Cycling Dilemma

[ellena]

Some of you may have seen my thread in the amphibian forum, but here's the quick version.
2 axolotls in small (20l ish) unfiltered tank at work. Ammonia v. high, nitrites and nitrates almost nil.
I'm given free larger tank (96l) with filter light and heater.
I was going to fishless cycle filter in small tank and put axolotls in large one.
But filter is full height of new tank (40cm) and small tank is only 45cm long.
I could fit it in lying down, but would it be worth cycling it in a tank that is so much smaller? If I do should I use the heater?
Due to other people's impatience, I'd like to avoid having to cycle the large tank while they stay in the small one, if possible
Thanks for any thoughts

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Personally I would put them into the larger tank asap, fishless cycle the filter in the smaller tank and get some ammonia locking media for the large tank to stop your axolotls dying from ammonia posioning in he short term (something like polyfilter or ammo lock).

 

[Craster]

Personally I would put them into the larger tank asap, fishless cycle the filter in the smaller tank and get some ammonia locking media for the large tank to stop your axolotls dying from ammonia posioning in he short term (something like polyfilter or ammo lock).

If your filter's in the small tank, there's no filter to put the ammonia removing media in in the large tank.

The axolotls won't be any worse off in a larger tank with a cycling filter than they are in a filterless tank currently, so you may as well put them straight in the new tank with the filter, and keep them safe with water changes.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

ammo lock is just drops you put in so doesnt need a filter. The reason I suggest cycling the filter seperately is that then you can use something like ammo lock to completely remove the ammonia so your not exposing your livestock to it while you cycle the filter.

 

[ellena]

I think I've decided against the 'fish-in' cycle because they're at school so no water changes can be done between fri 4pm and mon 8am.
I was mostly wondering if the filter would be any good even once cycled if it was done in approx. 20l when the new tank is 96l?
I'm going to post pics of the new filter to see whether it could be used lying down to cycle it in the old tank at all.

 

[Curiosity101]

The filter cycles to deal with the amount of waste created. The size of the tank shouldn't make a difference. So long as it is being used for the exact same livestock it is interchangeable between the tanks.

 

[ellena]

Hi Curiosity, thanks for the reply It won't be cycled with any livestock though, just ammonia. So if I get it to the stage where it can handle 5ppm in 20l, will that deal with the waste from 2 axolotls in 96l?

 

[Curiosity101]

The volume of water isn't a factor. And I honestly wouldn't know how much waste they kick out, so wouldn't know if it would be sufficient. It would create a reasonable sized colony of bacteria though. And with bacteria it's exponential growth with the right conditions. So even if the colony isn't quite big enough, so long as you keep an eye on levels once your axolotls are in the bacteria should catch up pretty quickly.

 

[ellena]

After posting some shots of the filter on here, consensus seems to be that it won't work laying down, so that's stuffed that idea!
Don't know what to do know