Trying a “no cycle” start up on this next tank…

[Magnum Man]

In the next week or so my next 45 gallon gets wet… I have a few fish here, in holding tanks, because they became available, before this tank is up and running…. It doesn’t seem like anyone should worry about cycling a tank, that has other aquariums… I either run multiple Aquaclear 70’s or Tidal 75’s on all my bigger tanks, and will be adding 2 new Tidal’s to this tank… I kind of only clean my filters, when the flow is noticeably reduced… I have a couple in need of cleaning… I would think squeezing out my filter sponges on any of these filters into a dish pan full of old tank water, to preclean them, is better than bacteria in a bottle for the new filter sponges… repeatedly squeezing the new filter sponges in this bio saturated water before installing them into the new filters, as well as splitting out some of the ceramic media into each new filter, is going to precycle this tank, from the filters… not to worry about losing too much ceramic media, I don’t personally think they give you enough of that in either filter, so I keep a big bag of ceramic donuts here… they are terrible to have with your coffee, but have more surface area, than the media that comes with either filter… so I add extra when I clean them…. Pre soaking the bags of ceramic media in the pan of bio soup, before installing them in the new filters seems logical as well…

So, with my RO water, and pre-seeded filters, and a light bio load, I’ll be trying a “no cycle” start up on this next tank

 

[GaryE]

I would get the filters running on an established tank, oh, sometime around yesterday. Let the filters get solidly seeded, and transfer them over after about 3 weeks. That's how I cycle new tanks. Stock lightly to allow the bacteria to grow and spread, and you can have a normally cycled tank in a few weeks.

 

[gwand]

That is what I’m trying in my new 20 gallon long. But I also added Tetra Safe Start Plus since I was certain placing an old filter into my new tank would be enough.

 

[gilpi]

…Yes.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Magnum. Well, here we go again with one of my favorite subjects and that's tanks. Whether it be cycling, natural, water changes or whatever. So, cycling isn't a problem. Set up the tank and fill it with treated tap water and some brand of bacteria starter. I've used API, but there are others. Allow the tank to run for a couple of days to establish the water temperature. You can add eight to 10 small fish in 45 gallons. I used a dozen Buenos Aires Tetras in my 50 gallon. Change out half the tank water every three to four days and always use the water treatment and bacteria starter. You can feed just a bit every couple of days. After a couple of months, you can add a few more fish and back off the water change to half weekly. No slacking though! Now, I know you've already got a plan in place. So, if you want, you can ignore this post. There is more than one way to prepare a tank for fish.

10

 

[Seisage]

I would get the filters running on an established tank, oh, sometime around yesterday. Let the filters get solidly seeded, and transfer them over after about 3 weeks. That's how I cycle new tanks. Stock lightly to allow the bacteria to grow and spread, and you can have a normally cycled tank in a few weeks.

This is what I did when I asked Gary's advice on cycling my very low KH tank a while back, and it worked like a charm! I had the pre-seeded sponge filter (3 weeks in an established tank), about a metric ton of frogbit, and only six neon tetra. No ammonia spikes at all. Actually, I think I need to get some nitrogen supplement for the frogbit. They're a little too good at handling bioload and they've been going yellow for a while now.

I definitely think transferring over whole media/whole filters is important. When you squeeze out a sponge or other filter media, I honestly doubt you're getting much BB in that water. The bacteria grow on surfaces, and from experience, we know that they don't wash off of those surfaces easily, which is why we can squeeze out a sponge to clean it and it still works fine as biological media. The people who recommend just doing a squeeze or two of water into a new tank from an old, dirty sponge to "instantly" cycle have the right train of thought, but I think they're ultimately just giving the tank a couple initial doses of fish waste...

 

[Ceez]

I've used this method along with seeded filters from my other tanks and it has worked every single time for me. Prime/stability once a day and daily testing, water change after a week and continue to do prime/stability for up to 14 days. Pretty confident since I have used this to start my L046 pleco tank with thousands of dollars in fish amongst my other tanks. Never had an issue


My testing results have never shown ammonia spikes or any nitrite at all with decently stocked (14 L046 in this case) tanks. I change water once a week about 50-75% and nothing else

 

[GaryE]

I have no idea of how many tanks I've started. I did 40 2 years ago after my move, 20 more before I went away last summer, and hundreds over the years. I crashed one in 1988. I should have known better. But none since, and none before. I've been using the 'run the filter on an established tank' method since the very early 1990s, way back in the last century.

I only dechlorinate, and here, have very clean water - no nitrates from these taps. But I keep a lot of delicate and difficult species.