300 gallon Cycle question.

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SeverumSeeker

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 25, 2008
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O.K. I have been going back and forth trying to figure the best and safe way to cycle my 300g.
I did not want to use some feeder fish or any other fish I was not planning on leaving in the tank because the thought of trying to catch them in my large tank once there job is done is just out of the question.
I am really not comfortable with the pure ammonia method.
And I did not want to use the Cichlids I have now for the job cause I dont want to loose any of them during the process.

Sooo.... I was wondering if I could use the Emperor 400 HOB filter that is on my 75 gallon to cycle the 300 gallon.
How effective would the Emperor 400 be and how fast could a well seeded Emp 400 cycle the 300g?

The only issue with using the Emp. 400 from the 75 gallon is that I will have to put one of my brand new Emp 400's on the 75g while the fish continue to reside there.
And that filter will have to build up bacteria which may cause a Bloom in the 75 gallon.

What do you guy's think? Would the Seeded Emperor 400 be enough to quickly cycle the 300 gallon?
If so, how fast do you think I would be able to put the Cichlids from the 75g in the 300g?

Just as a side note.... The 300g has been set up for about 2 weeks.
No fish...Just a lot of plastic plants and driftwood.
 
using cycled media/filters IMO is the best/easyest method... if you are not adding new fish the bioload wont really change...
squeezing your established media into the new tank/filters will help seed everything then you can either let the old and new filters run on the new tank or just add the old media to the new filters... seeding happens as soon as the bb grab onto their new home...
then as long as yer tank is to temp just add your fish

keep an eye on your fish and check your levels from time to time...


adding feeders will also work but it bings up all the issues with using feeders in general.. and then depending on what type of cichlids you have you may or may not end up with new tank mates
 
If you add your filter with beneficial bacterial to the empty 300 you'll just kill your bacteria. In an empty aquarium the bacteria won't have any food and will die.

So you can use a new filter and pure ammonia, or you can put your fish in the tank WITH the established filter, and maybe a backup just in case, and still be fine.
 
It will be faster using the emperor and moving over some cichlids. I personally would use the emperor and a nice fishless cycle but that is just me
 
In my 300 I used 24 Tiger Barbs. I tested daily and never registered ammonia. On week #3 I barely registered nitrite, and that only registered for a couple of days. After week#5 or so I finally registered nitrates.

With large tanks I think if you go slow in the beginning on stocking the tank will gently cycle.

I have a 200 gallon sump also so I was actually cycling 500 gallons of water.
 
Well, I jumped all in today. I removed the gravel and the Emp 400 from my 75 gallon and put it all in the 300 gallon.
I also removed all the fish and put them in there as well.
Guess I will have to keep up on the water conditions and water changes for a few weeks so I dont loose any fish.
Wish me luck.
 
SeverumSeeker;2727371; said:
Well, I jumped all in today. I removed the gravel and the Emp 400 from my 75 gallon and put it all in the 300 gallon.
I also removed all the fish and put them in there as well.
Guess I will have to keep up on the water conditions and water changes for a few weeks so I dont loose any fish.
Wish me luck.
Click to expand...
Good luck you did the right thing IMO
 
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