Fishless Cycling Water Change Questions...

[moon]

My tank is cycled now. All I need to do is the big water change (80%?).

I want to get my new fishy friends on Saturday, but I need to make sure the water has time to heat up.

Any guides on how long it will take for the following set up to get to 27C? I know this is hard to estimate, but am I talking hours or days?
170L tank at 27C.
80% water change with some lovely 5C London water.
Eheim 2126 external filter with built in 180W heater.
Ambient room temperature of 21C

I can't do the water change tomorrow (New years beer resolution to break), so I am wondering if I should do the change tonight. This prompts another question though...

If I do the big water change tonight, I will still have to add a dose of ammonia to keep my thriving bacteria fed. Will a single dose of Ammonia generate significant amounts of Nitrates?

Cheers
moon

 

[Squid]

Im new to this, but i was under the impression that you would need to add the fish to the tank within 24 hours or the bacteria would die off. If you add more ammonia, i guess you would then need to keep an eye on the nitrate levels again, but perhaps these wouldn't be too high after a short period of time.

So, i guess i might not have helped you much here, except maybe started to confirm your concerns about the bacteria starting to die off.

Bring on the experts..

Squid

 

[dwarfgourami]

My tank is cycled now. All I need to do is the big water change (80%?).

I want to get my new fishy friends on Saturday, but I need to make sure the water has time to heat up.

Any guides on how long it will take for the following set up to get to 27C? I know this is hard to estimate, but am I talking hours or days?
170L tank at 27C.
80% water change with some lovely 5C London water.
Eheim 2126 external filter with built in 180W heater.
Ambient room temperature of 21C

I can't do the water change tomorrow (New years beer resolution to break), so I am wondering if I should do the change tonight. This prompts another question though...

If I do the big water change tonight, I will still have to add a dose of ammonia to keep my thriving bacteria fed. Will a single dose of Ammonia generate significant amounts of Nitrates?

Cheers
moon

The big water change should be done within 24 hours before adding the fish. Until you do it, you keep on adding ammonia as before, after it you add no more ammonia but add the fish. It doesn't take long to bring the water to temperature; you can always speed up the process by adding some boiling water to the new water; this is what you will be doing during the weekly water change anyway (though outside the UK I believe many fishkeepers mix their water from the hot tap- in the UK there is an issue with copper pipes).

 

[moon]

Thanks.

I will do the change early <shudder> on Saturday then and use the boiling water trick.

 

[Squid]

My advice would be to take a resolve extra the night before... Im no chemist, but it works for me..

That should be the the best trick for managing the water change on a saturday morning after the beers

Squid

 

[rdd1952]

No longer than it will be, you could do the water change today and then add your ammonia on Friday to feed the bacteria. Ammonia and nitrite should both back to 0 by Saturday morning and you will be fine to add your fish without losing any bacteria.

As far as water temp, try to match the water temp from the faucet to the tank water temp just as you would when doing a water change with the fish in the tank. Obviously, it doesn't have to be a perfect match though. It depends on what the water temp is when you put it back in but if it is around 22-24, it should only take 4 to 6 hours (if that long) to get the temp back up to 27 if your heater is adaquet.