adding new canister to mature tank

[ineke]

What is the usual procedure for adding a new canister to an existing established tank when you remove one of the mechanical/biological filters currently in use?????

I have my new canister and I am just cleaning the media (in RO water) ready to put it in. I have new bio balls, noodles, plus microlift noodles-they are impregnated with biological matter -I believe I need to leave them in the canister with water and an air supply to get the bacteria working- some sponges and 2 bags of carbon hopefully activated carbon. I am going to add to this some bio balls, noodles and some sponges cut to smallish pieces to fill in the spaces (not that there is much left in the baskets) from the existing tank over head filter. I will partly fill the canister with water from the tank and once the couple of hours is up letting the bacteria be released from those microlift noodles it will be ready to add to my tank. there is also a 9watt UV light to help.

Now what I am getting to is the over head filter will no longer be used and I am adding an uncycled canister to my tank - the tank has been established for 12 months and will still have the 4 sponge filters running- the tank will have my shrimp in there as it's the community tank and I have no where else to put the shrimp.

will this work ? Is there anything else I need to do? I haven't added a new canister to an existing tank before. It will be well seeded with mature filter media , it is a 1500 LPH on a 200 Litre tank -hope it doesnt blow the babies away!

I do have an idea but not sure if it will work - once I take the filter head of the over head trickle filter out there would be room for the out let tube and spray bar of the new canister to fit inside the overhead workings I think haven't actually tried it yet- this would still have all the old filter material minus what I put into the new canister would it be worth the bother of fitting it to help keep some bacteria alive?

as the tank isn't heavily populated for it's size would the bacteria in there be enough for the shrimp until the new canister is cycled. :help:

[jayc]

You will have Beneficial bacteria all over the tank, air filters and substrate. You should have enough to not need to worry.

Why don't you just dump the old media from the existing filter into the new filter, and run the new filter?

Don't clean the old media. Spread it around in each basket.

You don't need the UV light for this.

Alternatively, run both old and new filter simultaneously for a few weeks, before removing the old overhead filter.

[2OFUS]

I cycle new cannisters in a 20l bucket with some existing tank water and tap water

i also do a little gravel vac into the bucket :)

[ineke]

You will have Beneficial bacteria all over the tank' date=' air filters and substrate. You should have enough to not need to worry.

Why don't you just dump the old media from the existing filter into the new filter, and run the new filter?

Don't clean the old media. Spread it around in each basket.

You don't need the UV light for this.

Alternatively, run both old and new filter simultaneously for a few weeks, before removing the old overhead filter.[/quote']

I have added old media to each basket without washing it I just washed the new media I could take out half the bag of new filter material and and add the rest of the old stuff -there are 2 bags of activated carbon and 2 of noodles plus the extra microlift noodles so I could keep 1 bag of carbon to replace in 6 weeks when you usually replace it.

I can't run both as the lid is a hood type with the front half a light unit and the the separate back half is all filter leaving no room to run pipes. I like the idea of swapping out the new media for the old I will go and do that. i will run the unit with the UV as it is an internal one. There is an option to run it without but I quite like the idea of having it on though I don't think the water will be in the canister long enough for the light to do much good at 1500 LPH.

Thanks Jayc you are a treasure!

[ineke]

I cycle new cannisters in a 20l bucket with some existing tank water and tap water

i also do a little gravel vac into the bucket :)

thanks that sounds like a great idea . I think I will do the full media swap that JayC mentioned as That is the easy way out! I will just watch for any ammonia spikes but the tank should be full of bacteria :encouragement:

[Squiggle]

Both ideas are very effective & would recommend both, but, as jayc said, you have so much biofiltration in the tank with the sponge filters there should be no problem as they will seed the new filter. :encouragement:

[jayc]

Thanks Jayc you are a treasure!

You're welcome.

[ineke]

Filter up and running . I put as much tank media as I could fit but kept 1 new bag of noodles , the new micro lift and 1 new bag of carbon so a bit more than half used media and the rest new. Seems to be working well so fingers crossed.