Cycling a 90 gallon

[jacobfata]

So guys im cycling the 90 gallon Discus setup that i just had installed today. It comes with built in filtration and a sump, heater 86• F , uv sterilizer, i added some suggested filter media the owner suggested and a used filter media pad from the current 55 gallon “growout” that houses the dozen discus, neon cardinals, small clown loaches, three Cory cats and s few tiger loaches. It was important to me to have another Cichlid in the aquarium so I also purchased s fee gold German and blue rams 1-2 inches. So yes, the 55 is temporary until I cycle the 90 gallon: I added about a dozen neons and my female bettas to start the whole process. I even added a few net fulls of sand from the original aquarium to the new aquarium to hopefully add to the developing bacteria. The setup is full of sand, lots of live plants and driftwood. I think I might add one or two discus in a couple of weeks, estimating. I’m eager to switch the tanks out but I know this is one thing I’m not going to rush.

Right now their water parameters are excellent in the growout aquarium... with nitrates and ammonia at zero with a pH oh 6.8-7.0 and the temp is around 86.

I’ve included pics of the temporary 55 gallon that the fish are in right now and pictures of the newly installed 90 gallon I’m trying to do a fast cycle on

Let me know what you guys think!

(and yes I’m aware of the potential size of every fish that I have )

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

If you’re switching the tanks out, then what many people do is simply take the filters off of the old tank and put them on the new tank and move the fish over right away. I see that your new setup has built-in filtration, so you could put your old filters on it now, run them with the new filter for several weeks/months, and start to slowly, one-by-one remove the old filters and let the new filter start to pick up the bb needed to keep up with the system. I have used this method myself with success.

However, since you have discus, you will need to monitor everything very closely and might need to do some extra Prime dosing and water changes for the first few weeks.

Nice score on the 90 and great looking scape!

 

[Regeneration]

You’re on the right path, when i set up my 300 i simply took the ceramic media from my old 90 and spread it out with the new sump media and added my fish 1 by 1 every couple days, never had ammonia over Alert zone, just do your water changes and monitor it, good luck

 

[jacobfata]

Thank you both for the replies. As you stated, my new setup has a sump and built in filtration.. unlike the 55 gallon which has an aqua clear and FluvalSmart hang on the back. So far I took out a filter media pad from the Fluval and placed it in the sump. They were recently replaced like I do every two weeks though (with the fluval HOB cartridges) and the aqua clear in only about a month old and I often rinse the media during cleanings. So I’m thinking, let the media in the 55 gallon aqua clear “collect” bacteria and switch in on to the 90 gallon soon. Or is it better to just throw in used media pads into the sump? All of the driftwood and plants are from the 55. I’m just questioning when it’s going to be safe at a few more fish. Right now I have about a dozen cardinals in there.

Thank you guys for helping me. I need skmekne

 

[jacobfata]

The awaiting discus and others.

 

[skjl47]

with nitrates and ammonia at zero

Hello; My take has been that there should be some number of nitrates in a cycled tank. The generally accepted range for the three basic water tests are ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and around 20 ppm nitrates. Your pictures show a lot of fish for either a 55 or for a 90 gallon. They must be small at this point but the numbers of fish should be making nitrates.