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cycling aquarium filter in a pond


Shell

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Hi all. I am about to set up a 560l tank and am impatient. The tank will arrive in a couple of weeks but I want to buy an external canister filter and start to cycle it. I am thinking about either setting the filter up to cycle using the outdoor fish pond or just putting the filter media and bio balls in a stocking in the pond to start gathering bacteria. Can anyone see a problem with this idea? I know I will have to watch out for algae but should this work?

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Neither here nor there,, would work to some degree.

I see you live in Canberra,,, your mornings and days are cold, so your pond would be freezing, and beneficial bacteria colonization would be at lowest of lows.

I've set up aquariums for others before,,,, and I have done a fast forward approach.

Just get a large bucket or tub and sit it on a crate.

Set up the filter on it as if it was a aquarium.

Put your heater in and set to 28.c.

Every third day put a teaspoon of fish food in cycling container. (this will make water milky and spike with ammonia to create a fast process and perfect fuel for beneficial bacteria growth).

If your keeping hard water loving fish like rift lakes or alike,,, put some buffer in if needed to make water moderately hard to hard,, as beneficial bacteria work at its optimum in harder water and higher temps.

When you finally have your tank,,, fill your tank up with new water to a level that will allow you to top up with your cycling bucket water.

But before adding cycled water and filter,,, make sure the new tank water is same temperature.

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I agree with what Buccal has said.

In regards to the pond and pre starting the cycling bacteria from there, taking into consideration Buccal's comments regarding temperatures, the media sat in the pond will be limited by the bio levels in the pond and the water flow THROUGH the media. If the pond is stocked with fish that are eating, the higher the stocking levels the more likely the bacteria that will build to the level to eventually equal the stocking level of a fish tank, bearing in mind fish tank levels are usual higher than pond levels. What that means is that if your pond has 1x2" fish and you tank has 20x2" fish the maths doesn't work out if you know what I mean. Also keep in mind even a pond that has "x" number of fish will be cycled (assumingly) so already has a bacteria colony that will = the waste produced by the fish in the pond. That means if you set up the filter to cycle on a pond with 20 fish, the bacteria load on the filter's bio media section will not/never = the total bioload that are dealing with the ponds waste, as at best this load will be shared across the filters bio media and all surfaces in the pond itself.

A fish tank's bio load is usually heavier in a fish tank so if you already have one, you would probably do better pre cycling the new filter on a tank than a pond. Taking into account the above same limitations this is better than a pond.

There are commercially available bio starters that Aquasonic used to sell and I assume still do, I have used them in the past and put this in with the fish at the same time into an uncycled tank that was pH & temp stable with no issues and no ammonia or nitrite spikes. Fish such as neons to Africans.

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Thanks for the replies. I have actually moved to Perth (haven't worked out how to change my profile yet) so the pond is nowhere near as cold. But I do like the bucket idea. I can easily set up a tub in the garage with the filter and heater and add some cycling fish and food. Great idea thanks.

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Perth is had freakish cold start to winter,,, and while isn't to bad now, it's still cold with colder mornings to come.

Wether the pond is 10.c or 14.c,,,, the trouble of bacteria colonization will still reside.

Hence, when starting outdoor ponds in cold winter states,,, it's always started in spring, summer or autumn for a tenfold advantage of increasing water temps supporting a better start for the nitrogen cycle.

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