Tank cycling with sponge filter

[AusPleco]

I know alot of people here use just sponge filters on their breeding tanks therefor i would i figured i would ask my question here.

I set up a 2ft shrimp tank today and have taken my large aquaone sponge filter out of bristlenose breeding tank which has been in there for about a month. I also added a quarter of the tanks water from the bristlenose grow out tank into the shrimp tank and rest was tap water.

So how long roughly would i be looking at the tank to cycle with the sponge as only filtration

 

[bigbird]

i personally would wait 2-3weeks. thats just me. But your other filter should be partially cycled with bacteria. Water holds none or a small amount only.
cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Lornek8]

Shouldn't have to wait as the filter should be pretty well established.
Waiting a couple of weeks without doing anything else would simply kill any bacteria established in the sponge. Just be careful of the stocking at first and also watch the BN tank as well due to the loss of filtration capacity.

 

[AusPleco]

I went to LFS to price their pumps and walked out with a hailea internal filter so i returned the sponge to the bn breeding tank, when i took the sponge out it would have still had 2 large sponge filters and 3 canisters running on it lol, an Aquaone 1000, Aqua Nova 800 and Aqua one Aquis 1200. the 1200 i am running in there to build up bacteria before i transfer it to my 4 ft for cycling.

Figure that if i run the 1200 with the breeding tank for a month i should have sufficient bacteria to transfer to the empty 4ft and cycle for a week before transfering the aqua one 1000 also and then the bristlenose

Thats my aim anyway

 

[Lornek8]

One thing you need to remember is that bacteria in filters is a living organism. It will only grow a colony as large as what the food source can maintain. Thus whether you have 1 large filter or 100 smaller filters, the total bacteria contained in all the filters will be the same. Thus if you remove a filter, there will always be an impact to the system but with more filters running the overall impact will be less.

In addition, as the filter bacteria is living, depriving them of food by running an established filter on an empty tank really does nothing for the tank overall. It basically negates the benefit of utilizing a pre-cycled filter.

 

[AusPleco]

So what would you suggest would be the best way to utilise the filter in cycling my 4 ft tank. I generally just run an unestablished filter with sea checm stability for a few weeks and add a cheap fish or food to generate the ammonia however i dont have an unestablished filter lol therfor do not wish for my filters to recycle due to a loss of bacteria.
.
What would happen if i was to transfer all of the water out of the 3 ft foot tank and put it in the 4 ft so basically everything is the same however just in a new tank ? In theory (with no science) it would pretty much be fine would it not?
.
The other thing i want to ask to as i have heard different things is whether most people fill their tank full or have it low water? I know the greater the water level distributes and lessens the impact of ammonia spikes and what not due to the greater volume, however i am not convinced that plecos breed in shallow tanks better than full however this is because i have not attempted it myself, although my 3ft tank is only 60-70% full.

Thanks

 

[Lornek8]

So what would you suggest would be the best way to utilise the filter in cycling my 4 ft tank. I generally just run an unestablished filter with sea checm stability for a few weeks and add a cheap fish or food to generate the ammonia however i dont have an unestablished filter lol therfor do not wish for my filters to recycle due to a loss of bacteria.
.
What would happen if i was to transfer all of the water out of the 3 ft foot tank and put it in the 4 ft so basically everything is the same however just in a new tank ? In theory (with no science) it would pretty much be fine would it not?
.
The other thing i want to ask to as i have heard different things is whether most people fill their tank full or have it low water? I know the greater the water level distributes and lessens the impact of ammonia spikes and what not due to the greater volume, however i am not convinced that plecos breed in shallow tanks better than full however this is because i have not attempted it myself, although my 3ft tank is only 60-70% full.

Thanks

#1 Biggest misconception & the cause of all confusion, filters cycle, tanks don't. When you "cycle" a tank what you're really trying to do is cycle the filter(s). If you use an established filter the cycling is essentially done. You could setup a new tank with 100% new water (declorinated & heated), add an established filter & fish & away you go. The stocking should be light at first (refer to my previous post about filters only having as much capacity as the percent of the fish load they supported) but there isn't anything magical that needs to happen to the water to support fish.

You could take everything out of the 3ft tank & put it into the 4ft tank, add more water & be good to go. You're really not changing anything as long as the stocking stays the same.

My recommendation would be to use the filter, stock the tank lightly and simply keep an eye on the levels.

 

[AusPleco]

Yeah, Well it would be my adult male amd 3 adult females going in there no fry as i put them all in mt aquaone AR850.