new filter

[law_of_inertia]

Hello, I finally got my eheim 2217 and i'm now pretty much ready to fill my new tank.. I will be running the new 2217 along with a mature Jebo 838. And Since its time to replace the filter wool on one of my smaller jebo 835's, i'm going to put that in the eheim while it cycles.. Will these 2 be sufficient to cycle the tank, or will i still need to put in a prawn or some source of ammonia..? Thanks! By the way, the tank is 6 x 2 x 2

[Merrilyn]

It's not the tank that needs to cycle, it's actually the filter, and as you're using a mature Jebo on the tank, the bio colony is already established.

Think of your bio colony like an ant colony. The more food the larger the colony. Take away the food and a lot of the ants will die off. If there's an abundance of food, and only a small ant colony, it will take a few weeks to breed the extra workers to use up all the available food. In the meantime, the food will just pile up.

Your bio colony is just like that, only their food is ammonia produced by the inhabitants of the tank (your fish) and if it builds up too much, it will kill your fish before your bio colony can convert that ammonia into nitrite and then finally nitrate. Lots of fish mean lots of ammonia and you need a big bio colony to convert all that waste.

If you need a big bio colony, so that you can add a tank full of fish all at once, then by all means add a nice stinky prawn to the water, and let it sit for a few weeks while your bio colony grows large.

If you're only going to lightly stock the tank, say four or 6 fish to begin with, then by feeding them lightly and doing regular (three times a week) water changes, your existing mature filter will cope well, especially if you add the used filter medium from your other tank, to the new eheim filter.

[law_of_inertia]

Thanks merrilyn! I had a feeling it would be alright, but i thought i better check with the experts! Thanks again for helping me out. You're a blessing and an absolute guru! :wink: I appreciate your time.