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Recently I moved my 7 zebras from my 20 gallon long tank to a 34 gallon corner tank (I should post some pictures....)

Anyway, I had a Eheim 2126 on the 20 gallon tank and a Eheim 2026 on the 34 gallon tank (same flow rate, just without a built-in heater). To compensate, I've temporaily added a powerhead in the new 34 gallon tank. However I just purchased a Eheim 2076 (Pro 3e) for this tank. Now I need to transition filters.

The 2026 has 2L of Substrart and 1L of Efhimech. The Pro3e-2076 needs 6L of Substrat and 2L of Efhimech. I ordered the additional media and it should be in sometime this week. The question is how best to make the transtion without stressing out the zebras by creating a "mini" cycle?

I plan to use the old media and probably steal another 1L of established substrat from yet another established filter I have. But this is going to leave 3L of unestablished substrat and 1L of unestablished Efhimech in the new Pro3e-2076, not to mention unused blue and white filter pads (can't resuse the ones from the 2026 since they are a different shape).

Additionally I planned to strain the water left in the old 2026 filter upon disconnect with the new filter pads to help "seed" them. I also plan to pur the old mulm into the new filter. Lastly, I plan to use lots of ADA Bacter 100 and Green Bacter to facilitate the process.

Are there any other suggestions to make this transition as seamless and stress-free on the fish as possble? Has anyone else done this? I'd appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions.

I think If you keep the same amount number of fish in the tank, even if the tank is bigger, logically the filter will required the same amount of bacteria to cycle the tank.

As noted, moving over as much of the needed bacteria as possible should get you pretty close to having what you need. However, not all of the bateria is in the filter media etc. it is all over the tank- on almost every hard surface. So moving substrate, rocks and wood as well as media helps a lot.

Despite this the new tank should initially have smaller colonies than the existing tank. As a result I would suggest doing a further mini fishless cycle on the new tank by dosing ammonia for a bit. Since the new tank is fairly well cycled upon setup, the addition of ammonia and its effect to increase the basterial colonies would be very fast- a matter of a couple of days. Doing this will insure the new tank is actually overcycled for the load.

I have always used the following method to insure any newly set up tank is capabale of handling a full fish load. I dose 4 drops of ammonia per 10 gals of water. I then wait about an hour and test- if I have 0 ammonia and nitrite readings, I know that the tank is good to go.

The zebras are already in the new tank. The tank itself is well easablished. I am just upgrading the filter from a 2026 to a 2076.

I misunderstood. Based on your plan you should be fine. The new filter wont make more bacteria, it will just provide more spacious quarters for the needed amount which you already have. Bacterial colonies size up or down based on the bio-load in a tank. Since you are reusing your cycled media for the fish, you have most of what you need being transferred. the added cycled media is just insurance.

TwoTank, thank you for the response! That actually makes a lot of sense...I never though of it that way - that there won't be more bacteria per se and the amount of bacteria is a function of the bio load not the size of the filter. Makes sense!

I made the filter swtich tonight - the water is quite clody - hopefully it will clear up in a day or two.