How long to cycle?

[Briggan]

How long would be the average time for a 20 gallon fish less cycle to be complete enough for fish, would you say?

 

[Colin_T]

4-5 weeks is about average for most tropical aquariums to cycle. However, it can take a lot longer and there have been reports of tanks still cycling after 6 months.

 

[Briggan]

Cool, thanks. This has to be the hardest part of the setup.

 

[Colin_T]

You only have to do it once. If you ever get another tank you can take half the filter media from the established tank and use it in a new tank for an instant cycled tank.

 

[Briggan]

What kind of media? I have another tank with a Betta and a pretty nasty filter cartridge that needs to be dealt with any way, but it is a much smaller tank.

Instant meaning I could add fish the next day, or like after a while but it’s quicker? I’ve never taken media from another tank before to cycle another one, I’ve always done them separately...

 

[Colin_T]

I normally have sponges in power filters but ceramic beads also work.

Instant as in set the tank up, add water and dechlorinator. Let it run for a couple of days to a week. Add some filter media from an established tank and add fish a few hours later. I just add the established filter, then go buy some fish for the tank.

 

[Briggan]

Thanks, I won’t be able to go get fish for a while most likely so I’ll leave the tank as is and running for a while. It’s been dechlorinated and has a new filter and everything. The only thing I’ve added is prime and the water. I can grab media from the other tank and put it in too.

I’ve seen many places that you should take the whole cartridge of another filter and put it in with the new one, would you recommend doing this?
Thank you.

 

[Colin_T]

You can use a cartridge from another filter and it does the same thing as adding a sponge or ceramic beads.

If you have room in the filter, add a few more sponges and maybe put one on the intake strainer. Then in the future when you get another tank you will have plenty of established media to set it up with.

You can also set up a second filter on this tank and move that across when you get a new tank.

 

[Briggan]

Cool, thanks. I’ll do that today.

 

[steelo]

I'm on week 6, but I see light at the end of the tunnel =) It was over a month before ANYTHING happened.

I finally have nitrites and ammonia is dropping, now waiting on nitrites to drop and nitrates to appear