A New 29 Gallon Tank! Where Do I Start?

[Skye15]

Hey guys!!

I received a 10 gallon already cycled fish tank from a friend. I decided to add a baby angel fish in there for the time being. I completely adore the little angel so I decided to go and out a purchase a 29 gallon tank. Its more tall then long and 18 inches in height. I have read a lot about cycling but it seems complicated. I am just not sure where to start. In the future i would like live plants as well. Any help or product referrals is appreciated!!

 

[Lufbramatt]

how are the two tanks filtered? you should be able to use all the filter media from the 10g tank in your 29, and it will be instantly cycled as all the bacteria will be transferred over. recently did the exact same upgrade and that's what I did. Just filled the 29g up with dechlorinated water and left it for a few days to allow all the dissolved gases to escape from the water and to get it up to temperature, then swapped all the filter media into the new filter and moved the fish over. Checked the water parameters every day for 2 weeks and didn't get any ammonia or nitrite spikes at all.

Just make sure you add any extra fish slowly to let the bacteria in the filter catch up with the extra biological load.

 

[fluttermoth]

If your 10 gallon is already cycled (ie, it always tests zero for ammonia and nitrites) and you're moving all the fish from it into the new tank, you can just move all the mature media (sponges or whatever) into the new filter at the same time and you don't have to worry about cycling at all; just test for ammonia every day for the next few days in case of a mini-cycle (where the bacteria are disturbed and need a few days for the colony to recover).

If your only moving some of the fish, you just need to move 'some' of the media; so, for example, if your moving half the fish, move half the media (cut it up if you have to, the bacteria won't care!); if you're moving only 1/3 of the bioload, move 1/3 of the media (hope that makes sense...).

 

[Miles_hot]

Do you want to keep both tanks going? If so I would transfer 1/3 of the media from the 10G tank to the new 29G tank and do a fishless cycle on that (which shouldn't take long as you'll be using mature media to kick start it)

The easy fishless cycle is "add and wait":
Fill tank with de-chlorinated water and bring up to 30 degrees C
Add the required amount of Chlorine for the water volume (see the calculator in the beginners section and stir
Use your liquid based tester kit to test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and pH on a daily basis.
The cycle will have three stages:
1 - The 4-5 ppm dose will be used up slowly - bring back up to 4-5 ppm strength only when ammonia has been reduced to 0 ppm
2 - Nitrite will spike (suddenly go to 5+ - typically changing the test colour to deep red as soon as it mixes) Now you reduce the dosing to 2 ppm rather than 4-5. This is to give the bacteria which eat the Nitrite a chance as they don't really like massive concentrations. Again you dose only when ammonia hits 0. You are now looking to ammonia and nitrite to hit 0 in 12 hours (i.e. feed at night, test in the morning, dose back to 2 ppm in the evening if ammonia is 0)
3) Full power ahead - bring the dose back up to 4-5 ppm and look for the filter to be able to process this full load in 12 hours.
Once you have double 0 from stage 3 hold onto your patience for 1 more week (the qualifying week) whilst you check that it can do the double zero trick every day or a week.
Add your fish (you can add the full bio load as your filter has been processing a full 1" per gallon after doing a 90-100% water change and setting the temp down a little

You may need to do a big water change (80-00%) if the process stalls after the Nitrite spike. You may also need to add bicarb of soda if your pH drops below 6-7.

HTH

Miles

 

[Skye15]

Hi Miles! Thanks for your info!

What do you mean by dosing?

 

[Miles_hot]

Adding doses of ammonia to bring your concentration to the right amount - measure the internal size of the tank to the level you expect to fill the tank to, take a little off for ornaments and use the calculator in the beginners section to find out how much to add.
Hope that helps
Miles

 

[Skye15]

Sound perfect! thank you very much!! Should I be doing water changes while it is cycling?

 

[Humanist]

Add the required amount of Chlorine for the water volume

Add chlorine?

 

[Stephan]

I'm thinking they may have meant ammonia

 

[Aqua Tom]

Here is a good bit of information regarding fishless cycling.

FISHLESS CYCLE

 

[Miles_hot]

I'm thinking they may have meant ammonia

Doh! Yes I meant ammonia

Thanks

Miles

Sound perfect! thank you very much!! Should I be doing water changes while it is cycling?

There's little need to do water changes when doing a fishless cycle. The only reason for doing so is if the cycle seems to have stalled or the Nitrates go a bit mad (see my thread where KK gave me some advice on this). You also do a 100% change at the end of the qualifying week before putting the fish in.

This is one of the main advantages of the fishless technique, especially if doing Add and Wait, in that it is a lot less work than messing about with fish in there


HTH

Miles