55 Gallon, Ready?
- Thread starter sawickib
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Bunchbro84
Mostly New Member
I am not an expert but how long have you been cycling
Did you pick up some ammonia? Are you following the cycling article at the top of the page? Glad you've got a test kit 
No unfortunately i didnt but i have two filters on my 55 gallon now a aquaclear 50 sponge filter and a 55/75 gallon aqueon filter, I moved the mature media from my 75 into this filter and some extra bacteria for 30 gallons of tank water thought it would make it go a little faster lol. Can you believe it says dump that stuff in then dump fish in X.X crazy.
I swear i knew more about fish than the fish expert at petsmart. Sad
sigh
I swear i knew more about fish than the fish expert at petsmart. Sad
sighNinjou raises a good point. While the mature media will speed up your cycle you do need to feed the bacteria or they can die off. You can pick up some household ammonia which is the most popular way. Check out the sticky on cycling at the top of the Cycle Your Tank sub forum which gives specific instructions for how to dose and what type of ammonia to use. In the meantime you could throw a small amount of fish food in the tank as that is another way to feed the bacteria. Hope this helps!
Alrighty well it's kind of just sitting there if you havn't gotten any ammonia
You said there is an Ace Hardware next to your LFS right? You can get some there
After you get that and you have your test kit, follow the cycling article at the top of the page. The mature media you've added should speed it up.
After you get that and you have your test kit, follow the cycling article at the top of the page. The mature media you've added should speed it up.
Herpetology
New Member
When you say you used bacteria in a bottle, which kind did you use? Tetra Safe Start is the only kind I know of (from experience and reviews) to work. And it only works if there is a good ammonia source continuously being provided (i.e. putting fish in directly after dumping the bottle, or dosing pure ammonia every day).
But as it's been said your nitrates are extremely high and therefore no fish should be added just yet as it can/will be deadly to them.
You'll know when you are cycled if you've got readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and at least some (more than likely a lot) of nitrates When using a bottled bacteria supplement you may not see the spikes in nitrites/ammonia because the bottled bacteria (as well as the mature filter media) will probably speed that up quickly enough that you won't catch it in time. Personally, I check daily during the end of a cycle because I'm impatient
On a side note, it's generally alright to put fish in right after adding tetra safe start. They will be susceptible to minimal amounts of ammonia for 1-2 weeks, but no more than if you had a fish-in cycle and changed about 30-50% water every day (or for example, a quarantine tank without established filter media). It is somewhat stressful but a majority of the time not deadly (unless you have really sensitive fish I'd imagine). The bacteria in the bottle will continue to feed on the ammonia in the tank produced by the newly introduced fish, therefore keeping it low enough to mostly tolerate. I will not say that it's harmless, rather that it is stressful, but at least in my experience, I've never had TSS kill a fish. Just thought I'd let you know
But as it's been said your nitrates are extremely high and therefore no fish should be added just yet as it can/will be deadly to them.
You'll know when you are cycled if you've got readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and at least some (more than likely a lot) of nitrates
When using a bottled bacteria supplement you may not see the spikes in nitrites/ammonia because the bottled bacteria (as well as the mature filter media) will probably speed that up quickly enough that you won't catch it in time. Personally, I check daily during the end of a cycle because I'm impatient
On a side note, it's generally alright to put fish in right after adding tetra safe start. They will be susceptible to minimal amounts of ammonia for 1-2 weeks, but no more than if you had a fish-in cycle and changed about 30-50% water every day (or for example, a quarantine tank without established filter media). It is somewhat stressful but a majority of the time not deadly (unless you have really sensitive fish I'd imagine). The bacteria in the bottle will continue to feed on the ammonia in the tank produced by the newly introduced fish, therefore keeping it low enough to mostly tolerate. I will not say that it's harmless, rather that it is stressful, but at least in my experience, I've never had TSS kill a fish. Just thought I'd let you know
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