I still have to clean out my 75 and get plants and a light, etc, but I want to get cycling. Any reason I couldn't just start doing it on a 20 gallon? I would assume I'd have to redose more often since it can probably filter it out much faster?
Any Reason I Can't Start Fishless Cycling My Ac110 In A 20 Gallon?
- Thread starter Rynofasho
- Start date
No reason at all. I'm not sure how often you'd have to dose; my poor brain isn't up to trying to work that out today 
Miles_hot
Fish Addict
no reason at all. All you need to do is work out how much the max dose for your smaller tank is and then how much the bigger tank would need to process in 24 hours to be cycled. The ratio gives to the frequency (as compared to the normal dose once a day and test twice)
Miles
Miles
I think that the key is to keep the water at the proper dosage, meaning no more than 4-5ppm. Don't overdose the tank because you plan to move the filter to a larger tank later. Cycle the filter based on the size of the tank that it is running in. When you move the filter to a larger tank, increase the dosage amount, but keep it within the proper concentration levels. The issue is the concentration more than the actual amount of ammonia used. You will need to cycle it further on your bigger tank when you move it, or if it is fully cycled for the 20 gallon tank, you could add fish based on a 20 gallon tank to the larger tank with the filter and slowly increase the stocking level, giving the filter time to catch up.
OK. My only woe is I'm going to plant it prior to putting fish in, so I cant cycle it while on there. I'm hoping it can be ready for a 20 gallon in a short time and then after I plant it, I will move a cycled 50 gallon filter and it over at the same time and have 70 gallons of filtration ready. At that point I'd feel fairly safe moving over the current inhabitants of the 36, minus the fry. Or what I may do (stay with me here) is this:
I have 3 cycled filters right now -- two AC 50s and a Marineland 100 good for 20 gallons. I also have 4 bags of biomax or whatever it is called for the AC110 as I dont need carbon so I put in more bio media. My idea was to keep the AC110 cycling on the 20gallon til July 23rd when I have time to put in the plants and all that jazz. I figure it since it is a 110 gallon working on a 20, that it will cycle quicker, or is that wrong? Im not sure as it may have more to do with how fast the bacteria grow. Anyhow, start it fishless cycling today and run it for the next 11 days, and then on the 23rd, I will fill it, scape it, and plant it and put the AC110 on it, along with an AC50 that is already cycled. I figure at that point I'm good to put a lot of my fish from the 36 in there, so I will move a pretty big number over (probably at least 80% of them) including the messy plecs.
THEN, I have the 10 gallon in back that is currently QTing a powder blue dwarf gourami, soon to be 4 Cardinal Tetras, and 6 Rummynose tetras. I would move them OUT of the QT tank and into the 36 and run the AC50 and the Marineland 100 on those tanks for a bit.
I don't know, it is all really confusing on what I have to do. I know that I want to have the 75 planted on the 23rd, which means I cannot fishless cycle in there, so I'll have to pull one of the 50s off the other tank to put on too.
If you were me, what would you do? And please dont say set up the 75 with just sand and fishless cycle it with the 110 because that would be brutal to wait that long and I feel like I could find a way to cut down the time.
I have 3 cycled filters right now -- two AC 50s and a Marineland 100 good for 20 gallons. I also have 4 bags of biomax or whatever it is called for the AC110 as I dont need carbon so I put in more bio media. My idea was to keep the AC110 cycling on the 20gallon til July 23rd when I have time to put in the plants and all that jazz. I figure it since it is a 110 gallon working on a 20, that it will cycle quicker, or is that wrong? Im not sure as it may have more to do with how fast the bacteria grow. Anyhow, start it fishless cycling today and run it for the next 11 days, and then on the 23rd, I will fill it, scape it, and plant it and put the AC110 on it, along with an AC50 that is already cycled. I figure at that point I'm good to put a lot of my fish from the 36 in there, so I will move a pretty big number over (probably at least 80% of them) including the messy plecs.
THEN, I have the 10 gallon in back that is currently QTing a powder blue dwarf gourami, soon to be 4 Cardinal Tetras, and 6 Rummynose tetras. I would move them OUT of the QT tank and into the 36 and run the AC50 and the Marineland 100 on those tanks for a bit.
I don't know, it is all really confusing on what I have to do. I know that I want to have the 75 planted on the 23rd, which means I cannot fishless cycle in there, so I'll have to pull one of the 50s off the other tank to put on too.
If you were me, what would you do? And please dont say set up the 75 with just sand and fishless cycle it with the 110 because that would be brutal to wait that long and I feel like I could find a way to cut down the time.
You have mature media. Take one-third or less of the media from all of your mature filters and use it to seed the 110. I would dose the 20 gallon tank with 4ppm, and check it after 4-8 hours. If it has "eaten" through all the ammonia in that time, add more up to 4ppm, and then again after 4-8 ours, do it again. As soon as your ammonia and nitrites hit zero, dose immediately. This will give you a chance to emulate a larger bioload for the larger tank, without actually putting the concentration above the suggested level of 4-5ppm.
Just a thought. Personally, I don't know why you would try to cycle a filter from scratch, if you have some mature media to seed it with.
Just a thought. Personally, I don't know why you would try to cycle a filter from scratch, if you have some mature media to seed it with.
Smells a bit fishy
Fishaholic
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yeh that is rather confusing, but as eagle said, move a 1/3 of filter media from each of your filters, and dose with 4ppm every 8-10 hours if it hits 0, however someone said that the bacteria need a rest period, not sure if thats correct however.
