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Sylverclaws et al -- note and ? on cycling

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Tolak 
#1 ·
Sylverclaws, originally when I was asking about the name of the Molly I had, I remembered seeing online "Gold Dust" and what I thought was "Medallion" Mollies. Ha ha, it was actually the "Gold Doubloon" Molly with the short fins. I don't know why that was the name I thought I saw, but I didn't know if my female would have short or long fins, so put them both in. Crazy about the connection between the two... now it is the "Harlequin" that the Molly is. Whew...

Now I need to know exactly what you mean by "cycled tanks" and the readings that you would get from a fully cycled tank? My 20 Gal tank has been running for at least 2 months, most of it with cloudy water from too many fish in there. I worked on that problem, and now I think the tank is cycled, but I don't know. Last night I got a larger filter (30 gal Aquaclear/Fluval), brand new and put it in there. Even if the tank is cycled, what happens when you put in a new filter? I still have the water and sponge gunk from the former filter, although I put the filter in another tank. I could add the gunk to the new filter, if it will help it. Most of the 6 readings and the API ammonia test all read normal or below 0.25 NH3. So what would you advise on this? I have been treating with AmQuel and the SmartStart regularly. And I feel that the SmartStart is helping, don't feel that it is hurting anything.

Oh, and I put my male Green Sailfin Molly in the photo contest, too, finally it worked and gave me the whole thing, instead of just the Betta forum... :fish:
 
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#2 ·
A tank that has the correct filtration & is cycled will have the following test results: ammonia/nitrItes 0; nitrates <20. Are you using strips or a liquid test? If you are getting readings for ammonia or nitrItes then your tank is either not cycled or you do not have adequate filtration for your stock and/or the tank is not being cleaned properly or all of the above. Most recommended water conditioner is Seachem Prime as it will eliminate many of the toxins in tap water, will convert ammonia to a non-toxic form for 24-48 hrs giving a cycled tank time to do its thing. The cloudy water should clear up on its own but the SmartStart could be contributing to that. Do you vacuum the gunk up well once a week? That can also be factor IME. Please ask questions if any of this does not make sense or something else comes up.
 
#3 ·
I have used Jungle StartRight, AmQuel after testing

I have a large bottle of Jungle Start Right for tap water, removes chlorine, etc. and makes it safe for use in aquariums. I have liquid testing by API for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and it is always at a low level -- in fact it is the same for no-fish water, so I think it is at the lowest level. But just to be safe, I dose with AmQuel. I also have strips for testing other levels like alkalinity, hardness, pH, etc. and they are fine. My tank was cloudy right off because I had too many fish. I have removed enough to be at a good level for 20 Gal. It had cleared up after 4 weeks, and was running OK, but I felt it needed greater filtration so I bought the 30G filter. That was why I asked, how to avoid the tank getting cloudy again, because the new filter was unused, BioMax was not making good bacteria yet. I know that new filters will take a while to perform. I saved the water and the bacteria in the filter sponge, in order to use it with the new filter or if I started a new tank. That was what I wanted to know, how do you use it? Not gunk from vacuuming, or such, but from the filter which some say to use on cycling a tank. Do you just pour it into the new filter? How does one speed up the cycling on a tank that is new, or keep the current tank from not behaving with a new filter installed? BTW, TLC SmartStart is an expensive good bacteria solution to add to a tank to speed up its cycling, too.
 
#4 ·
Can anyone answer these questions?

I have a large bottle of Jungle Start Right for tap water, removes chlorine, etc. and makes it safe for use in aquariums. I have liquid testing by API for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and it is always at a low level -- in fact it is the same for no-fish water, so I think it is at the lowest level. But just to be safe, I dose with AmQuel. I also have strips for testing other levels like alkalinity, hardness, pH, etc. and they are fine. My tank was cloudy right off because I had too many fish. I have removed enough to be at a good level for 20 Gal. It had cleared up after 4 weeks, and was running OK, but I felt it needed greater filtration so I bought the 30G filter. That was why I asked, how to avoid the tank getting cloudy again, because the new filter was unused, BioMax was not making good bacteria yet. I know that new filters will take a while to perform. I saved the water and the bacteria in the filter sponge, in order to use it with the new filter or if I started a new tank. That was what I wanted to know, how do you use it? Not gunk from vacuuming, or such, but from the filter which some say to use on cycling a tank. Do you just pour it into the new filter? How does one speed up the cycling on a tank that is new, or keep the current tank from not behaving with a new filter installed? BTW, TLC SmartStart is an expensive good bacteria solution to add to a tank to speed up its cycling, too.

[posted a while ago, but no answers yet]
 
#5 ·
Depending on what the old filter is & if the media fits into the new filter, you could just take the media from the old filter & add it to the new one along with the new media it came with. Another option is just running both filters at once, that way you'll have the smaller one available in the future for another tank. I've got countless spare filters running, and think nothing of taking one from a stocked tank & setting up another. Fish get sold, stock gets low, spares run in a stocked tank while empty tanks get drained.
 
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