Is it a smart idea to keep the water in a nano seperate from the water in my main?
I was thinking about doing a water change in my main and using that water to start the nano. I figured that would help boost the bacteria. Then I thought that might not be the best idea.
What does everyone else think? Oh, the nano is a 20 gallon and I will start it out with some LR from my main.
When you ask about keeping the water seperate, are you talking about using a common sump, or just using the water from the one to start the other? I have no experience with common sump, but I imagine there are pros and cons. You'd have one place to do all water changes, one place for all additives, and larger water volume so maintaining a balance may be easier. But anything that goes wrong affects all. I plan to try it sometime.
But if you're talking about using water from one to start another, I've done that before. You still want to cycle the tank somehow, depending on how you setup the sump, before you add a lot of livestock.
I wasn't thinking a common sump, although I have thought about that before.
I wanted to use the water from my water change to fill the nano. I figure it will still cycle, but the bacteria in the water column would help I imagine. Plus it would save me some salt... I also thought it would help when moving stuff between tanks to have the water very similar. Although I'm sure that they won't stay similar for that long.
I also thought about doing 25-50% changes on the nano weekly with water from my main. Anyone else doing this?
I guess it depends on what your water change water looks like. I get some pretty icky water after I siphon the rocks and sand. But if you just take water out without stirring the gunk into the water column then it should be fine.
I often use water from water changes to start new tanks for H. Reidi fry. As long as you are conducting frequent water changes, there is no harm in it. It is actually beneficial as you are helping the cycle along. It COULD be a problem if your water has high nitrates etc. that is often common in neglected tanks.
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