Bacteria will multiply alot faster if there are already bacteria present, a rough guide is that bacteria double every day, so its the first few days/weeks that take the longest amount of time, ie 0,1,2,4,8,16,32, so even a small amount of bacteria will cycle the tank alot faster. If for example you need 1000 a-bacs, but have a hundred, it will only take 7 days, if you were to start from scratch it would take 14 days, to get the same amount
Bacteria will multiply alot faster if there are already bacteria present, a rough guide is that bacteria double every day, so its the first few days/weeks that take the longest amount of time, ie 0,1,2,4,8,16,32, so even a small amount of bacteria will cycle the tank alot faster. If for example you need 1000 a-bacs, but have a hundred, it will only take 7 days, if you were to start from scratch it would take 14 days, to get the same amount
Ok, I'll give that a try. The reason I can't really seed it all that much right now is that I need pretty good filtration on the 36 at this point. With the amount of fish in there (see sig) + the fry and now a new batch hatching, I need a good amount of media in it.
Do you think maybe it would be a good idea to (once I set up the 75) slap the 110 on, slap a cycled 50 on, and then from the other 50, take one of the bags of media out of that (I have one sponge and two media bags) to swap with one of the bags that is in the 110 (the top layer is two smaller bags, not one big one) and then also put the Penguin on the 36 so I have at least half the media in the 50 still and a cycled 20 on there too?
I know it sounds complicated and I'm probably OVERcomplicating it, but like I said, between keeping three tanks running right now and then having to keep all these fry alive, that I have to keep that 36 as well filtered as possible at all times.
Do you think that the 36 would be fine if I did what I suggested and only left all the fry in there, plus maybe the Gouramis, Betta, and some maybe 6 cats or so (36 would have one AC50 with one bag of mature media, one bag of newish media, and a cycled 20 gallon filter)?
OR, there is the option of taking one bag of media out of each AC50 right now and replacing them with the two non seeded bags that I have for the 110. I'll still have two mature bags and two sponges, but again, I'm afraid of having an ammonia spike in the 36.
Do you think maybe it would be a good idea to (once I set up the 75) slap the 110 on, slap a cycled 50 on, and then from the other 50, take one of the bags of media out of that (I have one sponge and two media bags) to swap with one of the bags that is in the 110 (the top layer is two smaller bags, not one big one) and then also put the Penguin on the 36 so I have at least half the media in the 50 still and a cycled 20 on there too?
I know it sounds complicated and I'm probably OVERcomplicating it, but like I said, between keeping three tanks running right now and then having to keep all these fry alive, that I have to keep that 36 as well filtered as possible at all times.
Do you think that the 36 would be fine if I did what I suggested and only left all the fry in there, plus maybe the Gouramis, Betta, and some maybe 6 cats or so (36 would have one AC50 with one bag of mature media, one bag of newish media, and a cycled 20 gallon filter)?
OR, there is the option of taking one bag of media out of each AC50 right now and replacing them with the two non seeded bags that I have for the 110. I'll still have two mature bags and two sponges, but again, I'm afraid of having an ammonia spike in the 36.
Smells a bit fishy
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sorry, I got my figures wrong in my last post, it will take 4 days, for example to get to a thousand, and 11 days to get to the same amount from scratch.
I dont think there will be an issue, of moving a 1/3 of media from any tank, you may get a slight ammonia spike, for a day or 2, just do water changes to compensate, but with 66% of the media still in there, if the double a day is correct, it will be back to 100% in a day
oh, how many tanks do you have, see I'm rather confused, do you have 2 or 3 tanks? only take out a 1/3 of the media per tank, not filter.
I dont think there will be an issue, of moving a 1/3 of media from any tank, you may get a slight ammonia spike, for a day or 2, just do water changes to compensate, but with 66% of the media still in there, if the double a day is correct, it will be back to 100% in a day
oh, how many tanks do you have, see I'm rather confused, do you have 2 or 3 tanks? only take out a 1/3 of the media per tank, not filter.
If you are worried about a spike, only take 1/4 or 1/5 of th media from any filter in a tank you are worried about. A seeded filter will cycle far faster than an unseeded.
Theoretically, taking 1/4 of the media from one filter allows you to take 1/4 of the bioload and immediately have a cycled filter for that bioload.
So, if you have 12 fish in one tank, 20 in another, 40 fish in a 3rd and put 1/4 of the media from each filter into a new one, you would be able to put 18 fish immediately into the new tank, without having any major issues with spikes.
So, with your set-up, I would suggest that when you finally get the 75 set-up, just move the fish over slowly and you shouldn't really have to worry, if you borrow the media from the other filters.
Theoretically, taking 1/4 of the media from one filter allows you to take 1/4 of the bioload and immediately have a cycled filter for that bioload.
So, if you have 12 fish in one tank, 20 in another, 40 fish in a 3rd and put 1/4 of the media from each filter into a new one, you would be able to put 18 fish immediately into the new tank, without having any major issues with spikes.
So, with your set-up, I would suggest that when you finally get the 75 set-up, just move the fish over slowly and you shouldn't really have to worry, if you borrow the media from the other filters.
Ok. Thanks for all the help. Tomorrow I'll move one bag of media to the 110 and continue dosing ammonia. Come the 23rd, I'll move over am AC50 with the 110 and start putting the hardiest fish in first. I figure since I'll have a cycled 50, I can move over my previous load I had prior to dumping the 10 gallon into the 36, so I'll move the Danios, probably all the peppered cories, the gouramis, Rasboras, and Plecs. From there I'll just wait a week and start moving over around 6-8 fish at a time so I should have everyone out around 2 weeks after that and my other fish will be adequately QT'd.
Fishy, right now I have an empty 75, the 36 you see in my sig, and a 10 with two Cardinals, six Rummynose, and a powder blue gourami all in QT.
Thanks for all the ideas and help!
Fishy, right now I have an empty 75, the 36 you see in my sig, and a 10 with two Cardinals, six Rummynose, and a powder blue gourami all in QT.
Thanks for all the ideas and help!
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