Speed up cycle

CurlyAxie

New Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2018
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
I have a 20 gal tank cycling for about a week and its still cloudy.

I have two axolotls (3") that are supposed to be here Thursday and Im afraid it wont be ready for them.

1. Is there a way to speed up the cycling process?
2. Is it safe to keep axolotls in a tank while it finishes cycling?
 
The cloudiness is probably nothing to worry about, it is most likely a bacterial bloom and this can last several days to several weeks. It is not connected with cycling as such.

To quicken the cycling, adding bacteria is the only way to do it, other than with live plants. You can seed the bacteria from an established tank (your own, do not ever use media from a store or another aquarist unless you don't mind adding pathogens that could be dangerous). The bacterial supplements do much the same thing, and there are several on the market. Tetra's SafeStart is highly recommended. I have used Seachem's Stability with success. There may be others that work to some degree. Note that these do not instantly cycle, but they do speed up the colonization of the nitrifying bacteria.

Dr. Tim's One and Only is an instant cycling product that I have never used, but you add ammonia and this might not be advisable if you will need to be adding livestock. I cannot comment on how cycling may or may not affect axoltls as I have no experience with these.

The plant method involves some fast-growing plants, and floating plants are ideal for this. They are literal ammonia sinks, with the added benefit that nitrite is not a by-product so that is not a worry.
 
Axolotls are scaleless and they have exposed gills sticking out from the top of their head. This makes them even more sensitive to ammonia and nitrite in the water than most fish. You need to keep the levels at 0 or you can seriously harm them.

If you want to use a bacterial supplement to help speed things up (from a filter cycling perspective), use a double or even triple dose of bacterial supplement each day for a week. Try to add the supplement to the tank near the filter intake so the bacteria get sucked into the filter.

Keep the feeding down to twice a week until the filters have established, and do a 75% water change any day there is ammonia or nitrite in the water. When the filters have established you can feed them each day.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Keep the pH around 7.0 and you should be fine.

-----------------------
If you have gravel in the tank, swap it for sand. Axolotls sometimes swallow gravel when feeding and it can block up their intestine. Sand is safer for them.

Axolotls can regenerate missing limbs and this is helpful because they sometimes bite each others legs off when feeding.

They don't normally eat dry food although some will learn to take dry fish pellets. Meat based food like prawn, fish and earthworms are commonly fed to them. Unfortunately meat based foods cause massive ammonia spikes so monitor the ammonia levels closely.
 
The cloudiness is probably nothing to worry about, it is most likely a bacterial bloom and this can last several days to several weeks. It is not connected with cycling as such.

To quicken the cycling, adding bacteria is the only way to do it, other than with live plants. You can seed the bacteria from an established tank (your own, do not ever use media from a store or another aquarist unless you don't mind adding pathogens that could be dangerous). The bacterial supplements do much the same thing, and there are several on the market. Tetra's SafeStart is highly recommended. I have used Seachem's Stability with success. There may be others that work to some degree. Note that these do not instantly cycle, but they do speed up the colonization of the nitrifying bacteria.

Dr. Tim's One and Only is an instant cycling product that I have never used, but you add ammonia and this might not be advisable if you will need to be adding livestock. I cannot comment on how cycling may or may not affect axoltls as I have no experience with these.

The plant method involves some fast-growing plants, and floating plants are ideal for this. They are literal ammonia sinks, with the added benefit that nitrite is not a by-product so that is not a worry.
Hi! That colony cycling stuff is really good, as soon as u add it you can add your fish! Iv'e used it & it is totally safe!!
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top