how do you know when your tank is cycled?

[thatonegirl]

I just toss them in. If nitro gets to high, then they should just WALK IT OFF! Be a true monster, damn wussy fish. LOL

I'll admit I only cycled one tank with fish and that was back when I was like "what?" about the nitrogen cycle. LOL Every tank since then I've just run my new filter on an existing tank for a few weeks and transfered it when I added fish, checking ammo levels every couple days and doing water changed frequently.

But my acclimation methods are much more impatient. LOL

 

[Elasmofreak]

Well aware, I've done this by buying Danio's and feeding heavy, to really get the filters seeded quickly, water changes intially only prolong the process. If you add fish you want to keep, then frequent water changes are a must in order to keep them alive. A full cycle from scratch takes minimum of 30 days up to 40.....

Full cycle time can vary greatly... I have cycled indoor ponds in less than 2 weeks... using nothing more than liverock and sandbed. Also adding a live bacteria ex. special blend will help drastically.

 

[rhinod56]

after you add something to get things going, once the amonia, nitrites, and nitrates get high, and then amonia, and nitrite should fall back to zero, and nitrate should either be at 0, or at a very low level.. then your all set, and just add a few fish at a time, and before adding more, wait for the spike to drop down again
GL

 

[Hakon]

As you guys say, the tank are ammonia and nitrite has fall back to zero.
I agree with Elasmofreak, cycle vary. Some of my tanks was cycled after a few days, and some after a few months.

 

[Ang]

I cycle my tanks the fishless way. I add ammonia until the ammonia spikes, cut my ammonia additions in half, the ammonia will drop and nitrites will spike, i keep adding ammonia to feed the bacteria. Nitrite can take a while to go back down to zero. The second type of bacteria that feeds on the nitrites grows pretty slow.
Then you'll get a nitrAte spike.
Do a heavy water change without vacuuming the gravel. (if you do it the fishless way)

Your tank is safe for fish when Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 10-20.

 

[Ang]

It took my 125 gallon 3 weeks.

 

[Slim2634]

can i just put about 5-8 rosy red feeders in there to speed up the process? and then when the cycling is done watch them get eaten lol. i wont feed feeders very much at all so dont worry there. probably once every 2 or 3 months.

 

[Ang]

It will probably take longer that way.

Plus, if you're planning on putting large fish in the tank, you want to have a bacterial colony large enough to handle larger fish.
You would have to use quite a few little fish to create enough ammonia to grow a large enough bacteria colony to handle bigger, messier fish.

If the fish that will be going into the 55 are going to be babies still and pretty small themselves. Then it would probably work.
But you would also want to be careful that the fish you use to cycle it arent diseased or ill. Especially when it comes time for them to get eaten. You want to feed your big fish healthy food.

 

[Slim2634]

It will probably take longer that way.

Plus, if you're planning on putting large fish in the tank, you want to have a bacterial colony large enough to handle larger fish.
You would have to use quite a few little fish to create enough ammonia to grow a large enough bacteria colony to handle bigger, messier fish.

If the fish that will be going into the 55 are going to be babies still and pretty small themselves. Then it would probably work.
But you would also want to be careful that the fish you use to cycle it arent diseased or ill. Especially when it comes time for them to get eaten. You want to feed your big fish healthy food.

i think im getting some baby green terrors from a member off here (not babies just a few inches long) and im sure that he takes good care of his fish and they are disease free. i know you meant the rosy reds, which i might not even put those in there. i might just put some hardy pet fish in there so that they are less likely to have disease

 

[Scottfree]

Go withy Zebra Danios abotu 6-10, they are cheap and you'll end up liking them, they are pretty damned cool. I was originally going to use mine as feeders, but then I decided they were just too cool, so I've given them their own 15g.....