Brand New tank Cycling?

[Nyghtfire]

Heya, just got a 95L brand new tank and am currently attempting to cycle it.
Water temp has been hanging around 21 degrees celsius.
Currently have a few rosy barbs in there to cycle it, (about 1 inch long)
Anyways, was told not to do any water changes for about 4 weeks, but this just seemed a little odd to me, so basically, looked up about cycling a new tank, and what i've read some say every 2 weeks with a 15-20% water change, and others said weekly and one said monthly....

also, 95 litres = 25 Gallons
21 degrees Celsius = 70 Degrees Farenheit.
Should cover international measurement differences

Also, i know my tank is only small, but starting small with small fish to get used to it before i move on to bigger more difficult fish.

 

[Nyghtfire]

Heya, just bumping it up

 

[Toby_H]

Rosie Reds are cold water fish, so the 70*F/21*C is wonderful... someone will surely suggest you warm up the tank suggesting that the bacteria will do better at a warmer temp. But in reality the possible difference it will make on the bacteria is negligable... So again, the 70*C/21*C is fine...

The fish in your tank are creating ammoina, that is the inevitable result of keeping fish...

Allowing ammonia levels to build up beyond 1 or 2 ppm is harmful to your fish and higher concentrations are of no benefit to your cycling process... Thus I would encourage you to do water changes to prevent the ammonia from building up beyond 1ppm, 2 ppm max... or the nitrite from building up to 2 ppm, 4 ppm max...

These levels are only for fish you do not care about. If you are cycling with fish you wish to keep and allow to thrive after the cycle, I suggest keeping ammonia/nitrite levels much lower...

 

[dvega]

bump

 

[Pepito]

Water changes during cycling isn't a bad thing, but I'd avoid doing it too often or vacuuming the substrate until the bacteria are established. Testing the water frequently will let you know if the bacteria are developing and also if the ammonia levels are still in a safe range for your fish.

 

[Cliff519]

As you are cycling with fish, I would test the water daily. If ammoina or nitrite level get above 1 ppm, I would complete a 50% water change. Level higher than 1 ppm can be toxic to most fish

 

[boldtogether]

^Agreed^
50% twice weekly on such a small tank wont hurt anything if the ammonia starts to climb rapidly. Smaller tanks aren't as forgiving to human error/neglect and the cycleing process can be more pronounced. In other words, an increase in ammonia on Monday, could be fatal Tuesday. So, carefully watch not only the water parameters, but the fish as well.

 

[squint]

Rosie Reds are cold water fish, so the 70*F/21*C is wonderful... someone will surely suggest you warm up the tank suggesting that the bacteria will do better at a warmer temp. But in reality the possible difference it will make on the bacteria is negligable... So again, the 70*C/21*C is fine...

Effect of environmental factors on nitrifying bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of Setaria italica (L.) Beauv

Suspensions of both Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter were prepared
by adding 2 ml sterile distilled water to the freshly grown slants.
From this, 100 μl suspension was inoculated into 50 ml basal
medium (pH 8.0) in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask and incubated on a
rotary shaker (150 rpm) at different temperatures; 20, 30, 40 and
50ºC for 5 days.

The optimum temperature for growth of Nitrosomonas
and Nitrobacter bacteria is 30ºC. Growth rate decreased
nearly by 50% at 20ºC and 40ºC (Figures 1 and 2).

Similarly, both the bacteria exhibited maximum growth at
pH 8.0. At pH 4, 6, and 10 the growth rate decreased
nearly by 50% (Figures 3 and 4).

Results from our studies confirmed that Nitrobacter is
less tolerant to low temperature (20ºC) than
Nitrosomonas. Similar results were also obtained by
Alleman (2000). According to Polanco et al. (1994),
maximum bacterial activation effect in case of
Nitrosomonas was observed at 30ºC.

 

[Toby_H]

^^Keep reading and you will find many studies that show very small differences in growth rates based on the small differneces in temperatures that we are discussing here...

Or are you suggesting he jack the temperature up to 86*F (30*C) and kill the Rosie Reds?

 

[squint]

^^Keep reading and you will find many studies that show very small differences in growth rates based on the small differneces in temperatures that we are discussing here...

Why don't you cite some of these studies?

The temperatures being discussed in the thread are 21C vs. a tropical temperature, 80-82F or 27-28C. With a whopping 50% increase from 20C to 30C, we get an estimated 5% increase in growth rates per 1C increase in temperature over 20C. For an increase in temperature from 21C to 28C (70F to 82F), we get a corresponding 35% increase in growth rates.