Fishless Cycling New Tank For Cichlids

[berbie38]

Hi all
As the title says this weekend I am to start fishless cycling my jewel rio 180 ready for cichlids. The owner of my local pet shop is to give me an 8 month old used filter from one of his gldfish tanks. One of my questions is how do i transport it from shop to home, does it need keepin moist? question 2 what do i do with it? put it in amongst my new filter? any other advice would be well appreciated I have read fishless cycle.

Another question I have is abot my 60 litre Bi orb, big mistake! I now have algae growing in the tank but the tank is not suitable for bottom feeders. Are there any fish that eat algae that are not bottom feeders, its a community tank with guppies, tetras etc .Or hould I clean by hand?
best wishes
berbie

 

[KittyKat]

Did he give you the whole filter, or only the media? If the whole filter, you can run new and old filter in parallel for six weeks. If media, replace your new media with the old stuff. You can also replace new media with old media in your filter, even if you have his whole filter.

Yes, it needs to be kept moist. If it is an internal, just bunk it into a fish bag with a tiny bit of water and head straight home.

What sort of algae? Certain shrimp will eat some types of algae, for example. I do use old bank/loyalty point cards to clean the glass in my tanks.

Also, be aware that guppies and tetras do best in quite different conditions, so do consider moving one or the other to the new tank, if your plans for it are suitable.

 

[berbie38]

Hi thanks for your reply, hes is gonna give me the media although if its better i may just buy the whole mechanical filter from him ? will I still need to fishless cycle? i guess the answer is yes.but will this speed up the process?
As for the algae i didnt know there were more than one type, how can i find out?
thanks for your help
berbie
ps will seperate ther fish

 

[eaglesaquarium]

All you need is the media. The whole filter probably wouldn't fit in your tank anyway. Just cram the media into your filter and you should be well on your way to being cycled.

Algae types...

 

[KittyKat]

It makes no difference if you take the filter or the media only. If you want to use your own filter, then just take the media.

I would recommend you fish-less cycle, it should take maybe only a week or so, instead of the 4-6 weeks. In theory, it would be fine to stock on the same day as you get the media, but you should stock slowly then, maybe starting with 10-15 small fish and getting no more than 3-6 new fish per week.

 

[berbie38]

ok, great
im gonna pick up the filter media later today co just cram it in with my new media??

 

[KittyKat]

ok, great
im gonna pick up the filter media later today co just cram it in with my new media??

I would go so far as to replace the new media. Also you'll need to add some source of ammonia as soon as you set up the filter (so household ammonia if you fishless cycle or fish)

 

[berbie38]

ok, great
im gonna pick up the filter media later today co just cram it in with my new media??

I would go so far as to replace the new media. Also you'll need to add some source of ammonia as soon as you set up the filter (so household ammonia if you fishless cycle or fish)

Hi
the mature media I have to put in is only small compared to the new media that came with the tank shoul;d i put in with the new??
regards
berbie

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes... put the older stuff first in line with the water and the new stuff right after it.

 

[KittyKat]

Yes... put the older stuff first in line with the water and the new stuff right after it.

+1, in that case.

 

[berbie38]

Yes... put the older stuff first in line with the water and the new stuff right after it.

+1, in that case.

let me get this correct, I have put the new stuff at the bttom of the filter and the mature at the top where the water is circulated back into the tank, is this correct
thanks
berbie
ps ammonia is in and up to 5 ppm

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No, that's backwards. Put the mature stuff on the bottom where it will come into contact with water coming FROM the tank first. Then the water will move through the new material - hopefully catching any bacteria that might somehow come loose from the mature stuff, before moving back into the tank.

 

[berbie38]

No, that's backwards. Put the mature stuff on the bottom where it will come into contact with water coming FROM the tank first. Then the water will move through the new material - hopefully catching any bacteria that might somehow come loose from the mature stuff, before moving back into the tank.

thank you