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Cycling question

4K views 27 replies 4 participants last post by  Termato 
#1 ·
i just got a 10 gallon tank and i already have a 20 gallon thats cycled i read that i can use filter media from cycled tanks to cycle my 10 gallon my question is do i just take out the insert from my filter and put it in the small one? it doesn't really fit and if i did find a way how long do i leave it there? what about my existing 20 gallon will it be okay without the bacteria for a while?

also theres something called bio spira and what are your thoughts about that? can i find it at petland?
 
#3 ·
Best way to cycle your tank:

1) Get plants
2) Get gravel from your already established tank - some people do bring over the filter...but then your other tank doesnt have one...)

3) add ammonia.


If you add a fish to your tank, it is not going to be good for that fish. If you so willingly choose to do so, I would get A LOT of plants.

The best thing for your fish is to cycle the tank before they come into it.

I would read this before going through with anything: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-aquarium/beginners-guide-freshwater-aquarium-cycle-38617/
 
#4 ·
im gonna do the The "Fishless Cycle" Using Pure Ammonia since plants are currently not an option for me.
gonna head over to petland and get some pure ammonia now to my knowledge it takes 3 weeks for the ammonia to turn into nitrite then another 3 weeks for nitrite to convert to nitrates since i have a cycled 20 gallon at some point i will transfer the filter media from the uncycled 10 gallon to the 20 gallon for 24 horus to speed it up a bit.
 
#6 ·
i don't have good lights and i cant really afford any right now with the bill and all, i would need 40w for my 20 gal and 20w for my 10 gal and the c02 system, im gonna wait until the summer ill be working again then i can afford more things like that.

i had some cabombas they were nice and they grew but i moved the tank around a lot and did a lot of water changes so that pretty much killed it. currently my light has 10,000k 15W in my 20 gal i did use a c02 booster when i had cabombas.
 
#7 ·
With that light in your 20 gallon you can have Java Fern, Java Moss AND hornwort. They are all low light plants.

You have a more powerful light for your 20 gallon than I do. I have never used C02 and all my plants (excluding my sword...which is just troublesome) are fine. I use Flourish Comprehensive by Seachem once a week. $15 a big bottle.

I use Seachem Prime Water conditioner when water changing too - $9 a big bottle.
 
#10 ·
Leave some not all the media in the tank for the duration of the cycle. The bacteria take time to transfer, it will drastically help though in the cycling.

With the pure ammonia you want to dose it to a high level, 2-3ppm for a 20g tank. Keep the dose constant until you start seeing the nitrite spike. Once you see the nitrite spike and it will be big and quick using established media, cut the dose down to 1ppm, once the nitrates appear. HOLD OUT doing a water change, dose the tank again with ammonia to 2-3ppm or whatever your initial dose was. Your tank is fully cycled once the initial dose of ammonia is converted in 24 hours. Once you notice this, perform a massive 50-70% water change to reduce the nitrates, hey presto, your cycled.

Using the fishless cycle with ammonia, will allow you to FULLY stock the tank immediately once the cycle is complete.

PLEASE PLEASE be patient and while you are waiting for the cycle to complete, research as much as you can about the fish you intend on keeping. That way you can provide a suitable environment for them, before actually adding them to the tank.

If you require any further assistance, then please do not hesitate to post. :)
 
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#13 ·
Check your local hardware store. Local Fish Stores will not sell it.

Ace and probably Home Depot carry it, make sure that you get stuff that DOES NOT foam when shaken. Stay away from anything that foams as it contains surfactants which will harm the tank and any future inhabitants,
 
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#15 ·
Okay im kind of lost here, I bought Austins pure ammonia made sure it doesnt foam and i looked it up people have used it successfully so i don't think its a problem, However. I haven't started the cycle yet because I wanted to see how much i would need to dose it daily so I filled a 5 gallon bucket with water and added 1ML of ammonia to it, stirred it. and I did a test... Nothing. I added 2ml and tested... nothing. then just to be sure i added another 3ml so in total there was 5ML in the 5 gallon bucket and still nothing.

