has any one ever used some one elses tank water to avoid going through a cycle?

has any one ever used some one elses tank water or water from there other tank to start a new tank? would/could doing so avoid a cycle or only go through a mini cycle doing so? Any other thoughts, opinions, or info on doing it?

I was going to try it out, any volunteers? lol

Very, very little of the beneficial bacteria is actually in the water itself. What you want is to borrow some of their used filter media - it won't eliminate the cycle, but can help dramatically shorten it.

I guess what im thinking is basicly transporting a tank from one place to another the differeance would be that you would be using thngs from different tanks, for example water from one tank but substrate and rock from another.

The bacteria clings to surfaces. The way a biological filter works is to provide a very dense set of surfaces for them to cling to, and to run lots of water over those surfaces. They also thrive with oxygen, so you'll see many filters try to add air to the mix (hence the wet/dry filters as well as bio-wheel HOB). That surface material is what you want.

The water is worthless.

Sand and rocks can carry some bacteria with them, but not nearly as much as a properly seeded filter will.

I have seeded a tank by squeezing a filter for a 30 gallon into the filter for a 10 gallon and completed a cycle in four days.

Larry said it. What I have done in the past is if I know I'm going to set up another aquarium soon I will buy the filter before anything else, then I run the new filter on an old tank for a few weeks along with the old filter. This worked very well for my 180 and my 125. I put the filters with my 110 for a few weeks before setting up the tank, filled the new tank gave it a few days to drop all chlorine and chlorimines out of the water, transferd the filter, and then added some fish. Worked great and I never had any spikes.

I always keep seeded media laying around. Never know when you will need it.

It really is more about the filtration being ready than anything else. Got to have that BB.