hey ya'll i'm starting up my new 90 gallon tank. i was wondering if you guys can give me some suggestion in how long i should keep my water running before i introduce my fishes in. and is the any good products out there that would speed up the cycle?
starting a new tank
- Thread starter bplover
- Start date
No one can tell you exactly how long to run your tank before introducing fish. But the good news is that you can work it out yourself! Yay! 
What you need is some test kits so you know what the water is doing and when its ready for the fish. Do you know about the tank cycling process? If not, you better do a search and read about it, but here's a crash intro:
1. New tank = no beneficial bacteria(BB)!
2. No BB + fish = fish waste builds up = high ammonia content in water.
3. Ammonia builds until BB catches up and starts consuming it = Nitrites
4. Nitrites builds up until BB catches up and consumes it = Nitrates
5. Once Ammonia and Nitrite levels drop, more fish can be slowly added.
6. Weekly water changes to reduce Nitrate content
So go buy an ammonia test kit, a nitrite test kit and a nitrate test kit. If you dont want to buy all 3 I'd go with ammonia and Nitrate as if you have nitrates accumulating then you know the nitrites are being consumed
Without any 'seeding' the tank could take 3-6 weeks to fully cycle, if you have an existing aquarium set up and cycled, you can speed it up by using some fitler media from the established tank in the new tank, also you can try some substrate and/or rocks from tjhe established tank. These items will have BB covering their surfaces and should speed up the new tank cycling
What you need is some test kits so you know what the water is doing and when its ready for the fish. Do you know about the tank cycling process? If not, you better do a search and read about it, but here's a crash intro:
1. New tank = no beneficial bacteria(BB)!
2. No BB + fish = fish waste builds up = high ammonia content in water.
3. Ammonia builds until BB catches up and starts consuming it = Nitrites
4. Nitrites builds up until BB catches up and consumes it = Nitrates
5. Once Ammonia and Nitrite levels drop, more fish can be slowly added.
6. Weekly water changes to reduce Nitrate content
So go buy an ammonia test kit, a nitrite test kit and a nitrate test kit. If you dont want to buy all 3 I'd go with ammonia and Nitrate as if you have nitrates accumulating then you know the nitrites are being consumed
Without any 'seeding' the tank could take 3-6 weeks to fully cycle, if you have an existing aquarium set up and cycled, you can speed it up by using some fitler media from the established tank in the new tank, also you can try some substrate and/or rocks from tjhe established tank. These items will have BB covering their surfaces and should speed up the new tank cycling
Several people use active additives but I prefer the old fashion way.After setting up your tank, filling it with dechlorinated water around the correct temp, turning on the heater and filter I wait until the next day and recheck the water to see if anything is screwy and make sure that the heater is adjusted right. Then I add plants and seed my filter(s) with sludge from a running one, I suppose one of the commercial cultures would work at this point. Wait another night, then check the tank and water again to make sure that I didn't mess anything up and look for critters from the plants, I have found a few.
Then I amm ready to add some fish, preferably hardy ones, for a 90g I would start with 4-5 fish that were 4-5 " each, now wait 2 days and recheck the water, the ammonia should be back to zero, add a few more fish, etc, until the stocking level is where I want it.
This method allows the bacterial culture to keep up with the population and has a lot of checkpoints built in where if the ammonia/nitrite levels are off you just wait another day or so. You get a series of barely noticable spikes instead of a big, dangerous one. You also have at least a few fish in the tank as soon as the plants are settled in.
Then I amm ready to add some fish, preferably hardy ones, for a 90g I would start with 4-5 fish that were 4-5 " each, now wait 2 days and recheck the water, the ammonia should be back to zero, add a few more fish, etc, until the stocking level is where I want it.
This method allows the bacterial culture to keep up with the population and has a lot of checkpoints built in where if the ammonia/nitrite levels are off you just wait another day or so. You get a series of barely noticable spikes instead of a big, dangerous one. You also have at least a few fish in the tank as soon as the plants are settled in.
hagen's "cycle " is my personal fav. cycled a 55gal saltwater in 1 week using it. granted i used alot of it,( double dosing) very few fish and not over feeding. the ammonia and nitrite were never even detectable and the nitrates climbed steadily til i did a water change.