Cycling Questions

[Fish_Girl]

Hi all

Though i have been keeping fish for years, i will be setting up a tank for the first time soon-the tank we have now was given to us all set up and ready to go so we never had to do anything like cycling so in a way i am having to become a beginner again!

Anyway my question about cycling was this-if we were to put some mature media into the new filter and also use water from a mature tank to start it up, would this work well in shortening the cycling time? Im assuming so and it might seem a really stupid question to ask, but i wanted to make sure this is an ok route to go before actually doing it. So is this advisable, or shall i just be patient and do a normal fishless cycle with new media and water?

Not sure this makes a difference to the answer but we will most likely be getting the interpet fish pod 64 litre tank, and we only have two ADF's at the moment but plan to get a Betta and possibly a few more frogs to live in the tank.

Another question that might seem stupid, and i may possibly find the answer to elsewhere, is how soon after cycling a tank can you add plants to it? or can these be added during the cycle? I only plan to put water wisteria and moss balls in the tank.

 

[Gilli]

Yes any used media you can use will shorten the cycling time. dont add the plants until after the tank has cycled as it may slow things down.

 

[XeroTolerance]

Yes, you can add the mature filter media and water now to shorten the cycle. I'm guessing you know how to fishless cycle. If not, check out the beginners section. There's lots of good info there.

Also, make sure you are using a brand of ammonia that does not have any added chemicals. To tell if there are added chemicals shake to bottle. If it foams don't use it. If not, its okay to use.

 

[the_lock_man]

Yes, you can add the mature filter media and water now to shorten the cycle. I'm guessing you know how to fishless cycle. If not, check out the beginners section. There's lots of good info there.

Also, make sure you are using a brand of ammonia that does not have any added chemicals. To tell if there are added chemicals shake to bottle. If it foams don't use it. If not, its okay to use.

What he said, except that I don't think there's much point to using existing tank water - the amount of bacteria in water is negligible.

You can use up to a third of the existing media, and replace it with new media from the new tank, and the bacteria colony will re-establish itself in the old tank within a day or so, which won't affect the existing tank.

This will speed up the cycle tremendously - when I did it, my new tank was fully cycled in 6 days.