How long should I cycle my tank before I add my fish

[oii]

60g

50lbs of gravel

50lbs of stone

250watt jager heater

marineland emperor 400

lunstar hyrdo v sponge filter w/ 30g bubbler (waiting for a bigger one to arrive)


heres a terrible camera phone pic of what I have right now.

I just put two guppies in there for the night.. If they are alive in the morning I'm assuming the tank is ready for my "real" fish. I gave the tank 6hours before I put the guppies in there. I know the longer I wait the better but I'm sick of waiting.

 

[ShadowBass]

Did you start with cycled media? Aquariums take 4-6 weeks with an ammonia source in them to fully cycle. It varies depending on your water temperatures, pH and other factors, so unless you use a master test kit you'll never know when your tank is fully cycled.

 

[oii]

Did you start with cycled media? Aquariums take 4-6 weeks with an ammonia source in them to fully cycle. It varies depending on your water temperatures, pH and other factors, so unless you use a master test kit you'll never know when your tank is fully cycled.

I brought in the garden hose from outside, filled my tank up, added some dechlorination, and the proper amount of salt to my tank. I added gravel and rocks that I washed with gravel wash. Also added 1 fake plant and a clay pot. The filter and heater have been plugged in since the minute I've had the tank filled.

 

[iORi]

i dont think they are gonna make it unless u had some used BB from another tank, they probably wont. give it a week or two then do a water test to make sure everything's still ok. or u can put neon tetras in there see if they survive, if they do then u are good

 

[ShadowBass]

It doesn't really matter how long the filter and heater were plugged in. Until there's an ammonia source, and enough ammonia for that matter, you don't start the cycle process.
It takes weeks for biological bacteria to form from scratch. Unless you added cycled media from another tank you'll have to wait several weeks, while testing your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Biospira will supposedly jump start your cycle and cut it down to a week or so, but I haven't tried it.
If you add fish before your cycle is complete - i.e. before your cycle is completed and ammonia and nitrites are at 0, and nitrates are present - they will become stressed and possibly die. At the least they are likely to get sick.

 

[Ianab]

You can cycle with fish.. but you HAVE to take it slow. You can start tomorrow, just dont rush the number of fish

Right now the tank water is OK, it's just clean tap water and the guppys will survive, but the tank is NOT cycled. So start by adding a FEW more fish. I dont know what you are intending to keep in there, but dont start with anything expensive or delicate. If you are going with guppys 2 wont make enough bioload to get much happening. Maybe about 20 would get things started. Not too many or the ammonia builds up to a dangerous level faster then the fitler bacteria can multiply. After about 2 weeks then it should be safe to add a few more fish then build up the numbers and after about 6 weeks it should be fully cycled and fully stocked.

Having a test kit and checking the ammonia / nitrite / nitrate will tell you exactly what is going on and you will know when its safe to add more fish.

Cheers

Ian

 

[oii]

Well its morning now and the guppies are still alive. They've been in there a good 12 hours, if they were gonna die from the water I'd imagine they'd be dead by now. I think I will throw the rest of my guppies (about 8) in there today and start with a 4" Trimac tomorrow.

 

[Mystus Redtail]

One thing i've found about fish-keeping is that it requires patience. If you can't wait the time to do it right, your may end up very frustrated with the hobby.

 

[Mystix212]

Screw the Trimac, throw the gup's in. Test your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. When it reads 0/0/<40, your pretty much ready.

 

[Dr Joe]

I brought in the garden hose from outside, filled my tank up, added some dechlorination, and the proper amount of salt to my tank. I added gravel and rocks that I washed with gravel wash. Also added 1 fake plant and a clay pot. The filter and heater have been plugged in since the minute I've had the tank filled.

Hope you ran the water for a while to clean out the hose.

Be patient, this will keep you from other troubles later. Go tag a supermarket wall j/k: Your way to old for that ).

If your going with a fish cycle go with Ianab's post.

But do get a test kit that will measure that will measure chlorine, ammonia, nitrIte & nitrAte at the very least. And keep a daily log book of the readings and do the the same time every day, this is the only way you'll be able to track readings (Downloads.com had a free program for this too) and know when the different peeks show up.

Got any friends with tanks? If they're tanks are healthy, maybe you could get some bio-media from their filter to jumpstart your filter (it will still take a while tho).

Dr Joe

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