"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:52:19 +0000, Gail Futoran wrote:

The 55G has been set up for about a month.
Since I moved plants, driftwood, and decor
from the 20G, the 55G is already cycled.
I.e., ammonia is zero, nitrites are zero, nitrates
are present but low.

Unless you've been adding ammonia, or there are fish already in the
tank,
I don't see how it could be considered cycled. More likely the
bacteria
that were present on the plants/driftwood/decor have died off from
lack of
nourishment.

If you did have fish in the tank, ignore my concerns. If not, swap
in
some filter material from the 20G and feed a teaspoon or so a day of
ammonia for a week. Then move one or two fish over and see how the
tank
chemistry goes.

I haven't had to cycle a tank since I got my
first one set up. I currently have four active
(plants + fish) tanks. If you know what you're
doing - minimally, I'm no expert - there's no
need to do a new cycle. As long as one has
an active tank and plants, gravel, decor, etc.
to move into a new tank, there is no need for a
cycle period.
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html#speed-cycling

To clarify, I will emphasize that in addition to
planting plants in the substrate, and moving over
driftwood colonized by Java Fern, I have a bunch
of floating plants (duckweed, anacharis, hornwort).
All help keep the tank cycled. (They get fed with
substrate food - plant tabs - and Flourish Excel.)

As stated in my original email, the 55G was set
up about one month ago. Starting about a week
ago when I tested the water I got ammonia = zero,
nitrites = zero, nitrates = 5 - 10, pH = 7.2 - 7.4.
That is a *cycled* tank.

My only question was to what extent I should
attempt to match nitrates from the source tank
(20G - nitrates about 30 PPM) to the target tank
(55G - nitrates about 7 PPM). All other water
parameters, including temperature, are close.

I'm inclined to continue daily small partial
water changes to the source (20G) tank
until the nitrates get closer to 20 than where
they are now, before gradually moving fish
to the 55G.

Thanks to all who responded.

Gail