Cycling A 1000 Litre Tank?

[dave_oddballs]

hi guys, just bought a 7x2.5x2 foot tank just short of 1000 litres (picking it up next weekend hopefully!)
how do i go about cycling it, baring in mind everythings gotta be spot on as its going to house a pair of rays and arowana, plus a few optional extras

it comes with '2 large eheim external filters' t5 light sets beech stand and hood, not bad for £450 ey.
am i best just adding my mature media to the filters and adding a couple of the fish i already have and letting it cycle, or is it a bottled ammonia jobbie?
i was wondering wether the filters would be sufficient but the guy has 5 18" asian arowanas in it, a motoro ray and a pearl ray, so must be sufficient, plus i only want 2 rays and 1 arowana, maybe a siamese tiger fish and a zebra shovel nose. i asked how much the aro's were and he said about £1200 each so i said "errrrrmmm......... anyway about the tank" lol
any ideas or suggestions will be very welcome!
cheers,
Dave

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Mature media in the filters would help but personally with them kind of fish I would start from scratch and use bottled ammonia to cycle it with (really dont want to introduce anything that could possibly be floating around in the other tank).

Just do the normal fishless cycling thing. normally you only set it so there is 5ppm of ammonia to be cycled but you might want to increase this considering the eventual fish load from these big guys (someone can probably confirm if this is necessary or not).

 

[ellena]

Are the filters he's currently running ging to be dried out when you get it then? 'Cos that would be the ideal thing, just take his fish out and put yours in

 

[dave_oddballs]

well to be honest i dont know, i spoke to the guy on the phone before, didn't remember to ask about the filters, i'm just assuming they will be dry, or at the least, wet, but disconnected.
anyhow, however i go about it, the rays and arowana won't be in there for a good few months, or as long as it takes for the water parameters to be as near to perfect and perfectly stable. i know i am going to have to dose high in order to prep the filters for big dirty fish and am prepared for that.
im not entirely sure the guy knows too much about it really, the guy selling it is the brother of the owner, who died, this is why its for sale, its 7 foot and made from 1/2" glass so you can see why i jumped at the chance to buy it for £450! was only planning for a 6x2x2 but this is alot better!
even if the filters were still running it wouldnt make any difference as i know all the fish (5 18" arowanas and 2 rays) were already taken to their lfs, so the bacteria would be dead anyway.
so the best thing to do is dose with ammonia then, i will need to dose more than 5ppm so what about doubling it to 10ppm? i have never fishless cycled and have never cycled to prepare for a fish load like this so just need the guide lines really!

 

[Truck]

if you double it to 10ppm the wrong species of bacteria will grow, start it at 5 and once its finished add an additional 5ppm to increase the bacterial colonies

 

[dave_oddballs]

what do ya meen? dose to 5ppm then when it gets to about 1ppm bring it back up to 5ppm and when it starts going from 5ppm to 0 over night it is cycled right, then bring it back up to 5ppm? well that doesn't make sense, im still lost!

 

[Truck]

what do ya meen? dose to 5ppm then when it gets to about 1ppm bring it back up to 5ppm and when it starts going from 5ppm to 0 over night it is cycled right, then bring it back up to 5ppm? well that doesn't make sense, im still lost!

fishless cycle as normal, once the cycle has finished and ammonia and nitrite are being processed within 12 hours, add 5ppm of ammonia daily until ammonia and nitrite drop down to 0 within 12 hours again, this way you will have a bigger bacteria colony compared to a normal fishless cycle, that way you can be sure you wont have any spikes as i know rays and arrowanas produce lots of waste

 

[rabbut]

I'll probably be shot for this suggestion, but I'll make it anyway...

You have a 1000l tank, and you are wanting to add an Arrowana. I presume you are buying small to avoid a massive price tag... Well, get an arrow at around 4-5" and add him/her strait into the tank once it's set-up and up-to-temperature. While they are expensive fish, they are tough as old boots IME, and a lightly fed 4-5" long fish produces very little waste. In a massive tank around 400g in size, you've about 1" per 100 gallons, less than a tenth of the load usually recommended for a fish-in cycle. Being fed lightly and only needing to be few twice a week as a pred, the arrow would be unlikely to get an Ammonia or Nitrite reading above 0.25ppm, if it's detectable at all... If it's planted, it will be a definite silent cycle. Even a bare tank of this size with that load would likely silent cycle anyway... Give it a couple of months, and if all is well, add your next "optional extra" pred, at a similar size to the arrow at that time. Again, with the loads, tank age and size you'd be un-likely to see a mini-cycle. After another couple of months, next "optional extra" pred as applicable. When the tank is 5 months old, go into heavy feeding's, and at 6 months old, add the rays

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Attilauk]

if you double it to 10ppm the wrong species of bacteria will grow

i've never heard that one before where did you read that? and what is the problem with the wrong bacteria?

 

[Truck]

if you double it to 10ppm the wrong species of bacteria will grow

i've never heard that one before where did you read that? and what is the problem with the wrong bacteria?

ive read it on here numerous times, ill try and find where i found it

 

[bae1994]

wow that tank is massve if you dont mind me asking how much did you pay

ive been looking for a large tropicaltank and im picking it up today its 8ft but only 18inches tall and wid

 

[dave_oddballs]

this one is 84"x30"x24", 991 litres 262 gallons, thing is i have to pay £60 to hire a van to pick it up, and i live in Lancaster on the north west coast and the tank is in Worcestershire.
the tank comes with 2 big eheim filters, t5 light sets, heaters, beach stand and hood. and its all 1/2" glass.
and all this for £450
just sent a deposit as i cant pick it up for 2 weeks until my fluval roma 240 is outta here!
i was only planning for a 6x3x2 but the tank alone new was gonna cost me around £550 and then i saw this, give him a bell and bobs your uncle gonna be my new home for a pair of rays, an arowana, a siamese tiger fish, a zebra shovel nose catfish and probably a few more little fellas!
the reason why its cheap is the it belonged to the guys brother who recently died so it just needs to be gone, he kept 5 big arowanas and a pair of rays in it, so at least i know the equipment that is already there is capable of coping with the big fish!
someone told me yesterday (a well known fish shop owner) that in his opinion the best way to cycle the tank is to put about 15 big goldfish in it and let it cycle as the waster from the fish produces the correct nitrifying bacteria whereas cycling with ammonia doesn't do the same.
any thoughts on the matter?
cheers
Dave

 

[bae1994]

yeah mines only gonna with the sump end up with 645 litres so not as much aas your tank and mine was 100 for the tank alone um im wondering about a shovel nose now i dunno im gunna go ask in my thread

and about the cycling im not to sure as it would be a bit harsh for the goldfish im considering get aload of mature media and add the plec as there tough but dont know if that would be harsh on the plec

and i know you probably wont have a plec