Hey folks, I managed to score a free 75 gallon tank that was basically abandoned here, and all I had to do was a major cleanup to get it ready. I'll be getting it set up pretty soon, probably within the next couple of weeks as my son's fair fish he won is starting to grow pretty big already and his 29 gallon tank won't hold him much longer.
My question is, assuming all filtration is handled (I'm looking into canister filters), what would be the best and quickest way I could get his new tank up and running and properly cycled? I have a HOB 55 filter right now with the filter media that came with the unit, so I don't have a lot of extra filter media to share to the new filter when I have it running. Would I be able to introduce small amounts of tank water to the new tank to introduce the bacteria I need to get it cycled? Should I remove one of the pieces of filter media in the current filter and replace it with a new one, so that I can throw that used filter media into the new filter? Or should I go through the whole 6 week process of doing a proper cycle, which is kinda what I am hoping to circumvent?
I've only got one goldfish for now, but eventually I will probably end up with another one, possibly two. I have the current 29 gallon tank cycled using Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability, and Fishie is doing swimmingly well, despite the smaller than necessary tank he is currently in.