Easiest way to cycle a tank??

[blackghostuk]

You want your nitrates to be as low as poss. This is the main reason for doing water changes.
Why add mulm to a new tank ???????
Best way to do an instant cycle is just to transfer a little mature filter media to the new filter. Add fish straight away and the bacteria will soon spread to the new media.
The bacteria in the filter you removed it from will soon multiply to catch up. Just reduce feeding for a few days.

Example - if you remove 1/3 of the media from a tank with 9 fish, you can add 3 fish to the new tank.

Like -DC- says, bacteria are not bothered about pH or temp as long as the change isnt ridiculous. They are transferrable!!!

 

[mos90]

I know that u want to keep nitrates low. But it is my understanding that you need to keep them above 0 to keep nitrite and ammo under control. Right?

 

[blackghostuk]

No. Ammonia gets broken down into nitrites, which get broken down into nitrates. We remove the nitrates with water changes. Fish produce the ammonia, and its the bacteria in the filter that convert it. The nitrates are just the end-product and dont affect the process at all.

Fish can stand quite high nitrates, but they are a growth (and appetite) inhibitor, so the lower they are, the more your fish will eat and the faster they'll grow. It's usually accepted that they should be kept under about 20(ish), although they wont kill fish unless they're in the hundreds.

 

[chefjamesscott]

easiest way to cycle a tank is with a dirty filter, 3 simple steps,

step one- a fill the aquarium with water, decorate and turn on filter (make sure to treat the water for chlorine if that’s what your tap water requires)

step 2- take dirty filter (the dirtier the better) and clean it out into new tank, water should very nice dark brown when finished, the more mulm you can get into the tanks water the better (get it really filthy, if you can see through it you didnt get enough mulm)

step 3- put in new fish (right away), in my case I normally set up a tank a day or 2 before buying new fish, so I put a few feeder goldfish into the tank to keep the water "healthy" without fish the newly added bacteria cultures will die off quite quickly.

the water will clear up VERY quickly, always crystal clear by the next morning, on a side note I find this process also speeds up the rate that any newly added sand settels as well.

TOTALLY AGREE

I HAVE YET TO LOSE A FISH USING THIS METHOD, I make sure that I do also add a 3x ratio of prime to help kick the bad stuff in the butt and I always add a active filter to start. And I do a 50% wc the next day and vacumn out the detrius that has settled to the bottom and at the end of the week I give the filters a good clean in tank water,

 

[mos90]

No. Ammonia gets broken down into nitrites, which get broken down into nitrates. We remove the nitrates with water changes. Fish produce the ammonia, and its the bacteria in the filter that convert it. The nitrates are just the end-product and dont affect the process at all.

Fish can stand quite high nitrates, but they are a growth (and appetite) inhibitor, so the lower they are, the more your fish will eat and the faster they'll grow. It's usually accepted that they should be kept under about 20(ish), although they wont kill fish unless they're in the hundreds.

Ok got it. With that being said when can I actually say that the tank is cycled and is safe to add my other larger fish. I worry that it's not ready yet and can't handle the larger load. I don't want to hurt them with a sudden ammo spike.

Should I do a water change soon? Or right before I add my arow?

 

[mos90]

Ok got it. With that being said when can I actually say that the tank is cycled and is safe to add my other larger fish. I worry that it's not ready yet and can't handle the larger load. I don't want to hurt them with a sudden ammo spike.

Should I do a water change soon? Or right before I add my arow?

I've been watching ammo and nitrite still at 0

 

[brackishdude]

I have used a similiar method, going to a friend's house and doing a quick "gravel vac" to a 5 gal bucket. Some stanky stuff. I strained the water into the tank through a filter sock and lay that on the top of my filter media in the sump.

Adding the water probably didn't do much, but the bacteria from the filterbag seeded my underlying bioballs pretty quickly, based on my results.

I did add fish rather conservatively, but you should do that anyway, even if you cycle de novo.

Why grow your own from scratch starting with a sterile tank and filter(relatively speaking) when there is a bounty of bacteria in any cycled waiting to supply near instant gratification?

I believe the fragility of the bacteria is overstated. WHile an abrupt transfer with wild changes in pH, temp, salinity, or oxygenation, may deliver less favorable results, you might be suprised by how tough they are.

Just be sure you trust the tank that feeds you. While I am as guilty as the next guy of underutilizing my quarantine facilities for new arrivals, it'd be a shame for your very first biological introduction to a new tank (and not even a fish, mind you) to create problems you could be battling for a while. . .

 

[zippo300z]

try using STABILITY by SEACHEM...it helps to rapidly establish new tanks....its completely harmless and no danger of overdosing....I use it whenever I do a water change or introducing new fish

 

[mos90]

I have used a similiar method, going to a friend's house and doing a quick "gravel vac" to a 5 gal bucket. Some stanky stuff. I strained the water into the tank through a filter sock and lay that on the top of my filter media in the sump.

Adding the water probably didn't do much, but the bacteria from the filterbag seeded my underlying bioballs pretty quickly, based on my results.

I did add fish rather conservatively, but you should do that anyway, even if you cycle de novo.

Why grow your own from scratch starting with a sterile tank and filter(relatively speaking) when there is a bounty of bacteria in any cycled waiting to supply near instant gratification?

I believe the fragility of the bacteria is overstated. WHile an abrupt transfer with wild changes in pH, temp, salinity, or oxygenation, may deliver less favorable results, you might be suprised by how tough they are.

Just be sure you trust the tank that feeds you. While I am as guilty as the next guy of underutilizing my quarantine facilities for new arrivals, it'd be a shame for your very first biological introduction to a new tank (and not even a fish, mind you) to create problems you could be battling for a while. . .

did u get any ammonia spikes? i did get a reading of .5pmm . then i did a 50% waterchange. how often would u change water to keep levels close to 0? i know for a fact i dont have the time to change 150gallons of water a day. i know prime will detoxify ammo .

 

[JakeH]

Come on mos90...you can keep up the waiting & WC routine for a while longer! Just messin with ya, but you have plans for big fish, so be patient.