My First Tank Bit Of Help Needed

[kieran117]

Ok so im buying my first tank off a friend in a few days the tank is around 90-100 litres maybe more it has a filter, heater few plastic plants etc.
Now my parents have a small biorb tank and im planning on getting some filter sponge from that to put in the new tanks filter, what im not sure on is when i put the media into the new filter how long do i have to wait before i can introduce a few fish.
Do i have to add some ammonia to keep the bacteria alive? and would u suggest me getting a new heater as the old one is in good condition but its not been used for a few years. hope all that made sense

 

[Tuppers]

I would suggest that you read the pinned topics about cycling your tank to have an idea of what you are about to do.

There are loads of helpful people on here more than happy to help you through this. I would only say PATIENCE is key to it all, you will get there in the end but it may take a while!

good luck and I hope all goes well.

You will need to provide tank size in l x w x h, what wattage is the heater?, what make is the filter you are getting? has it been running? how long since it was last used? does it have filter media with it?

Cheers hope this helps

 

[minxfishy]

Hi, yes using some of the filter media from your parents biorb will help start the cycle, but you will need to feed it with ammonia to do a fishless cycle, read this thread here : http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861 it will explain exactly what you need to do to complete a fishless cycle, with the media from your parents, hopefully this wont take as long to do as a cycle from scratch.

The only way you will know if the heater is ok, is to try it, turn it up to the temp you need (80+ for the cycle), if it holds the temp steady then its good to go, if it doesnt then a new one will be needed.

 

[kieran117]

Ok thanks very much ive read all of the pages about fishless cycling i was just a bit confused about cycling with another tanks media as soon as i get the tank home ill get the measurements up check the heater etc, the filter has been run before but a long time ago so i would assume all of the bacteria in it are dead. would it speed up the cycling to run the new filter in my parents biorb with old filter media in it or just to run it in my new tank?

 

[minxfishy]

If you run it in your parents tank its going to take 4 weeks for it to be able to cope with the bio load of your parents tank. So if you were planning on a larger bio load (more fish) then you would need to stock slower than if you did a fishless cycle with the filter bacteria coping with 5ppm of ammonia.

A fishless cycle take anywhere from 14 days (depending on if you have mature media) up to 6 weeks in some cases, the average being 21 days (or thereabouts) so all in all I would do the fishless cycle as it take about the same time and your can almost immediately stock to your tanks stocking levels once its finished.

 

[OldMan47]

It will cycle fine with the borrowed media in the new filter. The essence of what you are doing is skipping the first few weeks of a normal fishless cycle where the first bacteria get established. You are starting out in week 3 or 4 of a typical cycle. If you think of it that way, you can follow along with the fishless cycling instructions and avoid any confusion. In my own experience, when I clone a filter like that, the only thing I really need to wait for is to feed the new filter a few days and make sure that it is processing the ammonia and nitrites like it should be before I put my fish into the tank. Usually it will look cycled after only a day or two but I like to give it a week before the fish go in.

 

[kieran117]

ok ill do a fishless cycle rather than putting the new filter in the biorb for 4 weeks thanks very much for your help

 

[waterdrop]

I think you are making the correct choice.

I agree -exactly- with oldman47's description of how to understand where you are coming into the fishless cycle. Its important never to assume the mature media has taken care of the cycle for you, instead you have to -hope- it has but still "qualify" it by making to go the week where both ammonia and nitrites drop to zero ppm within 12 hours after 5ppm of ammonia was added.

When you are a beginner and you drop mature media in it can still be a little tricky understanding things because you haven't had those weeks of practice doing tests that the others have had. Be sure to ask questions when in doubt.

I'd bring your temp up to 84F/29C and post up pH results along with your daily Amm and NO2 results. Also be sure to post your tap water parameters for everyone.

~~waterdrop~~