i recently got myself a big tank, 620 litres.
what i did was filled the tank about half way with clean tap water and then used aqua safe on it, left it for about an hour, then filled the other half up with my old tank water (already cycled).
i then got my 2 new tetratec 1200's up and running on the tank but also took my eheim from my old tank and got that running as well to get it cycled alot quicker.
i done all this about 20-22 hours ago and have noticed my tank going slightly clowdy.
until the last 2-3 hours, the tank was crystal clear because im using a uv as well.
is this cloudyness a bacteria bloom? if so, ain't 20 odd hours abit soon to be seeing this?
i just done a water check and its reading zero on nitrite and ammonia ...but nitrate is at about 5 ppm, surely my tank ain't cycled already???

Have you put fish in the tank? Regarding the filter that you transferred from one tank to the other, did you turn it off for very long?

When you cycle a tank, you are aiming to establish a biological filter. So if you transfer a filter that already contains the bacteria to another tank you are transferring all the bacteria as well. as long as the bacteria stay alive, and the filter is rated enough for the new tank,you can save yourself a few weeks cycling the tank and put your fish straight in.However, you mustn't turn the filter off for too long, as soon as you do turn the filter off, the bacteria will start dying slowly. The bacteria in your filter need oxygen to survive, without the filter running, they are deprived of oxygen and they will start dying off. I believe you've got up to four hours before they all die completely. having said that, I don't like to turn my filter off for any more than an hour when carrying out water changes.

When changing I lots of the water, make sure you use a water conditioner. The last thing you want is a lots of chlorine running through your filtration system, your biological filter will not like that at all.

it was off for about 15-20 minutes. i just cant believe my water levels already, i did also take maybe half a tank's worth of water from my old tank so that might of helped alot.
so does this mean i can transfer my fish tommorow if the clowdyness has gone?

That's okay then, 15 or 20 minutes is not very long.It might be best if you transfer the fish slowly over a couple of days rather than dumping them all in at once.

i agree with OFL. transferring the whole filter assembly
and cycled water in an old tank help to expedite cycling
of new tank. cloudiness is also sign of bacteria bloom but
should be cleared in a day or two depending on the capacity
of your pump.

having 0 reading on ammonia and nitite with low nitrate, your
tank can accept new occupant. but i suggest you put them in
gradually, preferably a day interval but with water check pls.

good luck.

i still have not put any fish in yet, i only have 2 small oscars and 2 parrots anyway, but im trying to wait until the clowdyness goes down, its gone down alot since yesterday but is still slightly there.
would maybe a 10% water change be any good? or not?

you have not started your cycle yet !!!!!!!! the bacterial bloom will clear over the next 10 days but has nothing to do with your cycle....if you put fish in your tank ,get some cheap ones you dont care about as in three ar four days you will start your ammo climb that will rise every day for about 15 days to dangerously high levels!!!!!!!!then it will start to decrease for 5 days returning to zero as your bacteria colonises ...on the 15 day point as the ammo starts to decrease the nitrite climb starts and rises to dangerous levels for 15 days then it starts to return to zero this takes another 5 days..on the 15 day point the nitrate will start to rise.. and when the ammo and nitrite return to zero and stay there for 5 days and only the nitrate rises the tank is fully cycled ..this will take between 30-40 days to complete .....i am 17 days into a cycle and i am performing 50% waterchanges every day sometimes 2 a day and only now am i starting to see the nitrite start to climb

are you saying there is no cycle started at all, even though i have used half of my old tank water and have my eheim filter from my old tank running in my new 1?

You said you had a filter that was already established, what type of filter is it and what is it rated for?

When you put your fish in the new tank I think it would be wise to take water readings for a few days. Like I said before, if you have a fully established biological filter that you are moving across and assuming that the filter is rated for the new tank, everything should be okay because you won't have to establish a biological filter, you've already got one. There is bacteria in tank water, but it's very minimal and they aren't the same bacteria that you find in your biological filter. If you've got gravel and rock, you might want to transfer that without drying it out because there will be bacteria living in this as well

it was only a eheim 2213, yes i have also transferred some ocean rock and drift wood.
the cloudy water is starting to go now as well.
my reading are all fine.

Okay, your filter is rated to around 40 UK gallons which is obviously a lot less than your tank. That isn't going to be enough. I think you are going to have to introduce your fish slowly and not all at once. What you could do is take a little bit of a biological media out of the existing eheim filter and put it in the new filter, this will seed the new filter and help establish a biological filter

your eheim will be colonized ..that MAY keep your levels down but the other filters will need to cycle !!!!!!!! i filled one tray of the fx5 with media straight out of annother fx5 and installed a 1000lph internal tetratec straight out of one tank whare its been for 8 years ...into the new tank and my cycle is running EXACTLY TO THE GRAPH I POSTED !!!!!!!!!! so realy the media import is not enough to cope with the bioload and the cycle is taking place as if i am starting from scratch .....obviously the colonized media is preventing the levels from rising as high as they would if there was no colonised media ....but the levels are still rising high enough to warrant a waterchange !!!!!!!! weather they rise to 4ppm in 24hrs....or 0.25 in 24 hours it makes no difference as ANYTHING ABOVE ZERO NEEDS REMOVING ...so a waterchange still has to be performed!!!!!!!!!!!!you also need ammo and nitrite present in orde to colonise bacteria so if you dont feed the media in your established eheim ammo and nitrite the bacteria will surely die!!!!!!!!!!! its a delicate balance of leaving trace ammounts of ammo and nitrite in your tank to feed and colonize the media without exposing your fish to poisonous levels of the said chemicals.....if you remove ALL AMMO AND NITRITE it will only prolong your cycle time as the bacteria will not grow as it doesnt need to!!!!as there is no food to encourage multiplication of the colony......leaving too much ammo and nitrite in will poison and harm your fish!!!!!!!!!!its a realy dificult thing to do without a high bodycount or at least casualties along the way!!!!!!!!!!people dont realise how dificult and complicated cycling is with fish in the tank ....i will DEFINATELY go for the fishless cycle next time as 80 gallon waterchanges EVERY DAY ...FOR 30-40 DAYS IS A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!!good luck ...im here to help if you need me


OFL THE GRAPH I POSTED DOESNT SHOW UP AS ITS BLACK ON BLACK ?????IF YOU VEIW IT IN THE REPLY SECTION YOU WILL SE WHAT I MEAN ...CAN YOU DO ANYTHING TO IT TO MAKE IT SHOW UP PLEASE?????????