Introduction

[back2Fish]

Hello all, I thought I would introduce myself to everyone. I am by no means knew to fish keeping, I have kept fish on and off for around 20 years. Unfortunately I have been away from the hobby for about 4 years now as I have had to travel and move around a lot for my job. Fortunately, I am now in a permanent post, and as I have been year for a little over a year I thought I would get back into it. I found out about your site from a young girl in a local shop and thought I would check it out. I don't have an aquariums set up yet, still in the process of scouting new equipment. Just thought I would say hello.

 

[erk628]

Welcome to TFF! What sort of fish you thinking about getting and what size tank!

 

[back2Fish]

I am not really sure this time round what I want to keep. In the past I have kept discus, chilids, oscars, gouramis, various live bearers, bettas, and tried my hand at reef tanks, but that didn't go to well for me. I think I am going to start off relatively small, as there is still no guarantee that my job won't cause me to move again, but I have been told that it is unlikely. I was thinking of starting with a 55 community tank, not too big but still large enough to not limit my choices too much. I am leaning toward angel fish, that is the one fish I have never kept but always loved.

 

[erk628]

Thats sounds like it will be nice you'll have to share some pictures once you get everything set up and running. How do you plan on cycling your tank? I've got a 150 gallon I'm going to be setting up as a community tank. Right now I have an adult tiger oscar and 5 clown loachs in there. I'm going to put the oscar in a 75 gallon by himself and leave the loachs in.

 

[back2Fish]

That sounds like it will be a nice tank. I must say in the past I have always cycled filters using a few hardy fish, however, I realize that many things have changed in the 4 odd years it has been since I have keept fish. I have been reading up on this new fishless cycling, well new to me anyway, and thought I would give that a try. But I really don't think I will need to actually cycle my tank at all, we have a large 8 foot tank at the office (there is a service that cares for it)and in my opinion is well and truely over filtered. There is 2 large canister filters, 1 HOB filter, and 2 small sponge filters for this tank with only 7 medium size rainbows, one BN plec and a few snails. Truthfully I feel the company added so many extra filters so they have a reason to overcharge for maintaince. Anyway, I feel very confidant that I would be able to completely fill my filter for a 55 gallon with all mature media, while causing no harm to the tank at work. However, as I haven't even fully sourced equipment yet I haven't really thought it all through, but I think I will try my hand at this fish less cycling method.

 

[erk628]

Heck if you can get your hands on some mature media I would definitely do that. The fishless cycle will take any where from a month or more. With your mature media idea you'd be able to stock right away.

 

[back2Fish]

That is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[rebrn]

Hi and welcome to TFF

Glad to hear you are getting back into fish keeping, it is always nice to have a new member espically an experienced one. I think your idea of getting media from the office tank would be the best, and since it is available to you mite as well take advantage. You may want to do a week using the fishless method (adding pure ammonia) just to make sure or don't have a mini cycle or anything crazy like that (unlikely as it is to happen, better safe than sorry), but if you are able to stuff your filter with all mature media you shouldn't have any problems doing a full stock right away.

Have fun shopping for your set up.

 

[Assaye]

Glad to hear some people are passing the word on!

With using mature media - GREAT if you can get it, but might still be worth doing a short fishless as well. The reason I say that is any piece of mature media in that big tank at work might have very little bacteria in, due to the massive amount of media compared to the small number of fish. Might not be enough to stock your tank as much as you'd like.

Start a fishless and because you've already got some bacteria in the media, it'll just grow and you won't have to wait days and days to get it all established in the first place.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[back2Fish]

With using mature media - GREAT if you can get it, but might still be worth doing a short fishless as well. The reason I say that is any piece of mature media in that big tank at work might have very little bacteria in, due to the massive amount of media compared to the small number of fish. Might not be enough to stock your tank as much as you'd like.

I thought about that, and you are right, with the amount of over filtration and the low stock those filters probably really don't have much in them. My thought was to fill my filter with the media from the office tank and then try the fishless cycle for 2 reasons. First I don't think the media from the office filters (although better than brand new media) will be enough for a full stock, and second I really wanted to try the fishless cycle. I had not heard of it until I decided to get back into fish, thought the process sounded interesting and wanted to give it a go! I figured with the office media I would be looking at roughly 2 maybe 3 weeks tops to fully cycle the tank.

 

[Assaye]

With using mature media - GREAT if you can get it, but might still be worth doing a short fishless as well. The reason I say that is any piece of mature media in that big tank at work might have very little bacteria in, due to the massive amount of media compared to the small number of fish. Might not be enough to stock your tank as much as you'd like.

I thought about that, and you are right, with the amount of over filtration and the low stock those filters probably really don't have much in them. My thought was to fill my filter with the media from the office tank and then try the fishless cycle for 2 reasons. First I don't think the media from the office filters (although better than brand new media) will be enough for a full stock, and second I really wanted to try the fishless cycle. I had not heard of it until I decided to get back into fish, thought the process sounded interesting and wanted to give it a go! I figured with the office media I would be looking at roughly 2 maybe 3 weeks tops to fully cycle the tank.

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