A Few Questions About Cycling My Tank

[Turbodan]

We have got a 180 litre tank with a large external filter, both these items were literally in full use as a fully cycled tropical tank just a few hours before we turned up to collect them.
 
Now we have had the tank water in and running for about five days now, its got tetra aqua safe and some stress zyme in it. The tank water is all looking good (clean). The heaters been running, filters been running and the lights have been on.
 
We have a PH test strip kit and its showing PH 7, is this right? That's the only test kit we have.
 
What would you advise doing next and how long to leave it? I have googled it but allot of the pages are for brand new tanks and filters, no mention of what to do with a used filter full of bacteria.
 
Any help would be great

 

[coolie]

PH7 is neutral, neither acidic or alkaline. If the filter went from a cycled tank straight to yours, it should be ok. If unsure, you can always keep an ammonia testing regime going after setting it up.

 

[Turbodan]

Yeah the blokes tank that he'd had setup for years was drained, fish sold off and then the tank setup sold to us, we took it straight home and filled it with water and set it up again.
 
So do you think it would be ready for a fish?

 

[baker360360]

how long was the filter media dry? (out of the water?)

 

[Turbodan]

About 24 hours

 

[baker360360]

Probably lost all the bacteria, need to recycle from scratch I think. But don't take my word for it, probably best if you wait for someone more experienced than me to help you. But I'm sure that the bacteria Needed for the tank dies within a short time ( under 1-2 hours).
If this is the case then cycling as new will be needed.

Best of luck

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'm not sure how long it can be out of the water, I've been told that established bacteria create a biofilm around themselves so that would keep them safe but not sure for how long. The bacteria can go 'dormant' sort of, so it may take them a little bit to catch back up to what they're used to handling. You should get some ammonia, if you don't have any already, and dose to 3ppm, check the parameters in 24 hours and see.

 

[Wildbetta]

I would trust the bacteria to a certain extent.  It may not be fully alive since it was out for 24 hours but I still think you are ok with at least part of the bacteria.  Rinse it in some declorinated water and get some ammonia to dose so you can test the bacteria.  You will need a test kit so that you can make sure your parameters stay safe.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If you can find some ammonia for cycling, use the ammonia calculator here and use 165 l for the volume. Determine the amount of the strength ammonia you found and enter that as well and ask it for 3 ppm. Add this much ammonia to the tank. While you are out shopping for the ammonia pick up and ammonia and a nitrite test kit. Since you indicated you had the tank and filter and said nothing abou things like substrate, wood or rocks, that you have only a bare tank and filters plus a heater?
 
The odds are some amount of bacteria did survive. You need to get it back up to strength with a fishless cycle. read the link at the top of the page for cycling a tank. If none of the bacteria survived you will be doing a plain old fishless cycle. If some of tha bacteria survived that process will go faster. How much faster depends on how much bacteria was still alive when you got the filter back on the tank.

 

[draxis]

One thing I have heard is if you go to a local LFS and grab media; you want to keep it in water until you get home.  Preferably the water from their tank in a little container if possible but otherwise conditioned tap water.  The bacteria dies as soon as it is dry and there is no saving it.  There is no time window on this, if it dries; poof all bacteria gone.

 

[baker360360]

One thing I have heard is if you go to a local LFS and grab media; you want to keep it in water until you get home.  Preferably the water from their tank in a little container if possible but otherwise conditioned tap water.  The bacteria dies as soon as it is dry and there is no saving it.  There is no time window on this, if it dries; poof all bacteria gone.

That's what I was told

 

[Turbodan]

If you can find some ammonia for cycling, use the ammonia calculator here and use 165 l for the volume. Determine the amount of the strength ammonia you found and enter that as well and ask it for 3 ppm. Add this much ammonia to the tank. While you are out shopping for the ammonia pick up and ammonia and a nitrite test kit. Since you indicated you had the tank and filter and said nothing abou things like substrate, wood or rocks, that you have only a bare tank and filters plus a heater?
 
The odds are some amount of bacteria did survive. You need to get it back up to strength with a fishless cycle. read the link at the top of the page for cycling a tank. If none of the bacteria survived you will be doing a plain old fishless cycle. If some of tha bacteria survived that process will go faster. How much faster depends on how much bacteria was still alive when you got the filter back on the tank.

Right we have bought some ammonia, and we have a full test kit with test tubes etc.. Just about to do some tests now and I will post the results later.
 
In the tank at the moment we have normal gravel, a mountain ornament and some pieces of lava rock( I did ask if these would be ok in the tank and I was told they would be). We have an air rock which is on and working and the 2 standard 30watt light strips.

 

[baker360360]

If you can find some ammonia for cycling, use the ammonia calculator here and use 165 l for the volume. Determine the amount of the strength ammonia you found and enter that as well and ask it for 3 ppm. Add this much ammonia to the tank. While you are out shopping for the ammonia pick up and ammonia and a nitrite test kit. Since you indicated you had the tank and filter and said nothing abou things like substrate, wood or rocks, that you have only a bare tank and filters plus a heater? The odds are some amount of bacteria did survive. You need to get it back up to strength with a fishless cycle. read the link at the top of the page for cycling a tank. If none of the bacteria survived you will be doing a plain old fishless cycle. If some of tha bacteria survived that process will go faster. How much faster depends on how much bacteria was still alive when you got the filter back on the tank.

Right we have bought some ammonia, and we have a full test kit with test tubes etc.. Just about to do some tests now and I will post the results later. In the tank at the moment we have normal gravel, a mountain ornament and some pieces of lava rock( I did ask if these would be ok in the tank and I was told they would be). We have an air rock which is on and working and the 2 standard 30watt light strips.

All that stuff with be fine.

I think that having the lights on with ammonia causes a lot of algae. So might be best to leave lights off, seeing as there's no fish or real plants it won't bother you to have lights off and will save you tackling an algae outburst.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Since you have substrate and decor, calculate the ammonia dose based on a volume of 155 l.
 
Lights out during cycling is fine. In fact, the bacteria are photosensitive so lights out can only help things and not hurt them. However, if one intends to have live plants in a tank, I am a believer in putting them in the start and then completing the cycle. The more plants one has, the less bacteria the tank will need.
 
Draxis- I think you need to do a bit more research into this topic. The biofilm in which the bacteria live protects them from dessication for some amount of time. Consider the following in this regard:
 
The biofilm matrix
 
Biofilm Centre,
University of Duisburg-Essen,
Geibelstrasse 41, D-47057
Duisburg, Germany.
 

 
The matrix protects organisms against desiccation, oxidizing or charged biocides, some anti biotics and metallic cations, ultraviolet radiation, many (but not all) protozoan grazers and host immune defences...........
Functions of extracellular polymeric substances in bacterial biofilms
Function: Retention of water; - Relevance for Biofilms-  Maintains a highly hydrated microenvironment around biofilm organisms, leading to their tolerance of dessication in water-deficient environments; EPS components involved- Hydrophilic polysaccharides and, possibly, proteins

from http/www.researchgate.net/publication/45440998_The_biofilm_matrix/file/d912f50fa50a170c50.pdf
 
Not only do scientist know that the biofilm can protect from dessication (drying out) but they have a pretty good idea of how it works. In order to get a decent human eye view of the nitrifying bacteria requires magnifying 39,000 times.