I've never 'cycled' a tank. Those that I've done from scratch, I've slowly added fish and have done light feedings and water changes for awhile. Never had any problems. Other times i've borrowed filters or gravel.
cycling a new tank
- Thread starter azzbackwards
- Start date
This exactly what I do. I have 3 large canisters with way, way more than enough ceramic media. This is so, should I ever need to set up a hospital tank or a quarantine tank.....boom! instant cycle.
You can also do it the super hard way, when starting from scratch, by be willing to do 30%+ water changes every day for a month.
I'm a total convert to fishless cycling with pure ammonia. Then again, I am a perfectionist and I always want to know what's going on in my tank. I even graph out all my water parameters. I have done this successfully for my last 3 tanks and have never had any parameter problems or tank crashes since I used this method.
My reasons are that none of the commercially available "bacteria in a bottle" contain the same kind of bacteria that will naturally occur if you cycle a tank properly. This is because the beneficial bacteria need oxygen and water flow to survive. How can they survive if they are lying on the LFS shelf for a year in an airtight container? They say they lie dormant, but there are not the same bacteria. Thus, you have to constantly replenish these bacteria with every water change, and you can randomly get tank crashes and loss of livestock. Apparently only Drs Foster Smith's one and only comes close to being similar to the natural bacteria. I elect to cycle naturally, so don't use any.
Secondly, no matter what anyone says and what your stance on cruelty is, fish-in cycling DOES damage the cycling fish. There is no way it cannot. The ammonia then nitrite has to build up to a perceptible level (and it shows on water test kits) in the tank to become a food source for the BB to multiply. ANY ammonia and nitrite is harmful to fish. Fish-in cycling is actually a lot more work as you need to do very frequent water changes to keep those poor cycling fish alive.
This is the way I do it:
1. Fill tank with water, run filter with all the media, use some seeding media if you have as this will accelerate things. If you have plants, put them in now as the cycling process makes their growth go nuts.
2. Do a base level water parameter check
3. Add in pure ammonia to a calculated level of 2-3 ppm. I use ammonium chloride I buy off ebay as I cannot get pure household ammonia in my country. Now is the time to invest in a $20 accurate digital scale off ebay (mine reads to nearest mg). My 180G just needs 2 grams of ammmonium chloride. Cloudy ammonia is NOT SAFE as it contains surfactants and additives.
4. Crank up the temperature to 30C (86F). This accelerates BB growth.
Note that times are based on NOT using seeding material. If you are, they are roughly halved in my experience.
5. For the first 1-2 weeks, check water parameters twice a week. Not much is going to happen. Your ammonia level is going to be steady at 2-4 ppm.
6. Ensure your pH is kept alkaline. Around 8.0 is best for fast cycling. BB stop multiplying at ph 6.0 or so, thus stalling your cycle. This would happen to me since I have soft, sl.acidic tap water and driftwood, but I counteract this by calculating and adding pure bicarb soda from the supermarket (sodium bicarbonate). I use 1 teaspoon per 5 gals of tank water. This usually brings it to 8.0. Also hardens the water to buffer against further acidification. I only ever have to do this once during each cycle, I have found.
7. In week 2 or so you should start getting nitrite readings, and your ammonia levels should be gradually dropping. Ensure you always have readable ammonia as this is the cornerstone of your cycle. Add more as per calculation to keep around 2 ppm ammonia. (eg., if it's reading 0.5 ppm, dose up another 1.5 ppm of ammonia based on calculation). If you have no ammonia for a few days the bacteria will starve to death and you have to restart from scratch.
8. In week 3 or so you will finally start getting some nitrate readings along with your ammo and nitrite readings. Keep dosing ammo.
9. There will come a time when your nitrites are sky high off the charts and your ammo is getting consumed rapidly, yet your nitrates are still low. Do a 90% water change at this stage. Otherwise the sky high nitrites can actually stall your cycle. You may have to repeat this again if it happens again.
