Questions about "Old Water Cycling"

[RadleyMiller]

I have a question for all of you who have to set up tanks on a regular basis.
Why do people keep saying to take old water from an existing tank to get the cycle started?
If the tank you are taking water from is already cycled, that water is not going to help at all. There may be a very few number of free floating bacteria in the tank, but all in all it really isn't going to do anything. There will be some ammonia but it will be extremely undectable because the tank is cycled already. When moving fish I see it good to use old water so the parameters are similar to reduce fish stree, but when cycling a tank, I see it as pointless. Maybe you all can clarify this for me, but why would you use tank water that has no detectable ammonia or nitrites and has no population of nitrofers to get a cycle started?

 

[rallysman]

I dont worry about it. My water changes are regular enough that the parameters on all of my tanks are pretty close. If its a sensitive fish or if I want to be sure that they are used to the water, I'll drip them from the old tank to the new one.

I just set up a 110 and added fish the same day. I filled it with water the same temp as the other tank (with prime), sqeezed a bunch of nasty filter out in the tank, added a couple of established sponge filters, and threw the fish in. No death, no disease, and no apparent stress.


that was about 2 weeks ago, and there was no ammonia spike. I look at it as a large water change.




Keep in mind, sponge filters are your friend!
My motto is: "If you have an established filter, you have an established tank"

 

[Jeox]

I dont worry about it. My water changes are regular enough that the parameters on all of my tanks are pretty close. If its a sensitive fish or if I want to be sure that they are used to the water, I'll drip them from the old tank to the new one.

I just set up a 110 and added fish the same day. I filled it with water the same temp as the other tank (with prime), sqeezed a bunch of nasty filter out in the tank, added a couple of established sponge filters, and threw the fish in. No death, no disease, and no apparent stress.


that was about 2 weeks ago, and there was no ammonia spike. I look at it as a large water change.




Keep in mind, sponge filters are your friend!
My motto is: "If you have an established filter, you have an established tank"

Ive done it with NO established filter. o.0
It was an emergency though.
Nothing died.......
I was lucky though.

 

[mjryan]

i dont see any issue with it. no problems w/o, and no problems with it. i suppose it just makes some peeps feel better.

the filters are the main thing, or rather the media in them. move some of those, or have the new onse float in an established for a few.... thats the way to go.

like rally said, its like a big water change

 

[rallysman]

If the fish are coming from a neglected tank where water parameters are different, it would be a goo idea to drip them for a while to acclimate them,.

 

[RadleyMiller]

Great post Rally! but it seems like I still haven't gotten my point across. I want to know why people are saying to JUST use old tank water to get a tank cycled. When you think about it, it sounds crazy. But I do agree with this Rallysman

Sponge Filters=

 

[rallysman]

I've always wondered that as well. Perhaps it's an old wives tale.

 

[RadleyMiller]

I've always wondered that as well. Perhaps it's an old wives tale.

Can we call this myth BUSTED or do we have to do a pointless test?

 

[Bderick67]

Can we call this myth BUSTED or do we have to do a pointless test?

Doesn't make any sense to me, I don't see how using old tank water, that you can cycle a tank. I don't even think it would aid in the process of cycling.

The only thing I would use old tank water for is if transferring all of one tank into another tank, but that isn't cycling IMO

I think one of the biggest keys to this controversy is that a lot of people have different opinions of what cycling is.

 

[Sunpoe]

I have a question for all of you who have to set up tanks on a regular basis.
Why do people keep saying to take old water from an existing tank to get the cycle started?
If the tank you are taking water from is already cycled, that water is not going to help at all. There may be a very few number of free floating bacteria in the tank, but all in all it really isn't going to do anything. There will be some ammonia but it will be extremely undectable because the tank is cycled already. When moving fish I see it good to use old water so the parameters are similar to reduce fish stree, but when cycling a tank, I see it as pointless. Maybe you all can clarify this for me, but why would you use tank water that has no detectable ammonia or nitrites and has no population of nitrofers to get a cycle started?

I agree with you using water from a cycled tank is really of no use but using the filter media from a cycled filter is very useful which I am sure you already know. This is the method I always use to setup a new tank and it has never failed me.