Cycling Question

[nc_nutcase]

I’ve always used feeder fish to cycle a tank with and that is how I am doing my 55 Gal now. Since it’s last use the aquarium was broken down and cleaned. Fresh sand put in then HEAVILY seeded. It has 2 stockings with about 3 lbs of gravel in each one, a Pen 330 w/ biowheel, an old filter cartridge, a large piece of rock one large artificial rock formation and a couple random small decorations all out of established tanks. I stocked it with 150 guppies. 25 or so have died, 25 or so have made way to the Oscars tank and at least 10 of them have had babies.

Today is day 9 of the cycle. I’ve only tested the water 3 times (strips get expensive). I saw the Ammonia up to 3.0 or so on about day 4. Today the Ammonia is at .25, NitrItes are at 0 and NitrAtes are around 40 ppm.If I understand this correct this would suggest the Ammonia and NitrIte spikes have taken place and it’s time for a water change and adding fish. Do you agree? (It just sorta happened faster than I expected.)

Since I’ll be stocking it with semi delicate dwarf cichlids I’ll probably still wait a couple weeks after the tank is on a regular maintenance program to fully stock it.

 

[pendragon]

Rule of cycling numero uno: Thou shalt have patience!

Rule of cycling numero dos: You cannot determine where you are in the cycle based on one water test.

You can determine where you are based only on consistent results from multiple tests. If you test in another day or two and your nitrate has increased from today's reading, and you test a day or two after that and nitrate has increased again, and ammonia is not present - then yes, you may assume you have cycled. If you don't see the pattern of results that a cycled tank should show, then you've got more waiting to do. There are any number of reasons why any tank can show no ammonia, or no nitrite, or the presence of nitrate in one water test and not be cycled. Thou shalt be patient, and test multiple times!

Another thing about the seeding. The fact that you seeded so many objects from an existing tank is good, in the sense that there is some bacteria from the get-go to deal with the ammonia and nitrite. But, unless you're going to leave all those things in the tank permanently, the goal here is to get the bacteria growing in your substrate and filter. If the bacteria living on the seeded objects is sufficient to maintain the cycle, there is little compulsion for the bacteria to expand (into your substrate and filter media). If there are items you used for seeding that you intend to eventually remove from the tank, I would wait until the cycle is established, and then remove the seeding objects one by one, spaced a couple or three days apart. In this way, changes in the size of the bacterial colonies on the things that stay in the tank can occur in reasonable increments. There is such a thing as seeding a tank too much. You don't want to seed so much bacteria that it has no reason to colonize elsewhere in the new tank.

pendragon!

 

[nc_nutcase]

so in my circumstance... would it be advised to start the weekly water changes now... or would I simply be taking away needed food for the bacteria?

 

[pnyklr3]

Make sure that you keep "feeding" your tank. If you aren't adding your fish right away, you will need some sort of waste for the bacteria to survive. If you do nothing, the bacteria will die off, and you will end up cycling again with expensive results! I would just add a little bit of food each day to keep my bacteria alive.

 

[nc_nutcase]

theres 150 guppies in it

 

[pnyklr3]

Well, that answers that then! You won't have any problems with maintaining the cycle. Once you get your cockatoos in the tank, get those guppies out and put them in your girlfriend's tank. Don't want to mess up the machismo of the cockatoo with the girlie guppies! (I read her denfense of guppies in the NW forum lol)

 

[nc_nutcase]

heck no... the guppies are goin in with my Oscars... they just love each other! Well... the Oscars love the guppies... not sure if it's reciprocal...

 

[pnyklr3]

I am having visions of a scene from Finding Nemo:

Guppies: C'mon little fella, c'mon!
Oscar: Gulp.

Ahhhh, if that's not guppie-love, I don't know what is!

 

[nc_nutcase]

so me and crackerhead up there got to making jokes and my question got lost...

so in my circumstance... would it be advised to start the weekly water changes now... or would I simply be taking away needed food for the bacteria?

 

[pnyklr3]

Crackerhead....nice. It was answered already....wafertoes! You can if you want to, but no more than 10% for now I would say. You won't be taking away any food for the bacteria if the guppies stay in and are still being fed. Just test the water on a regular basis. You should probably do a water change to bing down the ammonia now that I think about it. Crackerhead....sheesh.

Crackerhead out.

 

[nc_nutcase]

your supposed to feed guppies?

 

[pnyklr3]

Yes, of course...to the oscars! But you have to fatten them up first somehow...