Starting New Tank And Wanna Do It Right!

[PiMpPiStOl]

my last tank was rushy, so its not perfect. its working, and good enough for the fish in it. some have been living since i got it. and i might not put anymore in anytime soon cuz it might be full...

but i just got a 10 gallon for my girlfriend, and i want it to be ready when shes ready to purchase fish. whats the best way to cycle the tank? fishless or with fish? if its with fish, i can prolly put my 2 black skirts in right? and if its fishless, i have a sponge i have in the filter of the other tank... but i dunno hwo that works. what should i do?

oh, and i have all the water in it, the filters running, and heaters on. just if that matters or not

 

[lil-x-me...x]

the easiest way to cycle your tank would be fishless im afraid plus then the first few months you need to get pretty hardy fish that will be ok in new water conditions.

what fish is your girlfriend planning to get?

as for cycing your tank, putting a sponge in the filter that was in a different tank will speed things up a little, having more bacteria on it. leave the tank getting use to the filter for about 2 weeks or so, best without anyfish as the water conditions wont be very nice for them while its being cycled.

good luck x

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

k, but the sponge i have in the other tank (33g) is even too big for that filter. theres no way i can fit it into the 10 gallon filter. and its not bad it has to be fishless. it doesnt bother me either way.

and we dunno what shes getting yet. were gonna go look sometime.

 

[Truck]

k, but the sponge i have in the other tank (33g) is even too big for that filter. theres no way i can fit it into the 10 gallon filter. and its not bad it has to be fishless. it doesnt bother me either way.

and we dunno what shes getting yet. were gonna go look sometime.

cut them up? lol

 

[lil-x-me...x]

if you want to speed the cycling up a bit then you may have to (as truck mentioned) cut up your sponge to the size of your 10 gallon and place it in.

have you got any ideas of types of fish you'd like? eg livebeares, gouramis, tetras ect.

 

[OldMan47]

An easy way to speed up a cycle on a new tank is to clean the old tank's filter in the new tank. I treat the new tank like it was a bucket of water for cleaning my filter. I do this before adding any ammonia to the new tank because my filter will be going back onto a tank with fish in it. It seeds the new filter and then the fishless cycle moves very quickly in the new tank. My new tank usually cycles in about a week doing it this way. After you get cycled, use the ammonia to keep the new filter alive until you are ready for fish.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with OM47's method above or you could even do both and still add 1/3 of the mature sponge that you've cut from the old filter (replacing it with a piece of new sponge for proper operation of the old filter in the old tank of course.) The general rule is to not take more than 1/3 of the mature biofilter material away from a working tank.

All of our advice so far is assuming you've fishless cycled before and so that you know the basics of all that. Do you have a good liquid-based test kit? That is essential. Do you have good clear household ammonia with no added surfactants, dyes or fragrances? Even when you use good "mature media" techniques like this you still need to treat it like a fishless cycle and be sure your new biofilter is operating properly before fish.

And I also agree that you'll have to start on the process of having your GF understand that some fish are ok for early introduction to a new tank and others are not.

~~waterdrop~~