Starting a 15gal while i wait for my 90gal to be setup

jsm11482

What do you think about me setting up my 15gal with substrate, canister filter, plants and cycling it while I piece together my 90gal? I won't have the 90gal ready for at least another month, so I thought I would get a head start with my 15gal.

Question: Is it OK to start the 15 gal cycling and once my 90gal is setup, transfer the substrate, filter, plants to the 90gal to boost the cycling time? If not, can I at least use this tank to grow plants and then transfer them to the 90gal?

girlofgod

it seems that if you used to 15 gal to grow your bacteria and plants, that once it was cycled, you could transfer everything to your 90 gallon and add water and let it run for a week or so and you would be good to go...im not the expert here or anything, but i think if you moved established bacterial colonies from one tank to another that you would be fine....

bri

Lupin

Hi Josh and Bri,
Moving the decors from a 15 gallons(once established) to a 90 gallons tank is ok but there is still a chance of mini cycles.

crazie.eddie

I agree. When you move everything from the 15 gallon, you disturb the benificial bacteria colony, disturb some detritus, and there is a chance you could lose some bacteria when you transfer. Therefore, the tank would mini-cycle. Keep in mind, you need to stock your 15 gallon so you can establish the benificial bacteria. Only decaying plants will produce waste for benificial bacteria to thrive on. Live plants may, but not much (I think).

Since you have a 15 gallon, I would keep that aside as a QT/Hospital tank when you get your 90 gallon setup.

jsm11482

Yes I am planning on using mostly to grow plants. I setup a small CO2 unit on it so we will see if that works. So I should get some fish for it once it completed its cycle in order to keep the levels where they should be? Once I move stuff over to the 90gal I will let it run for at least a couple of weeks - probably longer before adding fish anyway. What type of plants should I get if I am planning on getting Discus eventually?

crazie.eddie

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jsm11482

Thanks I'll check it out. I got the CO2 which is not a professional system, its the one that ferments the CO2 using sugar, "activator" (nothing more than yeast, I thinkg), "stablizer", and water. Who knows if it will work, it should produce similar results since its just pumping CO2 into the water. I will let you know how it works out. I just want to grow plants faster so I thought I would give it a try. I also got a master test kit.

crazie.eddie

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