Best way to transition between external filters?

[Krullpes]

Hi,

I just got my new Eheim 2073 Pro 3 to replace the Eheim 2213 that I've been running for over a year now. I was wondering what the best way to transition to the new one might be. My aquarium is 60cm x 40cm x 40cm and I'll be running a Hydor in-line heater. I figure there are a couple of ways:

- Run both filters together with two sets of pipes
This seems to be the easiest way, but will make the aquarium 'busy' for the duration. The only problem I see here is how to regulate the flow effectively as the new filter- do you run the new filter on full and the old on half maybe? Or gradually increase flow on the new one while reducing it on the old one over say a month?

- transfer media from the 2213 to the 2073
This is the most neat & tidy way I think because it will mean less pipes and hassle with controlling flow; but the problem here is that the two filters only share 1 media type - the Ehfisubstrat pro, so I wonder if enough bacteria will be transferred over to the new filter?

Any thoughts on the best way to transition external filters would be great.

 

[ceg4048]

I might be missing something here but what's the big deal? If the old filter holds 10L of media and if you move all 10L over to the new filter, why would there be a problem with insufficient bacteria? The bacteria live on the media. If they were alive, living on the media in the old filter why would they suddenly disappear when the media is moved over to the new filter?

Cheers,

 

[Krullpes]

Doesn't the bacteria in the current filter live in all of the different media layers? If you're only re-using part of the media in a larger volume filter wouldn't some be lost from the change and the rest be diluted down? I don't know thats why I asked.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
The bulk of the bacterial population live in/on the sintered glass media. That's (theoretically) why we pay so much money for it. It's true that there are bacterial colonies everywhere in the filter - on the interior of the canister surface, on the pads, on the impeller, on the inner surface of the tubing. It's not practical to move most of these, but why would you not also consider moving the other media as well? Whatever you can move, move. Whatever you can't move, don't worry about.

Being in a larger volume has no correlation since the bacteria are not aware of what volume they live in. Within a very short time the wetted surface of the new filter will fill with bacteria since there are bacteria from the media you moved and there are plenty of bacteria on the water, on the surface of the plants, on the wetted surface of the hardscape, on the inner surface of the tank and in the sediment. I can't see a problem. You can hardly get rid of bacteria even when you try real hard.

Unless you have an unusually high bio-load it would be a lot less hassle to simply move the media, pads and mulm over to the new filter and to carry on.

Cheers,

 

[Krullpes]

Thanks for the advice ceg4048; feelling much more confident about the upgrade now that my paranoia about the impact on my cycled filtration is sated. Its important to ensure the safety of my fishes so never hurts to be overly cautious I reckon.