New Tank

[eklikewhoa]

that might work.

[Chris.d514]

i have tufa rock that was in my tank for 3 weeks and took it out last night on an impulse but it is still wet i could put it back in and it would have almost a month minus 12 hours of so. It has been in some water since i took it out not covered but 3-4" worth.

[eklikewhoa]

Correct, it does take some time to colonize beneficial bacteria a few weeks minimum.

What you could do though is find someone close by and help them clean their filters and score some dirty filter padding.

[LooksLater]

But I just got schooled...Mnemenoi says no, if the decor can't stay there a month or two, not a whole lot of help. But we definitely have dirty filter stuff for you. He says looking for already colonized goods at the fish stores would be better in this small a time frame- you know how petco, etc have wood pieces in their tanks for sale? Something like that would be great. Marimo balls, or plants that are coming out of long-running tanks, etc...those will be easy to find and chock full of good bacteria.

[LooksLater]

How long would it take to colonize? I can put her decor in my tank now if it would start to develop quickly.

Anything that would colonize on it in the time you have would be better than nothing, I'd go ahead and throw it in even if the growth would be minimal...but I agree with ek, getting the filter seasoned with all that yummy bacteria on an already established tank is the best way to go. I'm just hoping that your tank has been running long enough to stabilize itself and do the job. We might have some used filter funk to help you get going on the new tank, remind us when you're over here.

[Chris.d514]

So let the water sit over night after adding before putting filter in?

[eklikewhoa]

If you have a well stocked tank that is stabilized you could get new filters and run them on those tanks prior to start up and once ready and you've added treated water for a night a simple move over of the filter would greatly increase your success

[Chris.d514]

How long would it take to colonize? I can put her decor in my tank now if it would start to develop quickly.

[LooksLater]

old water is just dirty water, though it would be stable it's still dirty water.

+1. Bacteria colonizes on surfaces...substrate, filter media, deco like wood, rocks, etc. Moving some of that over would help much more.

[Chris.d514]

Ok good to know I will start it fresh then and with stability and the filter already started hopefully it should be good to add fish shortly after.

[eklikewhoa]

old water is just dirty water, though it would be stable it's still dirty water.

[Chris.d514]

Would taking 5 gallons of water from my tank and adding it to her's also help at start up?

[LooksLater]

Good call, Chris! You're learning, and like I said-we all were there at some point.

[Chris.d514]

I actually just finished reading his thing on filtration and after talking to ek here I think i should be ok I was just kinda worried with it being overstocked til i get my daughter a new tank here in the next few days. I just started running her filter in my tank as well to start build bacteria in it and turned my filter down as low as it will go. I'm just trying not to mess up too bad since I'm still learning all of this and everyone on here has been a big help with that.

[Totenkampf]

these look pretty affordable and Carl (the owner of the site and companion aquarium maintenace service) swears by their quality at that price:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/SpongeFilter.html