Questions about "Old Water Cycling"

[Dr Joe]

im takin media, from a tank that i am takin water from. cycled media with the cycled water... where am i going wrong? the tank is basically completly cycled with a water change. i jus put the cycled media in my filter im using on the new tank, putting the cycled water in the new tank. filling the tank 80% with the pre-cycled water. 20% of new clean water. its an already established tank ready for new fish. i've never had any fish die on me doin it this way, including my motoro which should be most sensitive out of all my fish in the tank i did this to

. A little work but your assured no problems and no drip process.

I been thinking on this and now have a changed my opinion on using old tank water.

If you use cycled media in the new tank and use new water then there is no ammonia or nitrites to feed the bacteria in the cycled media, but by using the cycled water there should be enough amonnia and nitrites to substain the bacteria.

either way I would test water on a daily basis. IMO to consider a tank cycled you sould have 0 amonia, 0 nitrites, and the nitrates should increase prior to water changes.

. You nailed it.

Like Rally said, just move the fish the same day.
Now is this myth busted now? I need to build a jet pack to see if it is possible.

Sorry RM, Nothing to bust... If you put a cycled filter on a new tank and don't put fish in immediately the bacteria have nothing to feed on and starve / die. Used tank water will have some Ammonia that will help keep the filter going, you will start to loose some bacteria but not as fast. This is the cheapest / fastest way to keep everything going when you have to equalize temps. for instance. Just another way of doing things.

What did you bust about a nitrate myth,,,must of missed.

An sorry the backpack is possible http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKET-MAN-ROCK...ryZ20158QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

2 weeks allowance and it's yours.

Dr Joe

.

 

[Bderick67]

RMs original statment was using old tank water to start the cycling process, I still agree that if this is all you are going to do it will not cycle your tank. you must have a producer of amonia and nitrites to feed and establish a colony of Bacteria. With old tank water the anomia and nitrites will be depleted shortly.

If your are moving your fish, water, and filter from one tank to another, well IMO thats not cycling it's just transfering. Even if you are adding more filtration and a larger water volume.

Call it what you want , but you can't cycle a tank in a day.

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?

 

[RadleyMiller]

RMs original statment was using old tank water to start the cycling process, I still agree that if this is all you are going to do it will not cycle your tank. you must have a producer of amonia and nitrites to feed and establish a colony of Bacteria. With old tank water the anomia and nitrites will be depleted shortly.

If your are moving your fish, water, and filter from one tank to another, well IMO thats not cycling it's just transfering. Even if you are adding more filtration and a larger water volume.

Call it what you want , but you can't cycle a tank in a day.

DrJoe, I think you missed my point, I'm talking only with cycled water. Some people think this will magically cycle the tank and I say it won't. I wasn't talking about moving media at all. If you move the media, you put fish in right away!

 

[Dr Joe]

RMs original statment was using old tank water to start the cycling process, I still agree that if this is all you are going to do it will not cycle your tank. you must have a producer of amonia and nitrites to feed and establish a colony of Bacteria. With old tank water the anomia and nitrites will be depleted shortly.

If your are moving your fish, water, and filter from one tank to another, well IMO thats not cycling it's just transfering. Even if you are adding more filtration and a larger water volume.

and concede, by itself (except in theory) there isn't enough bacteria or nutrients to to colonize a filter and support it (in a timely fashion).


Call it what you want , but you can't cycle a tank in a day.

You'll get arguments on that part...I hear the bio-spira gang coming now...Quick RUN.

DrJoe, I think you missed my point, I'm talking only with cycled water. Some people think this will magically cycle the tank and I say it won't. I wasn't talking about moving media at all. If you move the media, you put fish in right away!

And sometimes it's MAGIC that their fish stay alive too .

Merry Christmas,

Dr Joe

.

 

[RadleyMiller]

And sometimes it's MAGIC that their fish stay alive too .

Merry Christmas,

Dr Joe

.

I dunno DrJoe, so what do you think? Yes or No, cycling a tank with ONLY old water is possible.

Merry Christmas

 

[CHOMPERS]

Radley, you are wise beyond your years. Our hobby is unfortunately a victim of internet myth and missinformation. There are those who read information and then repeat their version without fully understanding the original point.

For instance, I witnessed a guy in my local Petsmart become an expert on every fish in the store as soon as he read the label under the tank. To his kids, he was a god.

