Tank Cycling, Could I Add 1 Platy?

[guppy_man]

title says it all really.
my tanks been going for nearlly a week now, everythings ok, water stats doing ok, no plants yet, airstone in and 1 biggish silk plant.
could i ad 1 platy to the tank to help the cycle, ive been doing water changes and ive been adding a couple of flakes and 1 of my filter pads out of my other tank.

would it be ok to add her?

 

[ArcticLancer]

Are there other fish in the tank ... Your description is somewhat unclear, because a fishless cycle shouldn't require any early water changes, but you've mentioned them. And yet here you are asking if you could add a single fish ...

I'm going to assume a few things here ...
Firstly, that you have no other fish in the tank. If this is the case, I wouldn't reccommend it. There's no reason to turn this into a cycle with fish, especially over 1 fish. The other reason I suggest against it is because platys are social fish, and a single one will more than likely get quite lonely and possibly bored. The odds are good it would survive, but it's much more worthwhile to just wait until the tank is cycled.

Which brings up the next bit ...
If you've added other filter media to this tank, it should actually be cycled already. However, to be sure, you should continue to cycle for a few more days and check the stats (Maybe) twice a day, trying to see how fast any ammonia and nitrite levels drop. If you keep a flat reading and nothing spikes, you'd be good to go anyway.


I'm sure you've already known some of what I said, but given the mysterious nature of the situation, I have to guess what needs to be said, which is regardless, that there's no good reason to add that single platy.

 

[guppy_man]

ok thnx ARCTICLANCER i wont add the platy ill wait atleast another 2 weeks before adding fish, in the meen time im going to aquascape

 

[Themuleous]

Dont forget to show us the pics when you do!

One thing, if you've added media from another tank, but there are no fish in the new tank, could the bacteria die due to not having enough 'food' (NH4/NO3)? This would effectivty render the media useless? If so would a few fish (to keep they happy) not be a good idea?

Just my thoughts

Sam

 

[guppy_man]

hi sam, i have been adding a few flakes into the tank even when there is no fish because it encourages the growth of heterotrophic bacteria that break down organic matter into ammonia.
The media i got from my other tank has bacteria on it so when i added it to my other filter the bacteria will grow and then my tank will get cycled quicker.

 

[Themuleous]

Oh right fair enough. I do the same with all my new tanks, run the new filter on one of them for a few weeks or split the media in the old filter between that and the new one.

As you say the flake will help the cycle process, should be nearly there thou with what you've been doing

Sam

 

[Ginge]

Just to let you know it will take ages with just filter media. It will go a hell of alot quiker if you use this method:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861
Have you been testing for an amonia spike

 

[guppy_man]

no i havent been testing for ammonia spike, when should i?

 

[Ginge]

Read the article i posted it should clear up any problems you have.

 

[guppy_man]

ok thnx for the help ginge