Yes, rip a piece of the biowheel off and stick it into the new filter. However, if you worry it might disrupt the nitrogen cycle in the old filter (which is will if you take a too large piece off), you can always use other methods to seed the bacteria. Such as some gravel. Just some, like a handful. Although, it will not be nearly as efficient as a piece of filter media for bacteria seeding, because filter media holds way more beneficial bacteria than the gravel due to much larger surface areas within the filter media and it will be directly in contact with the new filter media.
You can always use the
Tetra SafeStart as bacteria seeding if you worry about crash the cycle in your old tank before you can finish the cycle of the new tank.
It is the only proven working live bacteria product which can aid the nitrogen cycle. It is also mentioned in the article in my previous post.
Other methods include getting a new filter first, and have it run along side of your old filter in the old tank for minimal 3 weeks before transfer it to the new tank. As I mentioned in earlier posts, this method does not guarantee the new filter alone will have sufficient amount of bacteria to take on all of the ammonia once it is the only filter in the new tank since the amount of bacteria needed for taking on your fish load will be split between the two filters.
But it won't be a problem if you transfer both the new and the old filters over to the new tank after they ran along side of each other in the old tank for weeks.
For the size of a 55 gallon tank, I would definitely recommend a
canister filter. They are the most efficient filters around, and they make 0 noise.
I would personally recommend
EHEIM brand (a German brand), since I use one myself and it is quite good. But Fluval is definitely a solid brand for canister filters, and Rena is not bad either.
If you do fishless cycle, make sure you have a liquid test kit.
API freshwater master kit is the most common liquid test kit used for aquarium water testing.
It is actually recommended to have for all fish keepers even if your tank is already cycled.
