Member

Posts: 200
From:canada
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-19-2003 05:35 PM         

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i got my tank going again and move to a better location, its been running sinse saturday im gonna let it run two weeks before i put fish in again is this too long?

im anxious about starting again.

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Posts: 806
From:
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 08-19-2003 09:26 PM         

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Put some of those bad boys in there. The tank won't start to cycle until there are fish giving off waste in there. Unless your waiting to make sure there won't be another blackout. Good luck.

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Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-20-2003 03:38 PM         

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It's always been my experience that if you just remove the water the tank will not need to recycle. as long as you still have the same filter cartrige and or substrate there should be plenty of bacteria left in the tank.

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James (The Grateful One)

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Posts: 806
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posted 08-20-2003 11:22 PM         

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If the filter and/or substrate dry out the bacteria dies.

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Posts: 183
From:austin,tx, usa
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 08-21-2003 06:17 AM         

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talking about cycling.. we started up our new 37 gallon with a biowheel from the 55 gallon (uses two) and all old gravel, plants and rocks/decorations/driftwood from the 55. the tank had a little cloudiness which algone cleared up. but I added a bunch of fish all at once and and never had any illnesses, not even ich! I did stay on top of water changes every 2-3 days. I think using the old stuff makes a huge amount of difference.. none of the stuff ever dried out. I was reading recently that you can fishless cycle your tank by feeding it even though there are no fish. also, there are products out there that claim to fishless cycle your tank fast.. anyone find those useful? I'd consider that with another tank if I had no slimey biowheel to spare.

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Posts: 277
From: Indy
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-21-2003 09:00 AM         

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I've always just used my "old stuff" and drop in a pinch of flakes everyday for awhile checked parameters then added fish. Never had to slowly add a few at a time either. I did read an article on fishless cycling using pure amonia but never tried it.

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James (The Grateful One)

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Posts: 52
From:Farmington Hills, MI, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 08-21-2003 11:36 AM         

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I actually did the fishless cycling with pure ammonia and it works, however, its SLOW. I'm talking two months for my 10 gallon. The problem is, you can only put so much ammonia in the tank before its overrun and the bacteria can't break it all down. So, you have to go slow.

The nice part was, with a little patience, I have never lost any fish due to tank cycling.

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Posts: 806
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posted 08-21-2003 10:41 PM         

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dianenm, the procedure you described is not cycling a tank your setting up a tank that is already cycled. The only problem that you can run into setting it up that way is if you put in all NEW water that varies greatly from the tank the filter and gravel came from and possibly killing out some of the bacteria. If that happens you can possibly get a cycle hang. Whenever I set up a new tank I use gravel from an existing tank, and do water changes on all my tanks and put the water I'm taking out and put it into the new tank. Since I work all my tanks on the same schedule the water in all of them are pretty close. I have never tried using ammonia or the other comercial products like cycle in trying to cycle a tank. Ammonia like you get at the store is chemical in nature and not organic like what develops in your tank from fish waste. I try to use chemicals as little as possible. At one time I tried to set up the perfect tank (PH, hardness, trace elements, etc.) for one type of fish. The only way that it could be done was chemically. I found out very quickly that it is impossible to keep a perfectly balanced chemical tank. Good job on your natural cycled tank.

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Posts: 183
From:austin,tx, usa
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 08-22-2003 06:44 AM         

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oh that's a great tip on using the old water too! wish I'd thought of that! I'll remember for next time though. thanks : )

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