used bio wheels trash or useable

[grozier]

just bought a 125g tank for my son for x-mas and it came with 2 emporer 400's. are the bio wheels trash or can I have them going in a 10g tank with some of the water from the current tank. (sump will come in the coming months) just want it up and going. it has sand in it as well but I dont think it's any good . what are some ofhte problems i'm going to incounter. Does this tank need to cycle before transfering everything over? I'm not going to add anything for a while until I know everything is stablized.

any other advice would be really nice.

 

[wontonflip]

Trash...they're nitrate factories unless you clean them out regularly. It's just extra work that is not necessary, IMO.

 

[texreefer]

+1 to the wonton , but I thought even new ones were trash

 

[grozier]

so leave bio wheels out. what about the sand and with the new tank would it need to cycle before putting the other tanks content in it?

 

[Bifferwine]

You should cycle the tank before you move things over. Using live rock or some food will do the trick.

 

[grozier]

How long

 

[Bifferwine]

However long the cycle takes. You will need to test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to determine when the cycle is over.

 

[grozier]

Will using the old water just siphon out not stirring up the bed help? 60g going into 125g.

 

[ErinCahir]

Using old water will not speed up your cycle

 

[grozier]

Well poo what do I do with the fish? The tank goes in the same place as the other

 

[Bifferwine]

If the tank is going in the same spot, then you'll need to transfer everything over at one time.

 

[Ted]

When I did my current tank I used new sand mainly all the rock from my other two tanks (added about 20 pounds of live rock from the lfs) and all but about 15 gallons of "old" tank water...My tank never spiked. This might be a exception but thats what happened. New tank is where the old 10 gallon use to be..Did the complete change over in two steps. Tore down the 10 gallon first then the corner tank the next day. Only live stock that was moved was some frilly mushrooms and those where fine...No fish where moved because I didnt have any at the time.