So I have a new 75 gallon I'm going to be starting to cycle in a few days. I also have a 20 gallon that's fully cycled. I know I don't wanna take the filter media out of the 20, but I can take some gravel to speed up the cycling.

My question is..what do I do with the gravel? I don't want to just mix it with my new substrate, as it's sand, and the old tank is rocky gravel..

Some people say to put it in some womans stockings and put it in my new tank? If I do that do I just set it on the bottom, or "hang" it in the tank?

And at the end would I have to find a place to put the used gravel in the new tank? Or can I take it out when it's done cycling?

Thanks!

Use a woman's stocking and make up 2 bags. Put one bag in the new filter (at the bottom of all the media so the water goes up through and seeds the new stuff) and then either hang the other bag in the tank or just set it on the floor of the tank - you can ever wring it out a bit to get some of the bacteria out and into the new sand.

Once the tank is cycled you can take the gravel bags out. (Maybe do one at a time so as not to shock the newly cycled system.)

Instead of taking media from the 20g filter, you can wring that media out over top of the new filter media to get some of the gunk on it.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Thanks! Hmmm..what do you mean by "wring out" my old filter media? I use those blue flat filter cartidges...so it's hard for me to imagine the process

Just try to squeeze as much water and gunk (could even scrape some gunk off into the new filter) as possible. It's harder with some medias.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981