Second 10 Gallon Tank.../need Some Help! Asap!

[tamara]

Well i pretty much know everything [not really but yah..]
i've had my first 10 gallon tank for about 1-2 years now with guppies mostly
and the guys ALWAYS harrase the females--the most pregnant one would get so harassed i wanted to cry,
yes there is the right ratio of males to females, but i decided enough was enough
because this was going on for a few weeks now and i felt HORRIBLE!
so i went out and bought another 10 gallon tank [now i have two] and that's all i have space for
i don't have enough time to wait for the tank to cycle before putting the males in that tank,
i know the cycling process using fish is cruel, but it's either that or my best producing female guppy's life
so i'm wondering how to go about doing the cycling process with a few male guppies in the tank?
[also the first tank--older one, it was over-stocked! so that was also why i got another tank.]
i set up the tank this morning [may 2nd, 2007]
and i have most things already in it, new filter, old heater, two old plants, few lod decorations and two new fake plants
old things just to get the bacteria going faster..
i did the ammonia, nitrIte, and ph testings they showed the following..
NitrIte:0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Ph [SKYHIGH!] 8ish? my reading card thing doesn't go as high as it shows...
So what should i do?

 

[Tolak]

If you are taking the fish from the old 10 gallon, and adding them to the new one you could take some of your mature filter media & add it to the new filter. Guesstimate what percentage of fish you are moving, and add that percentage of media with them. This is known as cloning, I do it all the time with angels.

 

[tamara]

Will that hurry the cycle up?
Or make it safer for the fish??
they seem to be doing great this morning,
cept they don't have as many decorations so that makes them a little unhappier
but i'm getting on that right away

 

[archamfr]

the cloning thing will do both those things; hurry the cycle up adn make it safer for fish.

all will be fine, just keep an eye on water lvls for a while

 

[Tolak]

Your media right now is capable of sustaining 100% of the bio load you have. If you move 50% of the fish, and 50% of the media to a new tank the new tank is cycled. I do this all the time growing out angels, and never have any problems.

 

[tamara]

Alright i'll do that,
I just tested the water
and it all shows 0ppm for NitrIte&Ammonia,
but the ph yesterday was about 8.0, now the ph is about 6.2, what's happeneing?

 

[piratedninja]

couldnt you just move about 50% of the water from the old tank to the new one? and then do what Tolak said about the filter media?

that way your ph wont be as high and it will cycle much quicker

 

[Tolak]

Alright i'll do that,
I just tested the water
and it all shows 0ppm for NitrIte&Ammonia,
but the ph yesterday was about 8.0, now the ph is about 6.2, what's happeneing?

How long has the tank been running, and what test kit are you using?

couldnt you just move about 50% of the water from the old tank to the new one? and then do what Tolak said about the filter media?

that way your ph wont be as high and it will cycle much quicker

If you use the same percentage of media to fish you won't have any cycle. I do this with pea to dime size angels all the time, any ammonia or nitrite spikes would result in screwed up fins at the least, to massive losses at the worst. I've done this so many times, and so often that I don't even bother with testing the water, haven't for years.

 

[tamara]

My old one actually has higher nitrItes&ammonia then my new tank, i just looked and it's about 0.7ppm for Nitrites and about 1.0 ppm for Ammonia
it's never really been farther down than this for some reason, i'm pretty sure it is because the tank was overstocked of baby guppies
so i thought of that, but then i didn't know if i should because of the nitrItes and ammonia.
[i assumed it was because of being over-stocked--10-15ish 3month old guppies&babybrsitlenose pleco]

Alright i'll do that,
I just tested the water
and it all shows 0ppm for NitrIte&Ammonia,
but the ph yesterday was about 8.0, now the ph is about 6.2, what's happeneing?

How long has the tank been running, and what test kit are you using?

couldnt you just move about 50% of the water from the old tank to the new one? and then do what Tolak said about the filter media?

that way your ph wont be as high and it will cycle much quicker

If you use the same percentage of media to fish you won't have any cycle. I do this with pea to dime size angels all the time, any ammonia or nitrite spikes would result in screwed up fins at the least, to massive losses at the worst. I've done this so many times, and so often that I don't even bother with testing the water, haven't for years.

The tank's been running for about a week now, and i just bought individual little testing things, not all of them together so i don't know the name of it, but the lfs recommended it to me, and i've been using it for about 1-2years

So if i take out 50% of the water from the new tank and replace it with 50% of my old tanks water&use it's filter media then i won't have a cycle?

 

[tamara]

I would like some confirmation soon as you guys could before i do the water changing..please?

 

[Tolak]

The problem is your old tank hasn't cycled yet if it's showing any levels of ammonia and nitrites. Any media you use from that tank will start the new tank in the same place in the cycle that the old one is. If you have a cycled tank use the media from that.