kickstarting cycle from a cycled tank

[Nothingness]

So I am going to be getting myself a new tank after christmas to put together a sorority. I already have a cycled tank and I know I can just take some of the substrate and place it into the new tank which should transfer some of the BB into it.

so my question is does this just speed up the process a bit and should I still add ammonia to the water and follow proper cycling guidelines? or do I just assume my tank is cycled and put the fish in right away?

[aemaki09]

It wont be cycled right away. This only helps it cycle a little faster. Do you have a testing kit or strips?

[Nothingness]

I have the API master test kit. I did a fish in cycle before and now that i am more experienced I wanna do this right as a fishless cycle. So then I still need to follow the proper procedure of the fishless cycle right?

[aemaki09]

Yes you'll have to do what you would for a fish less cycle. This cuts cycling time down but not completely.
Goodluck with it! When I did this I was able to cycle in about 2 weeks

[shellieca]

Does your current tank have a filter? Are you moving the fish in that tank to the new tank or is this tank in addition to your current tank? I would take the filter media & put it in the filter of the new tank, THAT will pretty much cycle your new tank. Or if you can set up the new filter on the existing tank let it run concurrently with your existing filter for a few weeks then move it to the new tank. Or just put the filter media into your existing filter & let it run. Its the filter media that will make your new tank cycled.

[OrangeAugust]

I just did almost the same thing. I set up a 10 gallon and had an extra filter cartridge running in my 5 gallon. I shoved that in my new filter along with the filter's own bio bag and transferred over all the gravel, and my tank is instantly cycled! Well, my liquid test kid didn't come with a bottle to test nitrates, but ammonia and nitrites have been at 0 since I set it up a week ago. Of course I put my 3 fish in it right away, too, so there was an ammonia source to keep the bacteria alive.

[Nothingness]

I am currently running an intank sponge filter in my 10g with my male veil tail. He will be stayin in that tank as the new one will be for a sorority tank. If I was to remove the sponge from the cycled tank and just move it into the new tank would that mess up the cycle of my 10g? Could I just put some filter sponge into the cycled tank and let it be submerged in there for a while and just move that over or does the sponge require air/water movement to colonize?

I am unable to get to Big Al's before I get my new tank to get another sponge filter to start seeding that in the cycled tank but I have debated on getting those ceramic rings to put inside my sponge filter to seed those and was thinking of just moving those over when I set up the new tank. I tried stuffing the internal core of my sponge filter with filter foam but it messed up the air flow from the pump so i took it out

[aemaki09]

I would just try to add some filter media out of your existing filter in your boys tank - split it in half, add half to the new filter with half new media, and leave half in the boys and put half of a new one in there if possible.
if that isnt an option
you can try to run 2 filters in the cycled tank for a while, or just set the media of the new filter into the cycled tank water for a couple weeks.

[Nothingness]

I am going to be doing a planted tank as well if that makes a difference