Member

Posts: 20
From:wethersfield, ct
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 10-15-2003 09:56 AM         

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i have a 150gallon tank. its now going through is cycling stage. im just wondering how long it will take to go thru this. i have had smaller tanks and it would take like a month or so. cant imagine how long for the 150. thanks.

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Posts: 167
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 10-15-2003 02:14 PM         

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Your looking at more like 6-8 weeks for a tank that size.

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James (The Grateful One)

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Posts: 429
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 10-16-2003 12:05 AM         

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Actually there is very little difference in time, whether it is a 10 gallon or a 100 gallon. The biggest mistake I've seen people make is increasing the number of fish to cycle the tank thinking that it is necessary because the tank is larger, or that by adding more fish it will cycle faster. The only thing that happens in those cases is that it actually takes longer because they have overloaded the tank and it causes the cycle to hang because of the need for an increased amount of bacteria to break down the increased level of ammonia.

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Posts: 167
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 10-17-2003 06:41 PM         

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kc have you ever monitored this through testing. I'm not second guessing you it's just everyone has always told me the more water the longer the cycle time. I always took their word for it. Never tested through the entire cycle since I was a newbie and had small tanks, many tanks ago. Just thinking maybe I've wasted lots of time.

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James (The Grateful One)

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Posts: 429
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 10-18-2003 12:45 AM         

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Yes I have on Marine tanks on a daily basis. We found out the hard way about overloading a 300 gallon to cycle it. At 2 1/2 months we were still hung up at the Ammonia spike with no decline. We had to completely break the tank down and clean everything and set it back up. After that we only used 2 to 4 Black Mollies, or 1 Puffer or Triggerfish to cycle a tank. With this procedure we never had a tank take longer than 8 weeks to cycle. If it worked like some people state about adding more fish you could put 100 Black Mollies in a 30 gallon and get it to cycle overnight. It just doesn't work that way! Think about it.

PS. When I said on a daily basis, that was some time ago when I was running a shop. Now, it is just my personal tanks and I never really test. After more than 30 years of running tanks I know what it's going to do.

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Posts: 14
From:SA
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 10-18-2003 04:53 AM         

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Hi I am dum and new here so could someone please explain to me what this tank cycle thing is all about.

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Posts: 429
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 10-18-2003 11:17 PM         

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Reprint from 10/16/2003:
I'll try to make this as simple as I can. When you first set up your tank and put water in it, it is basically pure (no bacteria, ammonia, nitrites or nitrates). When you introduce fish into the tank they give off waste which is ammonia in content. The waste drops down to the gravel where bacteria builds up on the waste and converts the ammonia into nitrites. As the nitrites begin to increase a secondary bacteria builds up and converts the nitrites into nitrates. This process takes about 6 weeks to complete and is what is called a tank cycle. During that process you will get ammonia and nitrite spikes. Times that can be hard enough to kill more delicate fish. Even though this process is called the tank cycle, the process continues on after the 6 weeks but is stabalized (with regular tank maintenance) so that you don't get the ammonia and nitrite spikes. After the 6 weeks you have the bacteria developed so that AS the ammonia enters the tank it is broken down into nitrites and the nitrites are broken down into nitrates AS they develop without the spikeing. This is why regular tank maintenance is so important. If you don't do the maintenance you develop too much bacteria in the tank to break down the waste.The overabundance of bacteria is what causes fungus to develop in the tank. Hope this helps.

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Posts: 40
From:Surrey, B.C., Canada
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 10-19-2003 07:41 PM         

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What about the fishless cycle???

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Posts: 4
From:California
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 10-19-2003 08:15 PM         

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Hi, i'm new to fish and aquarium, but i heard a lot about tank cycle and i'm confuse about it. It good or bad? I mean when you first setup your tank with nice and clean water. When people speak of cycling your water, does it mean you can't put fish in after 6-8 week before it cycle or you can? Just confuse me here a whole bunch.

Thanks a lot.

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Posts: 429
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 10-19-2003 11:06 PM         

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"...What about the fishless cycle???..." I'm assuming you're referring to the chemical products to cycle a tank. I'm not in favor of chemical tanks. Once you start using chemicals you have to continue using chemicals to maintain the tank. I believe in operating the tank as natural as possible. Besides if I tell silver to just dump some chemicals in his tank he still will not understand what a bacterial cycle is about.

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Posts: 8
From:Arizona
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 10-19-2003 11:59 PM         

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FISHLESS CYCLING:
Cycling without fish.
The process of introducing pure ammonia to an aquarium along with something that will produce bacteria i.e. floss "juice", gravel, or sand from another established tank.
This process takes less time usually, than cycling with fish and doesn't kill fish.
A website describing it: http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html
You know, the internet is full of good information, just go to google.com and type in a couple of words like "fishless cycling" and you'd be surprised what 'pops up'!
This is the only method I use to cycle my tanks, and was the method I used to cycle my 2500 gallon tropical fish pond. Works great, takes about 3 to 6 weeks depending on how much bacteria from an established tank is introduced--regardless of the size of the tank.
The only change I made in this process after learning over time, is that I quit adding any ammonia after the nitrite spike AND did enough 50% water changes after the nitrites returned to zero, to get the nitrate level down to 20ppm or less.

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Posts: 8
From:Arizona
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 10-20-2003 12:19 AM         

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Oh One More Thing...
The water isn't where the bacteria grows. Bacteria grows wherever there is organic material for it to grow in or on i.e. in the gravel, in the fiter floss, in the roots of plants. So what I do to keep from disrupting the beneficial bacterial growth in my tank is change the water and vacuum my gravel lightly one week, rinse my filter floss/carbon the next week, change water and vacuum gravel lightly the third week and change the filter completely (but not vacuum or change water) the fourth week. So--I change 50% water twice a month, and vacuum twice a month, rinse filter once a month and completely change filter once a month. Have never lost a fish doing this. I also check nitrate levels weekly and do a 50% water change if they get over 30 ppm. I haven't lost a single fish doing this. I have six large tanks (30 gallons on up) and have actively reproducing tetras (several varieties), mollys (several varieties), platys, swordtails, zebras (all types) and chinese algae eaters. I also add salt to all my tanks except the ones with the tetras and I go about half dose in tanks with live plants.

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