Tank cycled, how to procede

[k9outfit]

I have 20 small Discus arriving on Monday. They'll be going into 5 seperate 50 gallon (227 l) tanks, so instead of cycling 5 individual tanks, I placed 5 large sponge filters (good for up to 80 gallons each) into 1 tank, then ran it through a fishless cycle. NH3=0, NO2=0, NO3<160. Now I want to move each sponge filter into it's own 50 gallon tank, assuming that the bacteria should be enough to handle the fish load. Should I also add some of the water from the completely cycled tank with the astronomical nitrates? If so, how much of this water should I add?

TIA for steering me in the right direction; I'm sure the fishies will appreciate it! :D

[Inspiringfish]

Holy crap K9, you don't mess around. 20 Fish!!! Good for you.

I'd like to give some advice but I'll leave that up to the experts.

[Merrilyn]

Hi K9. Don't add any of the nitrate laden water. At the end of a cycle you'd normally do a full water change, and add the fish the same day.

You don't want to put the sponges in to the new tanks until the day before the fish arrive. There is no food for the bacteria to live on, so just keep them together in the tank, and feed all sponges with some ammonia each day, until the fish arrive.

That way you'll have a nice healthy bacteria colony ready to start working in the new tanks.

Naturally, you'll use a de chlorinator product like Prime or similar before you add the sponges. Then you can add the fish the same day, and the waste they produce will feed the bio colony.

Now you just know we want to see pictures when your new fish have settle in, don't you :wink: