Cycling New Tank Not Really Sure...

[Bri]

Hi I am due to get a new 80 lt heated tank in the next week. Ive been reading up alot about cycling tanks (totally unaware of before) and im wondering if i can use some media (water, stones) from my other cold water tank to get the heated one going. Im going to buy a testing kit but all the stuff in my new 80 lt will be brand new and unused so im wondering if i need to cycle it, also my other coldwater tank isnt that big so i wouldnt get that much water out of it.


pretty unsure at the moment of what to do when i get the tank. i also want a few plants in the tank, should i let these settle after the cycling for a few weeks before adding fish?

Im sure this is in other parts of the forum and ive read alot im just bad at picking out the important stuff that applies to my situation and thought it safer to just post here. thanks in advance and sorry for being a newbie, ill get there.

 

[the_lock_man]

When we refer to mature media being used to kickstart a cycle, we mean the stuff that's in the filter. The bacteria don't live in the water or gravel (unless you've got an undergravel filter), so using those is essentially pointless.

Take a third of the mature filter's sponges/ceramics, put it in the new filter, and replace it with the new filter's sponges/ceramics. This will giv the bacteria in the mature filter somewhere to re-colonise, so that the filtration in your existing tank is unaffected.

Top up the new filter with the remaining new sponges/ceramics.

Make sure the mature stuff stays wet, then turn on the new filter and then turn on the heater. I believe I'm right in saying that you don't want to put the cold bacteria into tropical water, you need to raise the temperature slowly.

Remember that you need to feed that bacteria, else it will all die off. Therefore, introduce fish, at roughly a third of the bioload of your existing tank, within a day or two, or dose with household ammonia until you are ready to introduce fish. Don't plant the tank until fish are in.

HTH.

 

[HayzH]

Hi..welcome to the Forum Bri.

Media is the sponges and ceramic rings/pellets/balls inside your filter, not ornaments/water/stones.
They wont do anything to start your cycle, you need to breed the bacteria in your filter to substain healthy water parameters to keep your fish alive and well.
This process can take months ( My 70L is about the 90th day now) not weeks (although some cycle quicker) If you have any sponges, biomedia inside your old filter (if you had one) you can put that into your new filter and that will jump start the cycle.

Otherwise plain household Ammonia will be needed to start your Bacteria colony. Don't put fish in till the cycle is complete, otherwise you will then be in a fish-in Cycle..which is much more hard work with daily waterchanges.

Also don't add any live plants to the tank till it is cycled as they absorb the Ammonia and give false test reading and you will think you are further along than you thought.

Check out the Beginners section if you haven't already, there is loads of great info in there.

 

[Bri]

i do have an under gravel filter, my main question is: is it ok to use the medium frm my cold water to kick start my other tank? I have lots of gravel that i could put in while cycling it? thanks for the help. it just makes sense to use what i have instead of starting form scratch. my only other thing is that sometimes my fish get fin rot, once or twice this has been srted but im wondering if its at all possible that if that bacteria is in the cold tank i might move it to the bigger one? that is probably a stupid wuestion just wanted to check. its the only medial problem my fish have had but its cropped up once or twice.

 

[the_lock_man]

i do have an under gravel filter, my main question is: is it ok to use the medium frm my cold water to kick start my other tank? I have lots of gravel that i could put in while cycling it? thanks for the help. it just makes sense to use what i have instead of starting form scratch. my only other thing is that sometimes my fish get fin rot, once or twice this has been srted but im wondering if its at all possible that if that bacteria is in the cold tank i might move it to the bigger one? that is probably a stupid wuestion just wanted to check. its the only medial problem my fish have had but its cropped up once or twice.

OK, a few things to answer there.

If you currently have an undergravel filter, then your bacteria live in the gravel. If the new tank also has an undergravel filter, then fine, use the old gravel in the new tank. If the new tank has a standard filter, then I guess there's no reason why you can't put some gravel in there, in lieu of the ceramics - it's not something that's occurred to me before - anyone else like to comment on that one?

The thing that you need to remember is that using the "mature" gravel needs to be a permanent thing, you can't put some in the filter, and expect the bacteria to jump from the gravel to the other filter media.

The finrot issue is usually caused by poor water quality. If fish are stressed by having ammonia and/or nitrite in their water, they are more susecptible to things like finrot, whitespot and others. Therefore, don't worry about transferring the cause of finrot - if you keep your water in top condition, you probably won't get finrot.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes, you can put gravel into a filter as it would act like a ceramic. There's no reason not to, if it is mature gravel from a undergravel filter it should do very nicely to kick start things. Long term, you may not want to leave it there (depending on the filter you have), but it should stay as it is for at least 6 weeks. After that, you could remove it a little at a time as the bacteria start to colonize new areas of the filter.

 

[Bri]

lovely stuff that saves me a bit of time and effort. I wont ask any more questions until im a bit more prepared but im sure ill have lots more soon. Thanks for you help. Ill investigate if my filter would be able to hold the gravel. My other tank has been set up for a good while.