Cycling the 55g

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GhostShrimpMan

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 18, 2010
2,395
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Brownsville, Texas
Alright, so I filled up my tank yest. and I was wondering how many decorations and such from a cycled tank I should put in. I have already put in an 5'' by 3'' turtle decoration (this thing was slimy with bacteria :] ) I put it next to the fake wooden decoration which is pretty big to maybe multiply there or something. And I added 5 gallons of already cycled water. What else could I do to cycle it quicker? And when would I expect to see a full cycle?


P.S. I have 4 Rosy Red Minnows in the 55g currently
 
4 minnows will not produce very much ammonia... and your tank will only grow enough bacteria to consume the amount of ammonia it contains...

So chances are with what you've done, in a weeks time your tank will be "fully cycled". But "fully cycled" only means it can oxidize the current ammonia input. So when you increase the stock you will likely experience a 'mini cycle' while you want for the bacterial colonies to increase.

This is why we always encourage people to increase stock slowly.

When you do a fishless cycle you can reproduce the ammonia input of a large stock by manually adding ammonia, which will allow you to add a full stock from the beginning.
 
nc_nutcase;4309014; said:
4 minnows will not produce very much ammonia... and your tank will only grow enough bacteria to consume the amount of ammonia it contains...

So chances are with what you've done, in a weeks time your tank will be "fully cycled". But "fully cycled" only means it can oxidize the current ammonia input. So when you increase the stock you will likely experience a 'mini cycle' while you want for the bacterial colonies to increase.

This is why we always encourage people to increase stock slowly.

When you do a fishless cycle you can reproduce the ammonia input of a large stock by manually adding ammonia, which will allow you to add a full stock from the beginning.
Click to expand...

Thanks alot. So what I'm thinking of doing is putting in a firemouth and add seachem stability for the 7 days and every time I add fish. Would this work?
 
Oh boy. What do you mean by the decoration had slime on it? And there's no such thing as cycled water. You basically added 5Gs of nitrate filled water. But the rosys will get it started.........
 
squeezing the filter media over the filters is ok. i would rather just squeeze it directly in the tank. i have also used filter cartridges from another tank if they are the hob filters. just change it and put the old one in the new tank. i would suggest either add more rosys. like 30 or so. or go fishless. because mini cycles cost more in the long run because then you will be out buying stuff to lower nitrites and ammonia to save your fish and then it could mess up your cycle. and then your fish could die. it just gets to be a mess.
 
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