Fishless Cycling

[fluttermoth]

This may seem a daft question but here goes. I have some mature media in the form of a small air pump and some ceramic rings from my big tank to help speed along the process in my new nano. However, once I reach the desired cycled levels, If I were to remove these items, should I expect a difference?

You'll need to leave the media you used for seeding in the new filter for six to eight weeks to give the bacteria enough time to thoroughly colonise the new media. Then you should be able to remove it without affecting the cycle (as long as it's not more than 1/4 of the total; if it is, then you'll have to remove it a bit at a time).

Also, I have a small quarantine tank which though filled with water, rarely has any occupants. Due to the lack of produced ammonia, have I starved the media that was in there?

Yes, I'm afraid so. The best solution for QTs is to keep the media in the main tank's filter and take it out only when you need to set the QT up. Or you could keep the filter going with daily doses of ammonia.

 

[Boothros]

Thankyou very much. When you look at it all logically it all starts to make sense dosent it.

 

[Steph2790]

Hi, just waiting for my ammonia and testing kit to arrive before I start my fishless cycle. Do I treat the tap water to make it safe for fish as I start the fishless cycle or after the cycle has finished?

 

[fluttermoth]

It's better to start treating the water right away, as the chlorine in the tap water will kill the bacteria you're trying to grow.

 

[Steph2790]

It's better to start treating the water right away, as the chlorine in the tap water will kill the bacteria you're trying to grow.

Thanks got my tank yesterday. A fluval edge 46 litre in black. Quite impressed with the look of the tank so far and the filters nice and quiet too which is nice. Last night I added 2.5ml of ammonia (kleen off brand brought from eBay) Lights are off and dropped the water level slightly. Dont have a heater in the tank as its going to be a coldwater tank. Anyway i tested the water about half an hour ago and the ammonia level is still between 4.0ppm-8.0ppm accoringing to the api testing kit. It's hard to tell as its not quite a light enough green to be 4.0ppm but isn't as dark as the 8.0ppm. Tested for nitrite's and that's on 0ppm. Are those readings expected from day 1 of the fishless cycle or should I have seen a drop in ammonia and rise in nitrites yet?

Brought a nice ornament for the tank today aswell as two moss balls which I think look nice but unfortunatly the ornament doesn't fit through the opening so will have to go back other than that I absolutely love this tank.

 

[sebn]

It's better to start treating the water right away, as the chlorine in the tap water will kill the bacteria you're trying to grow.

Thanks

got my tank yesterday. A fluval edge 46 litre in black. Quite impressed with the look of the tank so far and the filters nice and quiet too which is nice. Last night I added 2.5ml of ammonia (kleen off brand brought from eBay) Lights are off and dropped the water level slightly. Dont have a heater in the tank as its going to be a coldwater tank. Anyway i tested the water about half an hour ago and the ammonia level is still between 4.0ppm-8.0ppm accoringing to the api testing kit. It's hard to tell as its not quite a light enough green to be 4.0ppm but isn't as dark as the 8.0ppm. Tested for nitrite's and that's on 0ppm. Are those readings expected from day 1 of the fishless cycle or should I have seen a drop in ammonia and rise in nitrites yet?

Brought a nice ornament for the tank today aswell as two moss balls which I think look nice but unfortunatly the ornament doesn't fit through the opening so will have to go back

other than that I absolutely love this tank.

It can take anywhere upto a couple of weeks before your ammonia levels reduce and you start to see nitrite, longer sometimes. The whole process of cycling can take upto 6 weeks.
You say its going to be a cold water aquarium, what fish were you planning on putting in there?

 

[Steph2790]

Oh good, thought I was doing something wrong. Tanks a little cloudy today but suppose that's to be expected. May put a few white and gold cloud mountain minnow's in around 8 ish I think. The water temp is around 21 at night and rises to 23 in the day so according to pets at home I can keep them in a unheated tank. Took the carbon filter out yesterday and replaced it with another biomax bag as ide read that it's better for the tank as you don't really need to carbon in the filter?

 

[greenmumma141]

Oh boy, do I have some questions lol Here goes... I am upgrading to a 60 gallon tank, picking it up this weekend. I have saved mature media from my current tank (sponge + ceramic rings) to help a fishless cycle as I want to start this tank off right. How soon after running the filter with the media in them do I HAVE to add my fish, so I don't starve the media and lose the good bacteria? Do I still need to add ammonia before adding fish? I just want to get all my steps in the right order and get a good clear outline of what I need to do. I want to do this right any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[DreamertK]

I've looked at a bunch of hardware stores in my area but can only find ammonia cleaning supplies, all with fragrances in the ingredients. I havent tried the grocery store yet, though. I read that link on the first post and am not sure what amount of time it would take to receive the ammonia from that website or if it'll ship overseas. I want to start very soon, but I also want to see if I can upgrade the 20g I got for christmas for a 30g (the tank I want to cycle).

Doing all that back breaking water changes really changed my mind about fish-in cycling.

 

[the_lock_man]

Oh boy, do I have some questions lol Here goes... I am upgrading to a 60 gallon tank, picking it up this weekend. I have saved mature media from my current tank (sponge + ceramic rings) to help a fishless cycle as I want to start this tank off right. How soon after running the filter with the media in them do I HAVE to add my fish, so I don't starve the media and lose the good bacteria? Do I still need to add ammonia before adding fish? I just want to get all my steps in the right order and get a good clear outline of what I need to do. I want to do this right

any help is greatly appreciated.

When you say "upgrading", are you moving all the fish from the old tank into the new tank? If so, just put all the filter media from the old filter into the new one, top it up with the new media that comes with the new filter, and you are instantly cycled (assuming your old filter is cycled, of course).

So long as you keep the media wet, you have a few hours before the bacteria die off to any significant degree.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It is exactly as the_lock_man says.

 

[greenmumma141]

Oh boy, do I have some questions lol Here goes... I am upgrading to a 60 gallon tank, picking it up this weekend. I have saved mature media from my current tank (sponge + ceramic rings) to help a fishless cycle as I want to start this tank off right. How soon after running the filter with the media in them do I HAVE to add my fish, so I don't starve the media and lose the good bacteria? Do I still need to add ammonia before adding fish? I just want to get all my steps in the right order and get a good clear outline of what I need to do. I want to do this right

any help is greatly appreciated.

When you say "upgrading", are you moving all the fish from the old tank into the new tank? If so, just put all the filter media from the old filter into the new one, top it up with the new media that comes with the new filter, and you are instantly cycled (assuming your old filter is cycled, of course).

So long as you keep the media wet, you have a few hours before the bacteria die off to any significant degree.

I am moving all my current fish to the new tank. I was under the impression that my tank would still take time to cycle, but this sounds much better. So If i have a used sponge and ceramics that I saved in a ziploc (lol) the bacteria has died off???

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If it hasn't had access to oxygen and ammonia for a significant period of time... more than likely they are all dead. You might have them be dormant, so they might bounce back, but I wouldn't count on them.

 

[greenmumma141]

Well it's a good thing I asked about that before I relied on the old useless filter. Thanks for the help guys

 

[TwoTankAmin]

No the bacteria do not die in a matter of hours. They can survive for days, weeks or months. Not all will live for sure. But how fast they might die or how long they might remain viable depends on a number of factors, one of the most important of which is how well fed and healthy they are when ammonia and/or oxygen deprivation starts, There is a neat scientific paper on this topic. It is somewhat technical. But if you can skim through some of it you will be amazed at what you learn.

Strategies of aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria for coping with nutrient and oxygen fluctuations

http/onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2006.00170.x/full