I think it has to do with the test kit i am using RED SEA Pro-lab freshwater master test kit. and heres the sheet i use


whenever i test the ammonia from the bucket the color turns gold like dehydrated piss.
the only thing i can do is get another test kit and if that doesnt work then i don't know what to do.

ive been reading this for reference: Ammonia instructions for a fishless cycle - Aquarium Fish Forum - 19627
 
#16 ·
See if there is Austins Clear Ammonia, several people I know have used that
 
#18 ·
:thumbsup:

Add about 5-10 drops a day, after several days start testing.
It will work, it may not initially show up in your tests. I used the same stuff on my 75g tank. Very hard to find in Canada but a friend had some for whatever reason.
 
#21 ·
If you have live plants already then it may not work for cycling as the plants will soak up the ammonia before it converts to Nitrite...

Add the filter media and that will also help speed things along.

Patience is the key now you have "started" the cycle.
 
#22 ·
When cycling my new 26 gallons I decided to use some substrate from my well established 10 gallon. I just put it in a mesh bag at let it sink in a corner of the aquarium. There would have been about 2 cups of substrate in the bag. I decided to take ammonia and nitrite sample every day until the end of the cycle, and logged all of it. Here is my log :

According to my log, the aquarium was set up march 4. I did a fishy cycle (wouldn't do that now, anyway...) with 7 red eye tetra and first started to register ammonia 4 day later. It went up to 0.1ppm march 9, and that was the end of it, never seen ammonia since. Nitrite first appeared on march 10, too low to register my minimum test value (0.1 ppm) but still present. Nitrite went all the way up to 0,5 ppm by march 16, when I did a water change. Cycle was officially over march 21 with strong 0ppm for ammonia and nitrite.

The cycle took 17 days, about half as long as a typical cycle. There was no ammonia spike to speak of, but nitrite went quite high and stayed above 0,1ppm for 7 days. At the same time, the 10gal stayed right where it's normally at : 0/0/15-20ppm. My guess is that removing the filter, or a good part of the media from the filter might have had an adverse effect on nitrification in the 10gal.
 
#24 ·
"At the same time, the 10gal stayed right where it's normally at : 0/0/15-20ppm:.
If this is the result you got from removing filter media while cycling then there is no change... If it affected your tank then ammonia and nitrite would show up..Nitrate level is fine and would even be cut in half with a water change.

Substrate, filter media is perfect for using to cycling a tank, and as mentioned by the previous poster will cut down your cycle time. If you do not wish to purchase a mesh bag, a simple female stocking with a rubber band on it will suffice also. This is also a good way of keeping media "ready" to removed to start a cycle if one purchases another tank. It does not take much from an established tank to rapidly aid the cycling process.
 
#25 ·
If you do not have a liquid test kit but are using strips, then a highly reliable and often used one is the API Freshwater Master kit.

If you are using a liquid test kit at the moment, SHAKE Nitrate bottle #2 for a full 2 minutes before adding to the tube, this will give you a more accurate reading.
 
#26 ·
Both tank were unplanted at the time.

Test kit is a nutrafin liquid-based kit. Nitrate measurement of the 10g are approximate because I didn't have a liquid test for them, only strips. Would have been nice to see the progression, but I didn't do it...

Filter from the 10g was left in place, only substrate (gravel, about 3-5mm grain) was moved to the 26g.
Obviously in the 10g there where no change since I only removed a bit of substrate. Water changes continued as normal, 30% every week.

In the 26g, I changed 5,5 gallons of water (20%) on march 16, which helped bring nitrite down to 0,3ppm. Nutrafin aqua+plus water conditionner was used. No other water changes were performed for the duration of the cycle.
 
#27 ·
okay so Red Sea SUCKS. If its ever handed to you by an employee slap them in the face. :evil:

I waited 3 days and tested on the 4th day to be sure and it still read 0 so i picked up a API ammonia test kit and i finally got the correct results which showed about 4-5 ppm. I add 1 ML ammonia daily my question is, do I add 1ml daily and wait until it starts dropping? Do I stop adding ammonia when it drops or lower the dosage? i put in a driftwood from my cycled 20 gallon to help speed it up and tomorrow I will get some stockings and put some gravel in there. The 10 gallon is heated to 85 degrees. ;-)
 
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