cycling a sponge filter

[Neil Groves]

I am setting up a 20g long for breeding purposes and have just placed a sponge filter in my 55G to mature while I build a stand for the new tank, how long do you think it will take for the sponge to cycle so I can place it in my tank and add the new parent fish immediately?

Neil.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I am setting up a 20g long for breeding purposes and have just placed a sponge filter in my 55G to mature while I build a stand for the new tank, how long do you think it will take for the sponge to cycle so I can place it in my tank and add the new parent fish immediately?

A couple of weeks should be fine. If you squeeze out an established sponge, and then soak the new sponge in the "squeezings" for a couple of hours, it greatly speeds up the process.

Whether you can add fish straight away, or not, depends upon a number of factors. I don't really think of "cycling" as a binary concept, where a tank is "cycled" or "not cycled", but as a continuum based upon how much bioload the tank can process without this affecting the inhabitants.

The microbial oxidation of ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3) is an oxygen intensive process and the prime metric for pollution is the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). Generally as long as you have some biological filtration established you can retain water quality if the level of dissolved oxygen always exceeds the BOD.

"Microbe only" systems are much less efficient than "plant/microbe" filtration, so a planted tank will support a larger bioload more quickly, particularly if you have floating plants which aren't CO2 limited. Same applies to a substrate, if you have a substrate then it is a potential site for nitrification.

If you haven't read it Stephan Tanner's (from Swiss Tropicals) article on <"biological filtration">, it is well worth a read.

cheers Darrel

 

[Neil Groves]

Thanks Darrel

As its going to be a breeder tank I am going bare bottom, although I will put as much java moss in as I can grow lol.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know it could get so involved, a very interesting hobby.

Neil.

 

[gerald]

My favorite "trick" is put the new sponge filter inside a jar or plastic container and place filter media and/or gravel (surface layer) from an established tank on top and around the sponge, providing a source population of bacteria to colonize the sponge. The container is also a good place to put aragonite (crushed coral) if you need a little extra GH and KH. Leave the top open for water to enter. I usually keep my sponge filters that way permanently. When you lift the filter out to clean it, the container holds the water so the dirt doesn't fall out of the sponge back into the tank.

 

[Neil Groves]

My favorite "trick" is put the new sponge filter inside a jar or plastic container and place filter media and/or gravel (surface layer) from an established tank on top and around the sponge, providing a source population of bacteria to colonize the sponge. The container is also a good place to put aragonite (crushed coral) if you need a little extra GH and KH. Leave the top open for water to enter. I usually keep my sponge filters that way permanently. When you lift the filter out to clean it, the container holds the water so the dirt doesn't fall out of the sponge back into the tank.

I have set the sponge up with the small air pump in the corner of my 55g functioning as a filter, I am currently building a stand for the new 20g so the sponge can 'cycle' while I am putting that together which will probably be about 3 weeks due to time constraints.

Thanks for the tip Gerald.

Neil

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

As its going to be a breeder tank I am going bare bottom, although I will put as much java moss in as I can grow lol.

You can never have <"too much Java moss">.

Bare bottom is OK if you are really conscientious with cleaning etc, I'm not so I like a thin layer of sand.

cheers Darrel