Cycling a tank in a week

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Holdenon5

Holdenon5

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 28, 2015
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Grand Rapids, MI
Hi I'm setting up 40 gallon breeder today and my concern is that I'm picking up a 4 inch black piranha in about 10 days and was wondering if I could get my tank cycled within that time? I bought seachem stability to help speed up the process. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
It can definitely be done, but IME, it's hard to predict exactly how long a cycle will take. Do you have an established tank that you can take filter media from?
 
Filter media would be more effective, but yes it would help. Make sure the bacteria has a source of ammonia as well (i.e. dirty water), or it will die off.
 
If you use a few ornaments, a filter cartridge, and maybe a handful of substrate from a well established tank, there is really not much need to cycle.
I never do, because those things are always available to me.
But if starting from scratch, or your other tank is fairly newly set up, it often takes 6-8 weeks to grow a population of bacteria large enough to handle a significant bioload.
 
Holdenon5 said:
yeah so should I use a filter cartridge from another tank.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn't see this reply. Do you only have one filter on the established tank with one cartridge? If that's the case, you shouldn't remove it. You'll still need to leave enough seeded media in the old tank to keep it running.
 
Setup your tank and lets it run, if you have any fish that can be use to keep new tank at minimal bio load before your Piranha arrived then it would be better if not then it's still ok. You will need couple bottles of BB booster ready, when your Piranha arrived acclimate it then use the bio media from your established tank in your new tank (not required but good if you have some) and dose your tank with BB booster daily, keep 30% daily water change for a week and don't over feed, your tank would be fine after a week. Remember, this method is abusing BB booster product so you will have to use it a lot. Good Luck!
**Note: I was using this Fluval Biological Enhancer fast cycle any new tank setup and its works wonderful no fish loss whatsoever.
 
I have an extra filter cartridge in one of my established tanks the only thing is that the filter is different from the one on the 40g.(one's marineland and the other is a fluval).
 
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