New To Cycling

[Simon92]

Hello, so vie recently got a 60l aquarium.
I'm going with the fish-less-cycle, I have the API testing kit.
After reading a few guides, some say using some filter media from a established tank will help.
My father has a 60 aquarium what has been going for 5+ years.
What can I take from his tank? Do I need just abit of his filter sponge?
We have different filters so his filter sponge won't fit in mine.
Any advice?
Cheers

 

[tmoney7]

What kind of filter do you have?

 

[daizeUK]

You can cut a piece of his sponge to fit inside yours, it will definitely help speed up your cycle.
Don't take more than a third of his sponge at most.  If you have some clean sponge then you can give him a piece of that to replace what you have taken.
If his sponge is very dirty you can swish it around gently in a bucket of his old tank water to dislodge loose muck.  Don't try to clean it too much and don't clean it in untreated tap water - the bacteria don't like chlorine!

 

[Simon92]

What kind of filter do you have?

It's a aqua flow 200 I think.
And he has spare filters so that's not a problem, if I cut some off and wedge it somewhere in my filter will it still work?
Thank you for the quick response.
Another quick question. When doing water changes with fish in the aquarium, when do I put in the water safe?
Do i fill a bucket and put it in or put the new water into the tank then add it?

 

[Fishmanic]

First turn the filter and heater off.  If you're not using a water changer device like the Python water changer but are using buckets,  I would add the dechlor to each bucket--the amount to add depends on the size of the bucket---you would just have to treat the amount of water in the buckets, not the whole tank..    If you're using a water change device like the Python,  you could add enough dechlor into the tank with enough dechlor to treat the capacity of the tank and then add the water.  Then stir up the water and then turn the filter and heater back on.

 

[ADW1988]

Hello, so vie recently got a 60l aquarium.
I'm going with the fish-less-cycle, I have the API testing kit.
After reading a few guides, some say using some filter media from a established tank will help.
My father has a 60 aquarium what has been going for 5+ years.
What can I take from his tank? Do I need just abit of his filter sponge?
We have different filters so his filter sponge won't fit in mine.
Any advice?
Cheers

 
Great news, you're going for fishless

.
 
You'll be happy to know my 60l took 4 weeks 3 days without and help from other tanks/media from other tanks. As Daize said, steal no more than a 3rd of sponge and maybe a handful of gravel can help.
 
I'd imagine, if you stick to TTA's guidelines on this site, you'll be done in no time. (don't quote me but 3/3.5 weeks)
 
Keep patient thats all i'll say.. It's totally worth it, my fish are very happy.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Any form of seeding speeds a cycle. You can use some of your dad's substrate, any decor, live plants. Any and all of these should contain some bacteria.
 
The bacteria live all over a tank. They will be the most dense where the circulation is good as they are attached and need their food, oxygen and carbon to be delivered. Usually ones filter is the best place for this but not always. So use every bit of help you can get from an established tank.
 
I have not yet written the cycling guide for when one seeds heavily or uses lots of plants. But, when one does this, one thing I suggest is to shorten the time between testing as recommended in the article by one day. This next article will also suggest one test 24 hours after the 1st ammonia dose to get an idea of how well cycled a tank might be. You can seed and or plant enough to instantly cycle a tank.

 

[daizeUK]

Very true... I started a cycle on my planted 120L tank yesterday, seeded with 1/3 of the media from my 64L tank.  It processed 2ppm of ammonia down to 0.2ppm overnight - I was quite surprised how quickly it seems to be working.

 

[Simon92]

Any form of seeding speeds a cycle. You can use some of your dad's substrate, any decor, live plants. Any and all of these should contain some bacteria.
 
The bacteria live all over a tank. They will be the most dense where the circulation is good as they are attached and need their food, oxygen and carbon to be delivered. Usually ones filter is the best place for this but not always. So use every bit of help you can get from an established tank.
 
I have not yet written the cycling guide for when one seeds heavily or uses lots of plants. But, when one does this, one thing I suggest is to shorten the time between testing as recommended in the article by one day. This next article will also suggest one test 24 hours after the 1st ammonia dose to get an idea of how well cycled a tank might be. You can seed and or plant enough to instantly cycle a tank.

Thank you for the advice, I've just spoke to my dad and he got a new filter so is currently running his new and old filter together. Once everything ok he said I can use his old one to put in mine, so that should speed things up.
Will test every 24hours.
Thank you