hi everybody i am upgrading to a 180 gallon tank very shortly and was wondering your opinions on how long it would take to cycle? If it helps, i am probably going to go with a fish cycle, and i have a 45 gallon tank running which i have access to water/filter media if it will help speed up the cycling process. I am planning on putting mainly motoro stingrays in this tank as well. I also was probably going to use a wet/dry filtration system unless i learn of a better filtration system to use instead.
180 cycling time?
- Thread starter messesb52
- Start date
Hi,
I would for sure use some existing media or mulm/substrate from a mature tank to help. toss a few sponges in that tank NOW and they will also colonize a bit...
Depends on how many fish you cycle with, your water change schedule, etc. Honestly, your bio-bed will adjust to the size of the load. So if you cycle with guppies, and then toss in a full grown dovi, then I would say you will not have a large enough bio filter
You can feed more heavily in the mature tank which will spike the nh4 and then some more bio bacteria. This will help seed the extra sponges you tossed in there.
I don't know a thing about rays or their needs, but a 'better' filtration system is all in the eyes of the user and what works for their configuration. I will say that sumps and wet/drys are excellent filters for fish only tanks as they provide an excellent bio filter and usually a bit more 02 than a closed loop canister.
Based on the size of the fish and their feeding habits, you may want a sump wet/dry in addition to a large mechanical type filter.
Or I had a closed loop with a large Nu-clear mech canister and a Nu-clear bio-media canister in a closed loop config on my 180 and worked fine. I do not however keep large fish...
Many ways to go here for filtration.
Hope this helps. Sorry I can't give you a definite timeframe as too many variables....
I have done sumps and closed loops and both worked well.
I would for sure use some existing media or mulm/substrate from a mature tank to help. toss a few sponges in that tank NOW and they will also colonize a bit...
Depends on how many fish you cycle with, your water change schedule, etc. Honestly, your bio-bed will adjust to the size of the load. So if you cycle with guppies, and then toss in a full grown dovi, then I would say you will not have a large enough bio filter
You can feed more heavily in the mature tank which will spike the nh4 and then some more bio bacteria. This will help seed the extra sponges you tossed in there.
I don't know a thing about rays or their needs, but a 'better' filtration system is all in the eyes of the user and what works for their configuration. I will say that sumps and wet/drys are excellent filters for fish only tanks as they provide an excellent bio filter and usually a bit more 02 than a closed loop canister.
Based on the size of the fish and their feeding habits, you may want a sump wet/dry in addition to a large mechanical type filter.
Or I had a closed loop with a large Nu-clear mech canister and a Nu-clear bio-media canister in a closed loop config on my 180 and worked fine. I do not however keep large fish...
Many ways to go here for filtration.
Hope this helps. Sorry I can't give you a definite timeframe as too many variables....
I have done sumps and closed loops and both worked well.
If you are going to upgrade to a 180 and want to use a wet/dry, make sure you get your filter before you fill it w/ water. some stands have small doors and you wont be able to put in the sump from the front. If you are going to build or buy the stand new, get the ones w/ the big double doors and or the ones w/ the big door on the side of the stand so you can slide a big sump inside. If you can hide your w/d inside it will look a lot cleaner. I think the best filtration is a combo of w/d for surface skimming and added water storage inside the sump. In addition add a hob or a canister filter to suck up the crap from the bottom of the tank.
The advantage of having two filtration system is if one fail, you still have another one that is established w/ bb already.
The advantage of having two filtration system is if one fail, you still have another one that is established w/ bb already.