Accelerating the nitrogen cycle

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Diogenes

Diogenes

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 9, 2008
2,407
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Birmingham, AL
I understand how the cycle works, so I don't need any explanation there. What i am wondering is how do you make it happen faster? I'm setting up a new tank and I want to stock it with species that need a mature biofilter. I want to order some stock from Rapps before he runs out, and i'd rather not wait 30-45 days for the whole thing to cycle.

I already have an existing tank that I can get bioactive material from. I was planning on filling the tank with dirty water from my other tank, and also adding a pantyhose full of inoculated substrate from my old tank to the new tank when i set it up. Should I add fish, or cycle with pure chemical ammonia?

I'm setting the tank up Tuesday i think, so I don't have time for the bubble filter in the old aquarium method. Any ideas? I;ll be using an eheim canister, and i plan on planting heavily.

thanks in advance.
 
A sponge or other bio-media from your old filter would be alot better than just gravel. Most people say using the water doesn't do much good, as most of your BB are attached to solid surfaces.

It really depends on how big your tank is and how heavily you're stocking it. As long as you've made some kind of effort to transfer bacteria from an established tank, and you pay very close attention to your water chemistry until everything stabilizes, you should be okay. The plants will help too.
 
well the filter on my old tank is like a hang on back, it has cartridges. My new tank has a canister filter. How could I incorporate that media into a tank with a can on it? Could I just drop the old cartridge into the tank and let her rip?
 
I would cut the material off the cartridge, and wrap it around the intake strainer tube and secure it with plastic zip ties.
 
You should probably add an ammonia source now too if you're not getting fish for a few days. Personally, if I'm in a hurry to add fish to a new tank, I use granulated ammonium chloride in conjunction with old biomedia. Then, as soon as I see nitrate at all, I do a 100% water change and begin lightly stocking. My reasoning is, the presence of nitrate shows the necessary bacteria are at least present, although probably not in sufficient quantities yet. You just have to be extra vigilant in monitoring your water chemistry and be prepared to do water changes if ammonia or nitrite get out of hand. Using Prime also detoxifies the ammonia and nitrite. Cycling doesn't have to take 45 days, it just requires a little extra attention if you're in a hurry.
 
thats a good point. i'm an H2O change fanatic anyway. The plants will help too. Maybe the dirty water's not such a good idea because it will show nitrates before the cycle is complete. The thing is I'm gonna be stocking it with tetras, cory's and dwarf cichlids -fish which are notorious for needing a mature biofilter. I have some archocentrus cichlids I can add. They're about 2-3" leftovers from my last spawn. Really hardy. I was gonna let them pair off.
 
your canister has a basket in it right? whatever you have in the basket, throw your HOB stuff in there, you should be alright
 
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