11/1/2023 at 12:26 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

It really depends on what your method is.

First. You can take some of the AC rings and toss those in the canister.  Then, take half new media, half used media to seed your media bag in the AC70.  That alone will seed everything as you need.

Yup been doing that before as well. It's going to be a combination of running the HOB in an existing tank, use some existing media from other filters and add bacterias from a bottle to get me going. 

Thanks all, I was just interested to understand how fast this could go without putting stress on the fish I need to move. 

[Ben P.]

My normal approach is one of two things.  My preferred method is to set the tank up as I want it, with all new stuff and let it run for as long as it takes.  I feed the tank fishfood in the approximate amount that I think I will be feeding the tank when stocked.  The water will go cloudy after a few days and stay that way for a while.  Suddenly the water will go clear and you're good to go.  Second way is to take a sponge filter out of a established tank and put it in there for about a month, assuming you have other filtration.  I still don't go hog wild with stocking while it's relying on the sponge filter but after a month everything will be good.  Also I only use the large sponge filters.  I don't care that they're not pretty, it's about function.  Again, preferred method is honestly all new stuff for me

[Ruud]

I have a group of L134 coming in by end of next week, could get my hands on them at a very good price though they are tiny. I have a tank cycling for about a week and a half now and adding said HOB which is now running on another tank with half a used sponge, plus i will be adding bacterias. This tank will house a group of 6 Sterbai Corys that will have to move to make room for the 134's. 

[jwcarlson]

An established bacterial colony multiplies very quickly.  Just take some media out of your canister and put in HOB.  Or... Clean out your canister in a bucket and run the HOB in that to suck up all the goodies. 

Next step is to always have a sponge filter running in all your tanks so you've always got a filter when you need it. 🙂

Edited November 2, 2023 by jwcarlson