New Fish Tank Cycling - Please Help

[isi123]

Hi,

I have a new fish tank, 36" so quite large and need to cycle it before adding fish apparently, according to the big world of the internet.

Anyway.... I've read many articles on cycling, and my intention is fishless cycling, but all of the articles are very complicated. They all have different methods, etc etc.

Could someone PLEASE give me a step by step guide on how to do this, what is needed (the chemicals, ammonia, etc) and how i should do it. I can't seem to find a guide which does this for me. Feel free to recommend ways of speeding up the cycle process. Also what's all this stuff about Cycle and Stress Zyme? Will it speed up the process?

Thanks so much!

 

[glolite]

There are pinned articles at the top of the "New to the hobby" section of these forums giving step by step information on everything you need. Have a read, you should find them brilliant.

To speed up the cycling process, add some mature filter media into your new filter. There is a list of members willing to donate media in the same section of the forums.

Get back to us if you don't understand anything or need any more help.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi isi123

Welcome to the forum!

I'm going to move your thread over to the New To The Hobby section. We have members posting there who will be happy to lead you through the cycling process even if it means helping you by following your tank's progress day by day.

Lots of luck to you.

 

[isi123]

Hi isi123

Welcome to the forum!

I'm going to move your thread over to the New To The Hobby section. We have members posting there who will be happy to lead you through the cycling process even if it means helping you by following your tank's progress day by day.

Lots of luck to you.

Sorry for posting in a wrong section. Thanks for your move, and the warm welcome.

 

[isi123]

There are pinned articles at the top of the "New to the hobby" section of these forums giving step by step information on everything you need. Have a read, you should find them brilliant.

To speed up the cycling process, add some mature filter media into your new filter. There is a list of members willing to donate media in the same section of the forums.

Get back to us if you don't understand anything or need any more help.

Hi,

Thanks, i have found a few great articles which do make the cycling method much more simpler. But let me explain my situation fully.

I've had a 36" tank for a few years, and have had fish living perfectly fine with no issues at all. Upon purchasing it, the pet store said to leave it running with filter and heater for a week before adding fish, which worked fine. I was told to clean the tank every few months by moving the fish out and doing a full on clean, with warm water, etc. I think my tank instructions said the same. So yes, a few days ago, i done a complete tank clean with my 5 fish s thought to buy more, 20 more. Got them, put them in the tank, and within 24 hours, 5 died, then 4 after another 24 hours, then 3, and they seem to die every few hours. I thought my previous ish killed them as they started fighting straight after i put the new fish into the tank. My previous fish are serpae tetras, just so you know. Anyway.... I thought, something is wrong, went online and found all this stuff about cycling, and wow it's confusing. So yes, it's strange my fish survived all those years, but started dying now. And my old fish are still surviving strangely, only the new ones are dying. So there's no question to why they're dying, i know now. But how can i do this cycle? My old filter is battered and i'm planning to change it, the wire sleeve is starting to come off which is dangerous due to water, etc. I rather put my fish in a substitute tank during the cycle as i want a fishless cycle, and the ones that die, well can't think on what to do to make them survive.

I going to get the Fluval U3 in a few days, my current filter is a Fluval 3 (pretty old model, not Fluval 3+) And my old filter had a sponge change when i changed the water. So could i use the old filter to speed up the process? Though the sponge is only a few days old, but i heard (which i'm not sure about) that dead fish help speed up the bacteria process, etc.

So any advice. I'm planning on buying ammonia tomorrow as well as the test kits, filter, etc. Then take the fish out, put them in another temporary tank, clean the main tank completely, from top to toe, rinse it completely, add in new water, ornaments, etc. Add old filter (which i guess may speed up process) as well as new filter, and then start the ph testing, ammonia adding/testing.

Sorry if i sound silly, but is that a wise thing to do, if not (which i think it may be), please do advise.

And just for future reference, i know that after this complete clean, i won't ever (or for a long time) be doing this as i know the correct way of cleaning a tank is a water change and gravel clean every few weeks.

Thanks so much for everyone's help!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum ISI.
Placing the old filter media in the new filter will make that new filter as ready as it can be made to take on the job of caring for the fish. IMO the fish would be better off in the middle of a fish-in cycle than being placed in an uncycled tank while you do a fishless cycle. If you avoid adding any more fish and use all that you can of the old filter, the cycle should proceed rapidly enough that you would only need a few large water changes before you have a functional filter in the tank.
The test kit is an essential as you embark on cycling a new filter. Do not clean the tank from top to bottom again, that is a poor practice in my mind. Instead you can remove individual ornaments one at a time over weeks to clean each one and replace it. The gravel gets a thorough vacuuming when you are doing water changes to remove the mulm that tends to build up in it. The water gets replaced quite often by way of partial water changes. The filter media only ever gets rinsed in old tank water, it never gets replaced, but the mechanical part of the filter, the impeller and such, get a good cleaning each time the filter is taken apart. The cover glass gets a good scrub with plain water to keep it transparent for the lighting system to work properly. If you grow plants, the fluorescent bulbs get replaced at least annually and if you are a plant fanatic, they get replaced every 6 months or so. The tank walls get a good cleaning with a scrubber that is never used for anything but the aquarium and has no soaps or other chemicals in it.

