Cycling questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Jaketownsend36;3768777; said:
Every day, run tests on the water until Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are at 0! Also, remember to ALWAYS add a dechlorinator to tap water. Chlorine must be at 0 too!!

Nitrate at zero? I don't think so, seems you have been misinformed and I suggest reading up on the nitrogen cycle. A cycled tank will show a continued rise of nitrate levels.
 
Well, keep the Nitrate levels as low as possible. Very rarely had nitrate spikes because of the amount of plants i kept.
 
Acura_RSX;3772229; said:
okay. as of right now the tank has been set up and running for 3 days .. i added my 10 inch oscar again yesterday ..

Acura_RSX;3772608; said:
they are both already in the tank. so using them anyways. main reason is because between 5 courses at school working around temporarily running a company for another 2 weeks .. theres no way i could go about adding ammonia and doing tests that often .. every second day i probably wont be home. or for a few days in a row.


fishbum;3772982; said:
If you don't have time to add liquid ammonia,how are you going to do what will probably be daily water changes to keep the Oscars alive until the tank cycles?


I know how to cycle a tank with or without fish.Not sure why you quoted me when you posted this link dawnmarie. ;)
dawnmarie;3774610; said:
 
as for the time part .. the w/c's aren't daily .. every third day i deffinatly get a spare half an hour so hes been getting w/c's every third day and he seems pretty good so far .. still eating. ate again this morning and he still seems happy. problem is from what i've read. if i went fishless cycle, and only added ammonia every three days. id be at it foreverrr before my tank was cycled.
 
using established media and liquid ammonia is the, easiest, quickest, cleanest way to cycle a tank.

if u don't have time to add liquid ammonia and test ur water?? then i don't understand anything..

its faster to add ammonia and check ur water.. but instead u wish to do water changes at ur own discretion? potentially, killing ur Oscar? plus its going to take longer to do a water change... then testing..

i feel confused..like im missing something..
 
Deaths Sting;3779196; said:
using established media and liquid ammonia is the, easiest, quickest, cleanest way to cycle a tank.

if u don't have time to add liquid ammonia and test ur water?? then i don't understand anything..

its faster to add ammonia and check ur water.. but instead u wish to do water changes at ur own discretion? potentially, killing ur Oscar? plus its going to take longer to do a water change... then testing..

i feel confused..like im missing something..

okay. i get it .. every guide i read has it saying add ammonia every day .. can someone show me the guide or give me details as to how to go about doing this the ammonia way if im only home every third day. can i just add more ammonia then prescribed every third day? .. right now i have my younger sister giving the oscar a bit of food everyday but she complains about that. no way i'd be able to get her adding ammonia or using test kits. so is there a way to go with the ammonia route if im only home every third day?
 
If you add enough to raise your concentration to the high end of the desired range, say 4-5ppm, it should take a few days for it to drop down. I've never added ammonia every single day when doing a fishless cycle. You just don't want to add too much, because too high a concentration can be lethal to the bacteria. Don't ask me how high a concentration that would be though.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com