Cycling new tank with old media? HELP!

[david503bk]

Ok here goes. I just bought a used 210 gallon tank. I have 2 liters of bio max and substrate pro each that has been running in my tank for along time. I am replacing my current set up of 2 xp3's with a sump and new tank.

So my plan is to set up the new tank with 100 gallons of old water from my current setup. Add all aged bio media(4 liters total) to the sump along with 10 gallons of new bio balls. I also have a AC110 with stock aged bio also.

Now here is my main concern. I have 7 dats, 1 14 in armored bichir, 2 6 in royal plecos, 1 8 in fei feng, 2 6 in pbass. My lfs will only baby sit my fish for 1 week. Is this enough time to cycle? How should I add my fish back within that time frame? Will it be ok to add them all in at the same time? I can't afford to lose any of my fish. I spent too much money and time to obtain my fish. Plus my dats can't be replaced. Unfortunatly I only have 1 week to complete my transfer. Please help me.

 

[Lupin]

No need to use the old water. Ditch it and use new water. If I were you, monitor your water parameters daily just to keep everything in order before you go. If you transfer all media you have, adding all those fish shouldn't be an issue at all as there is enough bacteria in there already to cope with your bioload.

 

[david503bk]

Thank you for your quick response. So it is ok to add all 13 fish back in at once? Should I keep goldfish in there so there is something to feed the bio media? Do I wait the full week to bring my fish back or can I bring them back the next day?

 

[Lupin]

Thank you for your quick response. So it is ok to add all 13 fish back in at once? Should I keep goldfish in there so there is something to feed the bio media? Do I wait the full week to bring my fish back or can I bring them back the next day?

Your biomedia should be able to handle your bioload efficiently. The moment you transfer all the media in your new tank, you can add all your fish on the same day. Like I said, just monitor your water parameters and do water changes wherever necessary. I don't advocate using fish for cycling purposes and I doubt your tank will ever get high levels of ammonia and nitrite since your media can handle that load.

 

[david503bk]

Ok. I have done the method you described before, but I only had 3 fish max. Good to hear this works with more fish.

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

I actually had to do similar not to long ago... I switched to my 120 from my first tank (can't remember the size now, about 50g)

I just made sure to run my old filter on the new 120 along with one of my new ones. As well I put in all my old sand, rocks etc.

About two weeks later I switched my old external filter with the other new one.

Worked fine for me...

 

[Ali1]

No need to wait! As stated above, you already have the bacteria needed to breakdown ammonia & nitrites, therefore you should not have any issues. Just switch over the media, switch over the fishes. You may wanna check your pH in your tap water and the pH in your old tank to confirm they are nearly close. You may give them a shock if you place them in 100% new water and find out that your tap water varies in pH compared to your tank water