Hello All

tail_fin · Jul 20, 2009

Hello everyone

I have recently (4 days ago) set up a new tank (127lt) - I have used my filter from my old tank (which I had to get rid of because it started leaking) and all 3 fish have been given to a friend to look after while my new tank cycles!

The thing is, I did a water test tonight and my results were as follows -

Ammonia - 0ppm
pH - 7.0
NitrIte - 0ppm
NitRate - 0ppm

As I am using my old filter, will the whole cycling process go quicker?

Will I see the levels increase in a few days?

Do you think putting my fish back in the tank now could be disastrous?

My fish are 2 Peppered Corys, and 1 tiger barb (his 2 friends died last week :sad:

)

Look forward to reading your replies!

Scvpirates · Jul 20, 2009

yes the cycling process will go quicker using old filter media. the levels should increase in a few day after starting it. if it doesnt start soon you may want to consider using a bacteria boost like cycle or prime. ask your lfs to see what they carry. putting the fish back in the tank before your tank starts spiking in ammonia and nitrate can be very disastrous for them. it may not kill them but the shock might.

tail_fin · Jul 20, 2009

Thank you for your reply!

Should I do daily water tests or say every other day?

I will cycle my tank for as long as I have to, dont want to rush anything, so my fish will stay with my friend for as long as needed!

Marve99 · Jul 21, 2009

Just for clarity

Did you move the old filter straight from the old tank to the new, or was the media left to dry out/without a fresh supply of oxygenated water?

It is the filter, not the tank which is cycled, so your new tak would be automatically cycled if it was attached to a mature filter full of healthy bacteria. However, if the bacteria was allowed to dry out or has been starved of ammonia (beacuse fish were no longer present), then you are back at square 1 and need to cycle the filter.

You will need a source of ammonia to cycle - see the guides on fish less cycle for this.

tail_fin · Jul 21, 2009

I placed the old filter straight into the new tank!

I will keep an eye on things for a coupe of weeks and see what happens - I really dont want to rush things!

Marve99 · Jul 21, 2009

Unless you are adding ammonia manually, all you are doing is leaving the water to stand and kill the friendly bacteria through starvation. Had you kept the fish in from the start, the filter would have maintained its colonies of bacteria and dealt with your fish waste with no problems. Remember, it is primarily the filter NOT the tank or water which contains the healthy bacteria.

You really need to read the pinned articles in the new to hobby section about cycling a tank without fish, as I would have thought your filter will now have 0 bacteria.

Does anyone else know how long the bacteria could survive without a source of ammonia?

Could he add fish and expect some bacteria to have survived as not to end up in a fish IN cycle?

tail_fin · Jul 21, 2009

I wish I had found this forum sooner, I thought I was doing the right thing by removing the fish :ninja:

worjackie · Jul 21, 2009

If you have put plants in, there may be rotting matter already in there which will produce some ammonia. Try put in in some fish food and keep taking readings, to see if there are any spikes, to asses how quickly they recover. There should be a rise in Nitrate from 0 if there is healthy bacteria. As the end product from Nitrite is Nitrate?

Only 3 fish - cory's and a Tiger Barb in 127 litre tank. weekly 20% water changes will be fine anyway. Put your fish in take readings every day. I bet all will be OK.

I've just asked ny 70 year old dad, who has been keeping tropicals for around 40 years. He says put them in and 1 a week there after til you've got half your capicity. Once the diatoms have arrived and dicipated you can keep anything you like. A water change a week for a Year. Then extend the water changes to longer periods a week and a half, then fortnightly until you can Do 50% water change Once a month. Do water chemistry check weekly though.

rabbut · Jul 22, 2009

Bacteria die off at a rate of 5-15% a day, depending on which research paper you choose to believe, with a lack of Ammonia. Without Oxygen the die off is more like 90% an hour...

Basically, you've got a mature filter that's sat for about a week without food. You'll still have more than half the origional bacteria colony, so you can safely add the fish again. You may see a mini-cycle, but with such a small load, any spikes will be almost neglegable :nod:

Once the new fish are in, if in two weeks you have zero's for Ammonia and Nitrite, you cank think about re-stocking. Remember, you can't add any more fish that would double your numbers in a week. So, all being well, 3 in two weeks time, 6 the week after, 12 the week after that... Those are maximums, assuming you added the maxium the previous week...

Anyhow, I's starting to ramble again...

HTH
Rabbut