Changing From Ammonia Cycle?!

[Rorie]

I have been running my new quarantine tank through the ammonia cycle system. I am 14 days in and the ammonia still has not dropped. Its a 26L tank.

In the first week of October i will pick up my new 320L fish tank, which comes with some fish. I have been advised by the guy selling (he is quite the educated fish keeper!) that they will be fine in my quarantine tank (as their aint many fish) until i set up my new tank in a couple months (i am moving apartments first). I do not want to put them straight into my current main tank for obvious reasons.

SO, advise please - do i a) keep running the ammonia cycle, and hope that it eventually drops, then add ammonia each day after the cycle is finished and the tank will therefore be ready to have all his fish added (he suggested adding his water too so that we can minimise the stress of the fish). Or b) do i sack the ammonia running, drain the tank, and put the filter into my main tank to mature - i guess i would have issue adding the new fish then though as it would shock the filter? Or would it be ok as it will have been partly dealing with the larger waste from my main tank?

Thanks

 

[Rorie]

Nobody able to help me out? ....please

 

[fluffycabbage]

Im sorry i dont really know anything about fishless cycling,ive not had to do it before - is there any possibility that the guy you are getting the tank and fish from could donate some mature media to you?

 

[Twinklecaz]

I hope I haven't got confused but if I were you I'd carry on fishless cycling your Q tank until you get the fish, put them in that and then carry on with it but doing the cycle fish IN. Then you can set your main tank up the normal way when you move and try and clone that filter from your Q tank filter.

Sorry, really tired. I hope I understood right

 

[Rorie]

Maybe my question was confusing! I have many questions and tried to roll it into one

Basically the ammonia cycle i am running in my Q tank does not seem to be progressing (i.e. the ammonia is not dropping even 13 days into the cycle), so i was considering ditching that idea, and taking my filter out of that tank, and putting it into my main tank to mature the normal way.

I was wondering if, becuase i have quite a few fish in my main tank, the filter will then be prepared to deal with a large stocking of fish? I assume the answer will be no, as although it is in my main tank, the main filter will be dealing with the large workload, and therefore the small filter will only be prepared to do the 'two fish a week' method for my Q tank?

 

[BigIan]

why not take some media from your main tank to kick start your cycle?

 

[Katch]

why not take some media from your main tank to kick start your cycle?

agreed, if you have a mature tank with a mature filter, take no more than a 3rd of the media out of it and stuff it inside your Q tank filter. Keep watching the ammonia and nitrite levels in your new tank and perform a normal fishless cycle.

 

[Rorie]

Ok, so if i remove some of the media and put it in, can i still continue the ammonia process? I imagine by doing this that the ammonia process will just progress much quicker?

Do i need to put in anything to replace the removed filter in the main tank?

Thanks for your help!

 

[BigIan]

Yep if you remove the media and pop it into your cycleing tank then keep up with adding the ammonia. this will feed the bacteria nd make the colony grow to the size you need,
it would be advisable to replace the media in the main tank but depending how much you take depends on how urgent it is.

a healthy and already established bacteria colony will re grow quite quickly

 

[Rorie]

Great, thanks so much

 

[BigIan]

glad i could help.

 

[Rorie]

the filter is not to big, so i cut up one sheet of media and put that in to equal density. I then took the filter media out my Qtank and put it into my main tank to make up the difference. Save me a couple pennies buying a new sheet of media

 

[BigIan]

clever plan.

 

[Bignose]

14 days is still well within the possibility of initial growth. You may just need to be patient. Turning the heater up will help the bacteria grow faster, too. But, the bacteria we want to culture as literally among the slowest growing in the bacteria world. Aquarium bacteria double only once every 20-24 hours. If you hit 28 days without noticeable ammonia decrease, then I'd start being worried.