When something gets repeated enough times, no matter how wrong it is, there will be people who will cling to that information, continue to perpetuate it, and there is nothing anyone can do to convince them otherwise. Case in point: anaerobic bacteria in a filter "will kill your fish" but it is used in denitrators. Or silica sand will cut up your fish or stingrays, even though they live in the stuff in the wild. Or you cycle a tank instead of the filter

We speak of the whole system (aquarium, water, stand, fish, equipment, etc.) as "the tank" when speaking of it in general. Apparently this has been the case in the cycling discussion since "the system" must first be assembled and the first course of action is to get "the system" (rather than just the filter) up and running so that it will support life. In bringing the filter's bacteria culture to maturity, the whole "system" is involved so it seems to be natural to speak of it as a whole.

If everyone were careful in choosing their words, we would not have the mess we do now. However, when people speak of cycling the filter by saying "cycling the tank", the newbs learn that language and make the translation on their own. When they have been in the hobby for a while, they become willing to repeat what they learned whether right or wrong; Sort of a "rumor mill" if you want to think of it like that. Even though we see the error in these myths, they will keep surfacing.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Now can we call this myth busted? I gotta go onto my next myth: Does rubbing TastyKake packages on your chest really help you get ALL the icing?

In the spirit of the Mythbusters Christmas special, how about doing a Rube Goldberg contraption that will do water changes?

 

[RadleyMiller]

Radley, you are wise beyond your years. Our hobby is unfortunately a victim of internet myth and missinformation. There are those who read information and then repeat their version without fully understanding the original point.

For instance, I witnessed a guy in my local Petsmart become an expert on every fish in the store as soon as he read the label under the tank. To his kids, he was a god.

When something gets repeated enough times, no matter how wrong it is, there will be people who will cling to that information, continue to perpetuate it, and there is nothing anyone can do to convince them otherwise. Case in point: anaerobic bacteria in a filter "will kill your fish" but it is used in denitrators. Or silica sand will cut up your fish or stingrays, even though they live in the stuff in the wild. Or you cycle a tank instead of the filter

We speak of the whole system (aquarium, water, stand, fish, equipment, etc.) as "the tank" when speaking of it in general. Apparently this has been the case in the cycling discussion since "the system" must first be assembled and the first course of action is to get "the system" (rather than just the filter) up and running so that it will support life. In bringing the filter's bacteria culture to maturity, the whole "system" is involved so it seems to be natural to speak of it as a whole.

If everyone were careful in choosing their words, we would not have the mess we do now. However, when people speak of cycling the filter by saying "cycling the tank", the newbs learn that language and make the translation on their own. When they have been in the hobby for a while, they become willing to repeat what they learned whether right or wrong; Sort of a "rumor mill" if you want to think of it like that. Even though we see the error in these myths, they will keep surfacing.

Thank you Chompers, from now on, I will force to refer to everything as "the system" when ever speaking to customers.!

Merry Christmas

In the spirit of the Mythbusters Christmas special, how about doing a Rube Goldberg contraption that will do water changes?

haha that would be awesome!

 

[Bderick67]

Radley, you are wise beyond your years. Our hobby is unfortunately a victim of internet myth and missinformation. There are those who read information and then repeat their version without fully understanding the original point.

For instance, I witnessed a guy in my local Petsmart become an expert on every fish in the store as soon as he read the label under the tank. To his kids, he was a god.

When something gets repeated enough times, no matter how wrong it is, there will be people who will cling to that information, continue to perpetuate it, and there is nothing anyone can do to convince them otherwise. Case in point: anaerobic bacteria in a filter "will kill your fish" but it is used in denitrators. Or silica sand will cut up your fish or stingrays, even though they live in the stuff in the wild. Or you cycle a tank instead of the filter

We speak of the whole system (aquarium, water, stand, fish, equipment, etc.) as "the tank" when speaking of it in general. Apparently this has been the case in the cycling discussion since "the system" must first be assembled and the first course of action is to get "the system" (rather than just the filter) up and running so that it will support life. In bringing the filter's bacteria culture to maturity, the whole "system" is involved so it seems to be natural to speak of it as a whole.

If everyone were careful in choosing their words, we would not have the mess we do now. However, when people speak of cycling the filter by saying "cycling the tank", the newbs learn that language and make the translation on their own. When they have been in the hobby for a while, they become willing to repeat what they learned whether right or wrong; Sort of a "rumor mill" if you want to think of it like that. Even though we see the error in these myths, they will keep surfacing.

Very well put Chompers, I never liked the term "cycling" any how. "Balanced" maybe more appropriate since the filter needs to match the bio load.

Eitherway we all have are own methods that work. The internet is full of information, the problem is too much of it is fiction.

Merry Christmas All

 

[Dr Joe]

In the spirit of the Mythbusters Christmas special, how about doing a Rube Goldberg contraption that will do water changes?

I'm seeing trained fish and little buckets on a ski-lift affair...Huh...Huh.