How long cycle?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Unless I'm misreading your original post, I think you don't understand how cycling works. You need to have a supply of ammonia for the beneficial bacteria. Cycling doesn't just mean letting clean water turn over and over in an empty tank. You know when your tank is finished cycling by doing water tests. When ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrates start climbing, the tank is cycled.
I have a marine tank. I assure you i know how cycling works. Beside that why do you assume that i let clean water turn over again and again? I added drift wood, filter media, snails and stones from my old setup into the new one.
 
I wasn't assuming, which is why I added the prefix, "Unless I'm misreading...". But if you know how to cycle a tank... shouldn't you know about test kits? Cycle with liquid ammonia and use liquid tests. Ammonia will rise as you add ammonia. I don't know what kind of bioload snails would place on the BB colonies, but I don't think it would be much. If you added media or gravel/rocks/driftwood from an established tank, your cycling time will be much shorter than the more common 1-month-ish cycling time. You're supposed to have a test kit anyways. When ammonia and nitrite are zero and nitrate is greater than zero, the tank is cycled and you can add fish, though I wouldn't plop in a whole mess of fish all at once, since your colony could be overwhelmed by all the ammonia.
 
I wasn't assuming, which is why I added the prefix, "Unless I'm misreading...". But if you know how to cycle a tank... shouldn't you know about test kits? Cycle with liquid ammonia and use liquid tests. Ammonia will rise as you add ammonia. I don't know what kind of bioload snails would place on the BB colonies, but I don't think it would be much. If you added media or gravel/rocks/driftwood from an established tank, your cycling time will be much shorter than the more common 1-month-ish cycling time. You're supposed to have a test kit anyways. When ammonia and nitrite are zero and nitrate is greater than zero, the tank is cycled and you can add fish, though I wouldn't plop in a whole mess of fish all at once, since your colony could be overwhelmed by all the ammonia.

I´m aware of that. If you read into the topic you will see that i did evrything right. The first living beings i put into the tank were much snails, now i added 12 neon tetras and feed them a tab per day (i crush it to dust). My water parameters are great. But as you know evry water test just shows you the stats of the moment. It does not show you that the tank is ready.
 
Doesn't matter there are ways to cycle a tank without using any animals. The others are right about you seeming to be hypocritical regarding animal abuse. Snails last time I checked are alive and so are neons. You yourself referred to them as test's to see if your tank is cycled. Why not use a test kit instead of live animals? One might assume that you used snails and neons as "tests" because you put less value on their lives than the Poly's you plan to add. If that's not the case then why didn't you use a test kit instead of snails or the neons? Why didn't you use fish food or something else to create the bio-load? Why wasn't your test subject a poly? If I'm wrong I'd be happy to be enlightened.
 
I will explain it again. :) The tank is cycled. I used test kits and added the snails in perfect water parameters. Then after few days i added the Tetras. I slowly increase the amount of animals i put into the tank so the bioload is slowly increasing.
 
I will explain it again. :) The tank is cycled. I used test kits and added the snails in perfect water parameters. Then after few days i added the Tetras. I slowly increase the amount of animals i put into the tank so the bioload is slowly increasing.

Hello; This is the way that I understood the situation as I read the thread myself. It did not seem that there is any mistreatment to me.
 
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