I Need Advice On A Safer Way To Cycle With Fish

[NoUseForaName]

i have an 180 gal setup. i allready bought fish. i want them not to get stressed because they are 2 silver arowanas. i need to still cycle. is there a safe way of doing so? my ammonia is .75. and pH is7.4 at 80 degress. ive been doing small frequent water changes about 15% twice daily. should i move them out, but all i have is a 20 gal setup. or should i do frequent wanted changes and steal some filter media from someone? please write back. iv made a mistake and these Arowanas are beutiful.

 

[dave1987]

just keep up with the daily water changes sometimes doing 75% if you stats are bad enough... mature filter media will definately speed the process up also mature tank water... i done it that way it worked fine and my tank was cycled just after 2 weeks with no loss of fish

 

[Corleone]

In immediate terms, you'll need to step up water changes more, .75 is very high, you'll want to get it down to a third of that or lower. I'm not sure how sensitive arowanas are, even the usual "below .25" advice might be conservative for them. Either way, you're already changing a huge amount of water, and I hate to tell you it's not enough, but it isn't.

A very lightly stocked tank that's very heavily planted can sometimes handle the ammonia output of fish while the biofilter establishes. Even in such a big tank, two arowanas might already be past that point, and anyway it would take an immense amount of plants and might alter the setup needs for the tank. You'll probably be further ahead trying to secure mature media immediately.

If they're very small, under 6 inches, they could possibly go in the 20 short term while you get the media lined up, but you'd have to be sure that's not going to cause a mini cycle in the small tank, you'll likely be writing the tanks current inhabitants off as feeders, and personally I wouldn't keep them there long enough for a fishless cycle on the 180 if it comes to that.

 

[NoUseForaName]

awesome man, i appreciate it. now ill go steal some filter media. thanks again. sorry im a newb. peace easy

 

[Axleuk]

i have an 180 gal setup. i allready bought fish. i want them not to get stressed because they are 2 silver arowanas. i need to still cycle. is there a safe way of doing so? my ammonia is .75. and pH is7.4 at 80 degress. ive been doing small frequent water changes about 15% twice daily. should i move them out, but all i have is a 20 gal setup. or should i do frequent wanted changes and steal some filter media from someone? please write back. iv made a mistake and these Arowanas are beutiful.

I know this is going to cause a little stir but there is another option available to you. Seeing as you already have fish in the tank and dangerous levels you need to stabilise these as quick as possible without adding to the stress of the fish.

There is a product called Bio Spira, it is a live bacteria that can be used to quicly cycle a tank. This is their blurb.

Tetra Bio-Spira

Contains live nitrifying bacteria culture which should be added to new tanks or established tanks with high ammonia or nitrite levels. The nitrifying bacteria break down these harmful substances making your water safer for fish.
Bio-Spira is the only bacteria product that works overnight available in the US.
It is available for both freshwater and saltwater tanks.

I have not had personal experience with this product as it is only available in the US, however i have had experience with a similiar product available here in the UK with great success.

I suggest you read up on Bio Spira and make yourself an informed choice. If you do chose to use it you will need to source some in your area. If you need help, let us know and i am will do my best to seek some potential suppliers.

 

[Corleone]

Bio-Spira can work, I've had mixed success with it. But the freshwater version has been discontinued (patent owner left Marineland to start a new company), so the product left on the market has been in store fridges for a while. From what I've heard of Bactinettes, Bio-Spira wasn't as widely sold as the comparable UK product to start with.

It was about a 50/50 shot IME, and now it's probably less than that from age. If you go that route, then dump in a LOT of it, and put it right into the filter or by the filter inlet, rather than out into the tank water itself. The big package is rated for tanks up to 50 gallons, I'd get at least 4 of them, preferably more (One of the 50 gallon bags shortened the fishless cycle on a 30 gallon to about a week and a half - good, but might not be quite good enough in your situation). The stuff's expensive - $20-30 a bag, but you might be able to find it on clearance now.