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Old 04-09-2008, 07:53 PM   #11 (permalink)
joephys
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: auburn, wa
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Thats why the forum is here, and nope its not a dumb question at all.

What you want to do is commonly called insta-cycling, and is a great way to get a new tank going with out the wait of cycling. Still need to have a little patients and use a little caution however.

The bacteria grow to levels necessary to consume the amount of ammonia being produced, not to the size of the tank (unless there is physically not enough room because so much is being produced). So basically, using a culture from the 14 gallon is perfectly fine as long as you do it right. If you can get a large culture, then you should be able to add fish right away.

What I would do if I knew I was setting up a new tank, I would get the filter a month ahead of time and let it run on your current tank for a month. If there is too much water movement, just turn the flow rate down. After a month, just move the filter for the new tank over to the new tank, and add one or two fish. Watch for mini cycles for 3-5 days. If you have one, it shouldn't take long for the bacteria to catch up. Then just keep adding 1-3 fish at a time watching for mini cycles until, your stocking is what you want.
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