Fish From A Cycled Tank

[ranjohns]

I'm in the 2nd phase of a fishless cycle. Tomorrow I will receive a 30 gal tankfull-of-plants from a cycled tank. Will I need to continue to cycle my tank? Or, will these new plants finish the cycle for me? He convinced me to buy 3 algae eaters. Will they be ok?

Thanks for your quickest response.

Randy

 

[BobbyBray]

From what I understand adding the new plants and fish will not complete your cycle. The purpose of cycling the tank is to build up the bacteria colonies, and neither adding fish or plants will do that for you.

What type of algae eaters? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the distinct impression that bottom dwellers are more sensitive than mid and top dwelling fish, so it may not be a good idea to add them this quickly. But at any rate, if the ammonia is still really high in your fishless cycle, that will most definitely be toxic to the fish. I would think you'd need to do a large water exchange to lower the levels to a safe value for the fish if you add them, and continue doing water exchanges till the values balance out, which could take it awhile if the bacteria have not yet grown.

 

[BobbyBray]

One other thing that I forgot to mention. If you could either take out the filter media of the fully cycled tank and put it into your current tank, or even if you could take 25-50% of it out and move it over, that would greatly help cycle your tank. Again, its not the transfer of plants / fish that will help speed up your cycling process, but transferring bacteria.

 

[ranjohns]

my topic should have read, "Plants from a cycled tank" and not, "Fish from a planted tank".

 

[Miss Wiggle]

nope plants will not finish the cycle for you. if you can get a bit of your friends filter media then that would help!

what species of algae eaters did you want to get?

 

[ranjohns]

what species of algae eaters did you want to get?
[/quote]

MW, thanks for your reply. This "friend" is a salesman. I ordered quite a few more plants and he suggested 3 siamensis. Against my better judgement, I said, "yes". I just called him and canceled that part of the order.

I have a few more observations to share with you regarding water changes and water clarity. The water in my tank has a slightly cloudy look with quite a bit of particulate mattter floating/circulating around the tank. The water has been like this for about 10 days.

Yesterday, I did a 4 gallon water change and filter cleaning yesterday in my 30 gal tank. I also replanted several plants and moved my wood around. This was the 1st time I washed the filters (Marineland 350B). It's been running for 31 days. The filters were very dirty.

Any suggestions? A more thorough water change? Clean the filters again? Leave it alone? I'm in day 31 of my fishless cycle; the 2nd phase.

Thanks for you help.

Randy

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's always difficult when people describe fine particles in the water, it's normal for there to be some but describing how much is normal and how much is too much over the internet is very difficult!!

what filter media do you have? sometimes just putting some fine filter floss in will clear it.

 

[fatheadminnow]

[/quote]

MW, thanks for your reply. This "friend" is a salesman. I ordered quite a few more plants and he suggested 3 siamensis. Against my better judgement, I said, "yes". I just called him and canceled that part of the order.

I have a few more observations to share with you regarding water changes and water clarity. The water in my tank has a slightly cloudy look with quite a bit of particulate mattter floating/circulating around the tank. The water has been like this for about 10 days.

Yesterday, I did a 4 gallon water change and filter cleaning yesterday in my 30 gal tank. I also replanted several plants and moved my wood around. This was the 1st time I washed the filters (Marineland 350B). It's been running for 31 days. The filters were very dirty.

Any suggestions? A more thorough water change? Clean the filters again? Leave it alone? I'm in day 31 of my fishless cycle; the 2nd phase.

Thanks for you help.

Randy
[/quote]
How did you clean the filter media?

 

[ranjohns]

it's always difficult when people describe fine particles in the water, it's normal for there to be some but describing how much is normal and how much is too much over the internet is very difficult!!

what filter media do you have? sometimes just putting some fine filter floss in will clear it.

I have a Penguin Power Filter 350B biowheel, flow rate of 350GPH, for aquariums up to 75 gallons.
Uses two Rite-Size “C” filter cartridges - activated carbon. My tank is 30 gal.

Randy

 

[ranjohns]

Randy

How did you clean the filter media?

FHM,

I cleaned the filter in the tank water I removed.

Randy

How did you clean the filter media?


FHM,

I cleaned the filter in the tank water I removed.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Randy

How did you clean the filter media?

