Could I clone a tank this way?

Question

I have a marineland 5 gallon tank that is due for a filter change

if I take the filter out and put it in a marineland 2 gallon tank, can I consider it "good to go" and essentially cycled?

I am only planning on putting a betta in the 2 gallon - so I wont be loading the tank up.

Let me know what you think

Thanks all - Be Well

Tink

Answer 1

if its just for a betta that would be alot of work and not even worth it.....just fill the water up with room temp water.....maybe put airstone or pump of some sort in and your good to go

Answer 2

It takes more then 2 mins for a tank to cycle.  You can jumpstart it by adding the cycled filter to the tank and leting it run for a few days to a few weeks.  Also, add a little of the gravel and water from your cycled tank into the 2 gallon.  If you are unsure if the tank is cycled then you need to test your water.  You can take a water sample to your local pet/fish store and they should be able to test it for you.

Answer 3

No, but it will jumpstart the cycling! The only way to have a good to go cycle is to fill the tank up with already cycled water, and put gravel from an established tank and decorations from an established tank along with the filter. But it does jumpstart the cycling process.

Answer 4

Yes that will work, the tank may not be fully cycled but it will be enough to support a betta untill things settle down.

To clear up some mis-info above. The water does NOT cycle, it's just water, the bacteria live in the filter and on every other solid surface in the tank. Moving the filter will help cycle a new tank, old water is just old water and contains just a few stray bacteria.

Also running a tank with no source of ammonia will not cycle it, and in fact will un-cycle it as the bacteria gradually starve. So if you want to jump start a tank by using an already cycled filter, put some fish in right away.

If you move a big enough filter into a tank it IS possible to instantly cycle the tank in 2 minutes, although you may have some mini-cycle happen if the bacteria quite dont match the fish. But much less than cycling from zero and things will recover quickly as there is an established bacteria population that can multiply quickly to take up the extra load.

Ian

Answer 5

  This depends on the bio load on the tank you are getting the bio media from.  Let's say, for ease of math, that you have a 10 gallon tank, with 10 neons, and 10 cubic inches of mature bio media.  Each cubic inch will provide the biological filtration for one neon, Half the bio media will provide bio filtration for half the bio load, or 5 neons.

  A mature colony of nitrifying bacteria is capable of doubling in 24 hours.  To be on the safe side I always suggest taking no more than 1/3 of the mature bio media to start a new tank, fast the donor tank and receiving tank for 24 hours, and feed lightly for the next week.  Less food means less waste produced, giving your bio media a chance to grow to handle the bio load without any spikes.

  Your water does not cycle.  Your tank does not cycle.  Your biological media cycles.  The last tank I cycled was nearly 5 years ago, only because I did want to time out a fishless cycle, all the rest have been cloned, a couple dozen tanks total.  I break down tanks when it is slow, running extra filters in tanks, and set up tanks as needed, adding water, a cycled filter, and fish right away.