How Long Did It Take For Your First Tank To Cycle?

[Hoveringpie]

I'm sure there are many people out there who have just started the hobby and are wondering how long will it be before I can put some fish in my new tank?
This post was created to give them a average time that people tanks take to cycle. I know it can differ due to different circumstances but it would be nice if we can give them a rough idea.

Please post your answer with your experience

it took mine 7 weeks to fully cycle my pH stayed at 8.0 all the way through. My water temp is 26c and I used the fish in cycle as that is the way I have been taught. I used live plants since day one and only lost one due to it been a high light plant and I only use l e d s I added some mature filter media at week 4 to speed up the process but this seemed to only knock me back a step as ammonia levels went sky high after.

I hope this post kicks off and we can give people a average time.


Thanks

 

[KittyKat]

I'm sure there are many people out there who have just started the hobby and are wondering how long will it be before I can put some fish in my new tank?

My answer to your questions is always "until the filter is processing the right amount of ammonia for 7 days, giving your 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite readings for those 7 days".

The *last* filter that I fish-less cycled took around 6 weeks including qualifying period. From what I have observed, fish-less cycles usually take 4-8 weeks and fish-in cycles tank 6-12 weeks.

 

[ZoddyZod]

around 12 weeks with a fish-in cycle.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

I'm currently cycling my first tank and just starting to detect traces of ammonia under 0.25ppm (fish in cycle) after 4 weeks... so i'll answer that poll when i'm done!

 

[Marnee]

I had a 10 gallon tank that took 17 weeks to cycle, fish out. About drove me nuts.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Fishless cycle, took 10 weeks, then did a water change & that knocked it back. So 12 weeks all told.



Tom

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Longest- my first tank cycled with fish- about 7-8 weeks,

Since then about 50 more cycled fishlessly taking between instantly and 3 weeks. All tanks seeded, many also planted.

 

[Tizer]

fish in cycle, 6 weeks

 

[phocoena]

fishless - 3 months, but due to scotopic sensitivity might have been less.

 

[pern]

Around 3 weeks but had a bit of sponge from my husband's filter that was just about ripe enough to walk over and jump into my tank all by itself. Same with second fishless cycle.

 

[Louiseness]

Fish-in cycle, a bit longer than a month approximately so I said 5 weeks.

All; other tanks since have been seeded from existing filters.

 

[CezzaXV]

64 days, fishless. I encountered some problems on the way and I didn't ask for advice soon enough, else it would have been much shorter.