[Mr_Bubbles]

Hey Everyone,

I just upgraded my 55 gallon tank to a 75 (for more depth for aquascaping) and did an instant switch by putting the old filters on the new tank (along with the same substrate), i have a fluval fx5 that came with the tank and have it running too. I want to get rid of the old filters and run the fx5 by itself, I was wondering if anyone could tell me, how long should it take for the new filter to gain enough beneficial bacteria for it to be safe to run on it's own?

Thanks!

 

[NJAquaBarren]

Immediately if you just put the media from the existing filter into the fx5

 

[Mr_Bubbles]

I didn't, i squeezed some mulm into the new filter and rinsed some out in the tank itself for some to settle on the substrate and be sucked back up into the filter. I'd prefer not to put the old media into the new filter for the sake of it not fitting properly.

 

[fresh.salty]

The old cycled filter will be doing much of the work just because it's cycled. Seems to me it will take the new one longer to really kick in just because of that. If it were me I'd leave it as is for a month if you have much livestock.

 

[Jadelin]

Can you put part of the old media in your new filter? If you could fit say, half old and half new (preferably more old), it would be the same as replacing an old sponge or filter floss during maintenance. Over time you could cycle out the media that doesn't fit until you have all new colonized media in your filter. Do you have any bioballs or anything like that? They should fit in either filter . . .

Otherwise I'd run them side by side for a few weeks just to be safe.

 

[JRMott]

I agree with jadelin, try putting some old media into the new filter.

Also, consider how heavily you are stocked. The more stocked you are, IMO, the slower you'll want to make the transition from old filter to new filter.

 

[150EH]

Old media, new filter. Wow an FX5 on a 75 gallon, can I come over and soak my feet.

Your going to have a really high flow in the tank!

You could just run all the filters until the FX5 builds some nitrifying bacteria, I would think about 6 to 8 weeks and then you should be able to remove the old filters.

 

[Mr_Bubbles]

i have a biowheel 350 and an aquaclear 30 that were on my 55, but the cartridge styled media from the 350 won't fit in the fx5, someone recommended taking the older filters off and just rinsing everything really good in the tank to let the fx5 suck it up, but would that really work? I have them hanging on the sides and it's ugly, but also don't want to hurt my fish

 

[2in10]

I would put the the old cartridges or at least pull the floss and bio media from the filters and place it in the FX5 media baskets along with more media to mix it in. As long as you are using the old filters they are going to do most of the work since their media is established and the FX5 media will be populated by enough bacteria to handle what the other filters can not handle. After a month or so you can remove the old bio media and replace with new media to fill the baskets and should have little to no plroblems.

 

[JasonG75]

Immediately if you just put the media from the existing filter into the fx5

+1

Throw as much of the floss in the new system. BAM

 

[reignOfFred]

Two weeks is plenty for the the new filters to establish a bacteria based. I agree with everyone about putting media into the new filter from the old filter and forgetting all about running all these filters and waiting and wondering - fit should not be an issue in a canister filter.

 

[MC_horse13]

can your fish even swim with all those filters on the tank? lol i would just leave the ac and switch the flow regulator to the lowest setting along with fx5. i think 2 weeks would suffice