10. Hopefully by week 4-6 (depending on how much seeding material you used), you will have reached the magic goal of ammo 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates high. Dose up ammo to 2 ppm, then recheck water in 24 hours. If it shows the same thing, CONGRATULATIONS! Your tank is officially cycled!. Now if you wanted to, you could actually add in 100% of your stocking all at once. I usually don't quarantine at the start of a new tank. There is no doubt that you have a bulletproof filter. If you are going to delay putting fish in, just feed enough ammo every day or so to keep ppm around 1. Remember to turn down the heater.
My reasons are that none of the commercially available "bacteria in a bottle" contain the same kind of bacteria that will naturally occur if you cycle a tank properly. This is because the beneficial bacteria need oxygen and water flow to survive. How can they survive if they are lying on the LFS shelf for a year in an airtight container? They say they lie dormant, but there are not the same bacteria. Thus, you have to constantly replenish these bacteria with every water change, and you can randomly get tank crashes and loss of livestock. Apparently only Drs Foster Smith's one and only comes close to being similar to the natural bacteria. I elect to cycle naturally, so don't use any.
Secondly, no matter what anyone says and what your stance on cruelty is, fish-in cycling DOES damage the cycling fish. There is no way it cannot. The ammonia then nitrite has to build up to a perceptible level (and it shows on water test kits) in the tank to become a food source for the BB to multiply. ANY ammonia and nitrite is harmful to fish. Fish-in cycling is actually a lot more work as you need to do very frequent water changes to keep those poor cycling fish alive.
This is the way I do it:
1. Fill tank with water, run filter with all the media, use some seeding media if you have as this will accelerate things. If you have plants, put them in now as the cycling process makes their growth go nuts.
2. Do a base level water parameter check
3. Add in pure ammonia to a calculated level of 2-3 ppm. I use ammonium chloride I buy off ebay as I cannot get pure household ammonia in my country. Now is the time to invest in a $20 accurate digital scale off ebay (mine reads to nearest mg). My 180G just needs 2 grams of ammmonium chloride. Cloudy ammonia is NOT SAFE as it contains surfactants and additives.
4. Crank up the temperature to 30C (86F). This accelerates BB growth.
Note that times are based on NOT using seeding material. If you are, they are roughly halved in my experience.
5. For the first 1-2 weeks, check water parameters twice a week. Not much is going to happen. Your ammonia level is going to be steady at 2-4 ppm.
6. Ensure your pH is kept alkaline. Around 8.0 is best for fast cycling. BB stop multiplying at ph 6.0 or so, thus stalling your cycle. This would happen to me since I have soft, sl.acidic tap water and driftwood, but I counteract this by calculating and adding pure bicarb soda from the supermarket (sodium bicarbonate). I use 1 teaspoon per 5 gals of tank water. This usually brings it to 8.0. Also hardens the water to buffer against further acidification. I only ever have to do this once during each cycle, I have found.
7. In week 2 or so you should start getting nitrite readings, and your ammonia levels should be gradually dropping. Ensure you always have readable ammonia as this is the cornerstone of your cycle. Add more as per calculation to keep around 2 ppm ammonia. (eg., if it's reading 0.5 ppm, dose up another 1.5 ppm of ammonia based on calculation). If you have no ammonia for a few days the bacteria will starve to death and you have to restart from scratch.
8. In week 3 or so you will finally start getting some nitrate readings along with your ammo and nitrite readings. Keep dosing ammo.
9. There will come a time when your nitrites are sky high off the charts and your ammo is getting consumed rapidly, yet your nitrates are still low. Do a 90% water change at this stage. Otherwise the sky high nitrites can actually stall your cycle. You may have to repeat this again if it happens again.
10. Hopefully by week 4-6 (depending on how much seeding material you used), you will have reached the magic goal of ammo 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates high. Dose up ammo to 2 ppm, then recheck water in 24 hours. If it shows the same thing, CONGRATULATIONS! Your tank is officially cycled!. Now if you wanted to, you could actually add in 100% of your stocking all at once. I usually don't quarantine at the start of a new tank. There is no doubt that you have a bulletproof filter. If you are going to delay putting fish in, just feed enough ammo every day or so to keep ppm around 1. Remember to turn down the heater.