 

[isi123]

Welcome to the forum ISI.
Placing the old filter media in the new filter will make that new filter as ready as it can be made to take on the job of caring for the fish. IMO the fish would be better off in the middle of a fish-in cycle than being placed in an uncycled tank while you do a fishless cycle. If you avoid adding any more fish and use all that you can of the old filter, the cycle should proceed rapidly enough that you would only need a few large water changes before you have a functional filter in the tank.
The test kit is an essential as you embark on cycling a new filter. Do not clean the tank from top to bottom again, that is a poor practice in my mind. Instead you can remove individual ornaments one at a time over weeks to clean each one and replace it. The gravel gets a thorough vacuuming when you are doing water changes to remove the mulm that tends to build up in it. The water gets replaced quite often by way of partial water changes. The filter media only ever gets rinsed in old tank water, it never gets replaced, but the mechanical part of the filter, the impeller and such, get a good cleaning each time the filter is taken apart. The cover glass gets a good scrub with plain water to keep it transparent for the lighting system to work properly. If you grow plants, the fluorescent bulbs get replaced at least annually and if you are a plant fanatic, they get replaced every 6 months or so. The tank walls get a good cleaning with a scrubber that is never used for anything but the aquarium and has no soaps or other chemicals in it.

Thanks Oldman, you stated, the tank should be cycled rapidly, how long in rough terms would you think? I mean, normal fishless cycling can take a few weeks to months.

Thanks for the other advice, it's good to get advice from a more experienced person.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there isi123 and Welcome to TFF!

I completely agree with OldMan47's advice up there. You can't go too wrong with him, he has lots of tanks and experience and is a great asset, giving patient and wise commentary. I realize you don't really know any of us yet but I just wanted to say that.

Its unusual and wonderful to see a person such as yourself who has had fish for quite some time become interested enough to read about fishless cycling and realize what a good thing it might be. Congratulations! Our beginners section is indeed a great place for fishless cycling advice but in your case, as OM47 says, its really going to be better to persue a "Fish-In" cycle and try to save the fish you already have. The fact that you probably have "mature media" is going to really help things we'd expect.

To attempt to answer your question, a "fish-in" cycle usually takes about the same amount of time as a "fishless" cycle when the are both done from scratch and mature media is not involved (the limiting factors that dictate the amount of time to a large extent are the actual characteristic growth rates of the particular bacteria we grow (they are just slow growers!) and also the random nature of how many bacterial cells you happen to have to start out, which is not something you usually have any control over.) When you are able to take mature media (sponges or other media in your established filter(s) that already have bacteria firmly established) then again, its not a very "known" or predictable thing as to how much that will speed things up, but usually it -will-.

The best mature media boost usually comes when you are able to take a significant amount of mature media (don't ever take more than 1/3 of your established tank's media though) and place it in the new filter, intermingled and touching the new biomedia. With sponges, sometimes you have to cut them with scissors and work them in. With loose media its more obvious how to mix the mature and new media. Another tweak, if you can do it, is to know the direction of water flow in your new filter and place the mature media such that it comes more on the "before" side in the water flow than the new media its placed next to. That way the water flow will help the "pioneer" cells that leave the old media to flow onto the new media where we hope they will become attached and start a new colony and tiny beginning biofilm.

Biomedia of course includes sponges, ceramic rings, ceramic gravels, bioballs and such. Water polishers, such as polyfloss or floss pads, also receive colonies but are not such good biomedia in that they necessarily get changed out more often. Carbon is a poor biomedia in that it gradually crumbles and, since it is really a "chemical media" rather than a biomedia, its purpose is different anyway. Zeolite and other ammonia removers are additional examples of chemical media that we usually don't want present if we want cycling to take place.

If your mature media "takes" then you might hope the fish-in cycle will take significantly less than the month that it would otherwise. But you can't -assume- that. Sometimes, despite the best intentions, the mature media just doesn't help and noone knows why. So what you have to do is just use good "fish-in" cycling technique. Make sure your ammonia and nitrite(NO2) levels don't go above 0.25ppm before you can be back home to change water. Use 2.0x or 1.5x dosing of a good conditioner like Prime or Amquel+ to take out any overcharges of chlorine or chloramine. Always roughly temperature match with your hand and of course be aware of your tap water parameters. Do good deep gravel cleans with your gravel-cleaning-siphon when removing the water that's changed during a fish-in cycle.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

My own experiences with seeding a new filter lead me to expect a fully cycled filter in a week or less. With that said, I usually still do a fishless cycle if I can because I don't trust the system to give me that response every time. When I get into a jam by buying too many fish at an auction and need to do an emergency cycle on a new tank, I watch things closely and have no expectations. It takes as long as it takes. I am thrilled that it is often less than a week before I can ease up on testing but I can't really base any decisions on that being the case. Once in a while it does take longer.