test kit, is my tank cycled far enough to get fish?????????/

[jcardona1]

if youre tank has only been running for 2 weeks, its far from cycled. there is no way your ammonia would have spiked and dropped to zero in 2 weeks. a normal cycle with fish will take about 6 weeks and since you dont have any fish, you dont have a source of ammonia

 

[cassharper]

Wow, is this a gold mine for bad information or what? Minus jcardona's at least. Since you are keeping live animals how about you get over the whole "it's ok to kill animals as long as they are cheap/small/not-so-cool-looking" attitude. I am not dogging on fish-in cycling, but there really isn't an argument against the fact that it does cause more stress. But if you do it right, it's fine (I usually use it out of laziness).

You have to add a source of ammonia for the whole slew of bacteria to feed on. In a 300g tank you could add a couple of small fish. Even slightly elevated ammonia levels will stress a fish, and higher than that will burn their gills and kill them. Don't feed for the first week after you have put the fish in, to help "ease" into the cycling. They will still produce some ammonia. Then you can start feeding them very little, and start building up to normal. Fret not, fish can go a long time without food (as much as 19 days in my experience without reaching near mortality).

Keep an eye on your ammonia and do water changes accordingly. You want to keep every thing fairly low on the scale, but too many water changes can prolong your cycle.

 

[OnceLoyal]

Cycle super fast? My 220 50 feeder gold fish. Traded my new filter media from wet-dry with one from the fish store, add some bacteria.....feed the fish. These days I think it is possible to cycle in a couple weeks. There are so many products in shops now. Nothing will beat anything from nother tank that you can stick in there to get the bacteria going (The pet stores can be pretty good aboiut swapping things out if they have some nice well established tanks running filter media to me is that best but even swapping some bio balls can help). I agree with the 3-4 weeks, but if you are impatient like me you can get things up and running realy quick. Just don't add too much of the bacteria....you need to follow the directions. That stuff can be nasty if over used. Cycle I think is one. I can't recall what I used. I am at work so I can't look

 

[jcardona1]

bottled bacteria like cycle is just a waste of time and money. its nothign but dead bacteria. unless youre using Bio-spira, youre wasting your cash on dead gunk in a bottle

 

[crisper]

I know that fishless vs fish cycling can be a hot topic, but I've never been very successful with fishless cycling. I always use some feeder fish to help cycle my tank. I let it cycle for a couple of weeks first and then add the feeders in. They cycle it pretty quickly and then they are food for the new fish. Its worked out great for me, but I know others that would disagree.

My thoughts as well I have cycled my tanks the same way and have had no problems the feeders i cycled with just became food for my other fish.

 

[StripeGirl]

I just take sponge filters from other tanks as well as half the water from an existing tank and also a canister filter from another tank.the tank will be cycled in less then two weeks.I have done it this way for 33 years.

 

[Burtess]

jcardona1 & cassharper

Listen to these guys, they give good info....


The most effective way to ready a tank for immediate, full stocking, is a fishless cycle. This allows you to build up a very large bacterial colony that will be able to handle all the waste produced from a fully stocked tank.

See here for good info:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cycling.php
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycling.php

If you educate yourself on how the nitrogen cycle works, and be patient, you will loose less fish (probably none!) and save yourself a lot of frustration...

Burt

 

[CHOMPERS]

Wow, is this a gold mine for bad information or what? ...

I had to click away from this thread but something made me click back. I'm glad you said that

 

[brcacti]

uh guys, I'm getting a little confused here with all the different things said. Its important to read the first couple of posts, I did have 2 small fish in it and the tank did go through a cycle that killed the fish and is now nearing the end of the cycle with amonia 0, nitrite .25 and nitrate at 10, my biggest question now that the water has cleared and am getting fairly good readings is can I put 2 more small fish in and expect them to survive with a nitrite level of .25 or is that still too high to chance with fish???????????

 

[jcardona1]

uh guys, I'm getting a little confused here with all the different things said. Its important to read the first couple of posts, I did have 2 small fish in it and the tank did go through a cycle that killed the fish and is now nearing the end of the cycle with amonia 0, nitrite .25 and nitrate at 10, my biggest question now that the water has cleared and am getting fairly good readings is can I put 2 more small fish in and expect them to survive with a nitrite level of .25 or is that still too high to chance with fish???????????

hold on, i think youre being mislead by your readings. you did say the tank has been running for 2 weeks right? please see my post again. if it has been running for 2 weeks, and you HAD 2 small fish in there, YOUR TANK IS NOT CYCLED. just because your ammonia reading is 0 does not mean the bacteria has been established in your filter.

based on what youve told us, i dont think your tank has cycled. your ammonia is at 0 because there is nothing in there to produce ammonia. as i mentioned, a normal cycle will take you about 6 weeks, so im having trouble believing your tank was fully cycled in 2 weeks...