Nitrogen Cycle problem...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Mr_Chemical

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 16, 2018
17
5
3
19
United Arab Emirates
I have 2 tanks with me that aren't so new. My first tank is a 40 to 50 Gallon tank that has 1 Red-Tip Arowana and a Janitor fish. My second tank is a small 15 to 25 gallon tank that has a Flowerhorn named Camillia. I just heard about Nitrogen Cycles in a Flowerhorn related thread that I've started before. Both of the tanks aren't new. The first tank is now with me for about 2 years now, and the other tank had just been used ( But it was given to me about 1 year ago ). I'm confused that I need to do a Nitrogen Cycle on both my 50 Gallon tank and my 25 Gallon tank. It isn't my first time using both of the tanks. It also isn't my first time keeping fish in them either. Do I have to do a Nitrogen Cycle on both my 50 Gallon tank and my 25 Gallon tank?
 
Get a liquid test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. If your tank is cycled then ammonia and nitrites will be 0ppm and nitrates should be less than 20ppm. If your nitrates are 0ppm, your tank is not cycled.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tlindsey
Once it's cycled it should stay. The arowana will probably also get far too big for the tank and it'll be difficult to keep clean. The fish also won't be healthy.
 
Once it's cycled it should stay. The arowana will probably also get far too big for the tank and it'll be difficult to keep clean. The fish also won't be healthy.

we'll be changing the tank in a few months. We're just saving up and all. But after I get my nitrogen cycle done I'll be sitting back for a while and save up some cash for a 280 gallon tank I saw online.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tlindsey
Hello,
Unless fish have been in the tank the whole time, you will have to re-do the cycle. If your 50 gallon has had the arowana in it, the cycle probably completed itself. If the flowerhorn tank did not have fish in it the whole time before the flowerhorn, then you will have to cycle the flowerhorn tank.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tlindsey and dan518
Agree with Gourami Swami, unless a tank has been set up with fish in it (or you've been providing an ammonia source of food), the cycle (in essence the adequate population of ammonia consuming bacteria) will have, with time probably starved, and died off. The population of bacteria always adjusts to, and corresponds to its food source.
If you had the tank running with fish, then nitrogen cycle and ammonia poisoning is not the problem.
The more details provided, the easier to theorize what a problem is.
 
You need fish in the tank for the cycle to take place. Or rather, you need a source of ammonia. you could take the fish out and use shrimp or something cimilar to create ammonia, but since you already have the fish in the tank, that wouldn't make sense.
What I would do, is since your arowana tank has been running for a while with fish in it, just take some of the filter media from that tank and put it in your flowerhorn tank's filter. The bacteria from the old filter will seed the new filter and jump-start the cycle.
You should read through that page I posted a few times, that will explain the basics pretty well.
 
Oh I see now. Since I had 3 Oscars and a Janitor fish in the 50 Gallon tank before, that would mean that the cycle had already completed. And since the FH tank was given to me about a year ago but never really was used, this means I have to do the nitrogen cycle for this tank and not the other?
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com