I Know Its A Silly Question But Please Help

[clarepulley]

Hi guys,
I know this sounds really silly and i should know this already but i have heard conflicting info and i am now very confused. I am upgrading my two smaller tanks to one much larger one. The 2 smaller approx 65 litre tanks have been running for years with no fish loss or major water problems. The new tank is 125 litres and has been in a fish less cycle with 1 filter pad from my established aquarium for around 2 weeks now. I have tested the water and the ammonia seems to have reduced and is almost 0 the nitrites are 0 however the nitrates are still high around 80-120. I have done this countless times before but not for about 7 years and i cannot remember if once the nitrates have dropped to a good level is that it am i cycled. oh and just in case you need to know i have 1 fully grown bristle nose in one tank and 4 cardinal tetra in the other tank 3 are new ones that are (touchwood) doing very well.
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks in advance

 

[Katch]

If you are fishless cycling - add 5ppm of household ammonia and then test 12 hours later. If you get zero (no colour change at all) from both Ammonia and Nirite tests then you are cycled.

Repeat this test once every 24 hours (only add ammonia every 24 hours - test 12 hours later) for a few days.

If you keep getting double zeros then do a 90% water change and stock.

If you are fishless cycling - add 5ppm of household ammonia and then test 12 hours later. If you get zero (no colour change at all) from both Ammonia and Nirite tests then you are cycled.

Repeat this test once every 24 hours (only add ammonia every 24 hours - test 12 hours later) for a few days.

If you keep getting double zeros then do a 90% water change and stock.

Don't worry too much about the Nitrates - they are very well tolerated by fish and in planted tanks we even keep them at 50-80 with no ill effects to fish.

 

[clarepulley]

Thanks for the reply i was just a bit concerned about adding ammonia to the tank as i am sure i didn't do this before - the tank is planted as well i have roughly about 10 plants a mixture of large and smaller ones

 

[Essjay]

i cannot remember if once the nitrates have dropped to a good level is that it am i cycled.

The nitrAtes won't drop to zero, we don't grow any bacteria in out filters (or anywhere else in the tank) that will remove them. The only way to get them lower is by water changes. So long as your filter can remove the added ammonia and the nitrite made from it in 12 hours, the filter is cycled.

 

[Katch]

i cannot remember if once the nitrates have dropped to a good level is that it am i cycled.

The nitrAtes won't drop to zero, we don't grow any bacteria in out filters (or anywhere else in the tank) that will remove them. The only way to get them lower is by water changes. So long as your filter can remove the added ammonia and the nitrite made from it in 12 hours, the filter is cycled.

Not true - a planted tank will reduce nitrates considerably.

Adding ammonia won't hurt the plants in there.

 

[clarepulley]

thanks guys, i am doing a partial water change tomorrow in both established tanks would adding some of the stuff from the filters help as well. Oh and what ammonia is it just normal household ammonia and if so where the hell do i get that from?

 

[Katch]

thanks guys, i am doing a partial water change tomorrow in both established tanks would adding some of the stuff from the filters help as well. Oh and what ammonia is it just normal household ammonia and if so where the hell do i get that from?

If you're in the UK boots and homebase stock it. Both of these are confirmed to be safe sources (i use homebase) - if you get it from anywhere else check it doesn't contain any surfactants as these will poison the tank (ammonia that has this in it tends to go very foamy when shaken).

There is a calculator on this website's home page that will work out how much you need to add in ml (it'll be about 5ml)

If you can squeeze the 'juice' out of your established filter sponges directly onto the sponges you are cycling this will help.

 

[Essjay]

If you haven't been adding ammonia (or fish food), you haven't been doing a fishless cycle I'm afraid.
Are you moving all your fish into the new tank? If you are, all you need to do is move the fish and existing filters into the new tank at the same time. Or put all the media from the small tank's filters into the new filter. They are already cycled and have enough bacteria to cope with the waste from the fish already in the old tanks. The bacteria will remove the waste from the same amount of fish no matter what tank they are in.

 

[clarepulley]

yes i am going to be moving all the fish eventually was going to do it in stages, plec first then tetras maybe a week later - sorry for another stupid question but if i moved Pedros the plec and his filter then moved the tetras a week later would i need their filter as well or is the media the same? sorry if that sounds really stupid. Just haven't done this for sooo long

 

[Katch]

What type are the 3 filter?

What media is inside them? Sponge? Ceramic?

 

[clarepulley]

new tank filter is a fluval U3. established filters are fluval 2 with sponges and a similar model to the fluval 2 in the plec tank i can't remember the exact name but it has 2 parts to it one on top and 1 underneath both with sponges - i had to get this in an emergency when my last one broke couldn't get hold of a fluval 2

 

[Katch]

If it were my tanks I would;

forget the ammonia and fishless cycling.

Cram as much mature sponge as possible into the new filter and then the rest of the mature sponge in the fluval 2.

Put both filters in the new tank and move all the stock in at the same time.

Keep an eye out for ammonia or nitrite (the tank may have a mini cycle - but probably won't) - If you get positive readings do a large 75% water change with dechlor temp matched water.

After a month or so if all is well - take half the media out of the old fluval 2 but leave the rest there.

Another month or 2 if all is well remover the old filter entirely.

If you're enjoying the hobby and getting on well with it I would definitely encourage you to buy a canister filter when you can - a Fluval 205/206 or one of the small Ehiems would be perfect for this tank.

 

[OldMan47]

Clarepulley, the nitrates in your new tank will never drop. We do water changes to remove nitrates. If you are processing both ammonia and nitrites to zero in about 12 hours after dosing the ammonia, your filter is ready for fish. The cycle moves ammonia to nitrites to nitrates and then we remove the nitrates to keep them no more than 20 ppm above your tap water reading. As long as the ammonia and nitrite are being processed, you have gone as far as most of us ever get. It is possible to remove all nitrates using plants but few of us are that good at growing plants.