Eau, advice please....

[marne2]

I have set up a small tank in dd's room, I have put media in the filter out of my big tank ( from my external mature filter ), I havn't put any fish in the tank as I want to make sure the filter is not too noisy for dd ( chances are it will be and then I will have to move the tank ), do i need to chuck some food or ammonia in their to keep the bacteria in the filter media alive?

Hoping to put some plec babies in there soon ( they have just hatched so in a few days time when dad chucks them out his cave ), will the tank be cycled enough with the media from my big tank?

[EauRouge]

Yes, you need to add something to keep the bacteria going, fish food will do it if you haven't got any ammonia. I would run it for a few days and test a lot, babies will be very sensitive to any ammonia or nitrIte.

[marne2]

Thank you, will put some food in there,mod you think I would be better off putting a few guppy fry in there first ( before any pleco babies go in ), I have quite a few so they are not as precious as my pleco babies .