Big tanks take longer to cycle than small tanks

[brcacti]

Does a 300 gal take longer to cycle than a 15 or 20 gal tank?

 

[fishandstuff]

i would say no. my 100 gallon cycled in a week. i used the filter off another established tank.

 

[dirtyblacksocks]

Only reason a big tank would take longer is if you overstocked it right off the bat - how long a tank takes to cycle is based around the initial bioload, not the water volume.

 

[johnptc]

its not a quickly answered question.

the bigger the tank the bigger the bio filter.

if you start a small tank and a large tank with the same ppm of ammonia and the same amount of seed bacteria it will take longer to cycle the larger tank.

if you add the same amount of seed bacteria per gallon of water they should cycle in approximately the same time frame.

when i cycled a 2400 gallon system from scratch with ammonia chlorate and seed bacteria it took 7+ weeks for the nitrite to be undectable