FHM,

I cleaned the filter in the tank water I removed.

Randy

How did you clean the filter media?


FHM,

I cleaned the filter in the tank water I removed.

It is normal for a new tank to be cloudy when starting a cycle. The cloudiness is more or less a bacterial bloom, but that only last for a couple of days. In your situation I would guess the cloudiness and debris that is floating around in your tank is probably from the wood you have in there, and maybe from the plants? Do you have a power head in your aquarium? A power head would be helpful because it would help move the water around in the aquarium, and in conclusion would help your filter collect more debris. If you do not have one, or do not want to get one, just let your tank run and the debris and the cloudiness will eventually clear up. Do NOT do any more filter cleanings until your tank is completely cycled, unless absolutely necessary! And you made a good choice to cancel the plant order. Adding more plants to an un-cycled tank would change the "chemistry" of the water, and may slow down the cycle. After the cycle is complete you can slowly add plants, just as you would fish.
-Hope this information helps!

 

[ranjohns]

It is normal for a new tank to be cloudy when starting a cycle. The cloudiness is more or less a bacterial bloom, but that only last for a couple of days. In your situation I would guess the cloudiness and debris that is floating around in your tank is probably from the wood you have in there, and maybe from the plants? Do you have a power head in your aquarium? A power head would be helpful because it would help move the water around in the aquarium, and in conclusion would help your filter collect more debris. If you do not have one, or do not want to get one, just let your tank run and the debris and the cloudiness will eventually clear up. Do NOT do any more filter cleanings until your tank is completely cycled, unless absolutely necessary! And you made a good choice to cancel the plant order. Adding more plants to an un-cycled tank would change the "chemistry" of the water, and may slow down the cycle. After the cycle is complete you can slowly add plants, just as you would fish.
-Hope this information helps!
[/quote]

FHM, thanks for you reply. Well, I goofed up a bit. I cancelled the FISH part of my order, not the plant part. They arrived today and are now happily living in my now very slow-cylcing and quite full tank. C'est la vie.

 

[fatheadminnow]

It is normal for a new tank to be cloudy when starting a cycle. The cloudiness is more or less a bacterial bloom, but that only last for a couple of days. In your situation I would guess the cloudiness and debris that is floating around in your tank is probably from the wood you have in there, and maybe from the plants? Do you have a power head in your aquarium? A power head would be helpful because it would help move the water around in the aquarium, and in conclusion would help your filter collect more debris. If you do not have one, or do not want to get one, just let your tank run and the debris and the cloudiness will eventually clear up. Do NOT do any more filter cleanings until your tank is completely cycled, unless absolutely necessary! And you made a good choice to cancel the plant order. Adding more plants to an un-cycled tank would change the "chemistry" of the water, and may slow down the cycle. After the cycle is complete you can slowly add plants, just as you would fish.
-Hope this information helps!


FHM, thanks for you reply. Well, I goofed up a bit. I cancelled the FISH part of my order, not the plant part. They arrived today and are now happily living in my now very slow-cylcing and quite full tank. C'est la vie.

Well, I guess that is even better than canceling the plant order, lol. Adding fish at this stage would not be a very good idea, good thing you canceled the order.
-Best of luck!
-FHM

 

[OldMan47]

There is no problem at all having plants in a tank that is cycling. If you start asking about cycle problems here in the future, just mention that there are plants in the tank so that we can take that into account when trying to figure out the issues. The plants will use some nitrates and may use ammonia itself depending on which plants you have. When we are advising, we usually try to take the whole picture in and that would be part of it.

 

[fatheadminnow]

There is no problem at all having plants in a tank that is cycling. If you start asking about cycle problems here in the future, just mention that there are plants in the tank so that we can take that into account when trying to figure out the issues. The plants will use some nitrates and may use ammonia itself depending on which plants you have. When we are advising, we usually try to take the whole picture in and that would be part of it.

I just said that it is not the best idea to add a lot of plants to a tank during its cycle, because it may slow the cycle down. Just like OldMan47 said, "there is no problem at all having plants in a tank that is cycling" that is if the plants in your tank are there before the cycling starts...but once the cycle has started, you should try to leave the tank the way it is until it is completely cycled.
-FHM