Want to start the cycle

[Bloopie]

I have a few emergency questions as I want to start the cycling process already, my tank has been standing uncycled for the past 5 days...

1. I have a 40~ day old (20ltr) goldfish tank with 5 goldfish (I know it's a lot)
Which has not been cycled (As I didn't know what that was when I got it, but it may have cycled by now? I don't know) will it be a good idea to get the gravel from it and squeeze the media from its small inner filter into my 96ltr (25 gallon) canister filter?
I don't have test kits atm and have no idea about the level of ammonia/nitrate/nitrite in that tank, but the fish in it look very happy and hungry.

2. The gravel in the small tank is pinkish (washed well, yes) and won't look good at all with the dark gravel I have in my 96ltr tank. after the tank has cycled, will I be able to take the gravel I used to cycle with out? or does it have to stay in?

3. Btw, do you all agree that pure ammonia cycling is the best way to cycle without fish? or is fish food a good alternative?

4. What concentration % of pure ammonia should I be buying?

5. Should I add the (kinda dirty) water from the goldfish tank into the new tank?

6. What about asking my LFS for some gravel and bacteria from established tanks? do I have anything to fear?

 

[Kentuckycatfish]

I have a few emergency questions as I want to start the cycling process already, my tank has been standing uncycled for the past 5 days...

1. I have a 40~ day old (20ltr) goldfish tank with 5 goldfish (I know it's a lot)
Which has not been cycled (As I didn't know what that was when I got it, but it may have cycled by now? I don't know) will it be a good idea to get the gravel from it and squeeze the media from its small inner filter into my 96ltr (25 gallon) canister filter?
I don't have test kits atm and have no idea about the level of ammonia/nitrate/nitrite in that tank, but the fish in it look very happy and hungry.

2. The gravel in the small tank is pinkish (washed well, yes) and won't look good at all with the dark gravel I have in my 96ltr tank. after the tank has cycled, will I be able to take the gravel I used to cycle with out? or does it have to stay in?

3. Btw, do you all agree that pure ammonia cycling is the best way to cycle without fish? or is fish food a good alternative?

4. What concentration % of pure ammonia should I be buying?

5. Should I add the (kinda dirty) water from the goldfish tank into the new tank?

6. What about asking my LFS for some gravel and bacteria from established tanks? do I have anything to fear?

[snapback]873028[/snapback]​

 

[Kentuckycatfish]

buy one of two products, called either aqurisol, or stress coat. Either of these should be commonly found at your local lfs or even Wal Mart. Cycling has probably already taken place at this point and if your fish have made it 40 days you should be ok. Do your water changes like you should and you should have happy fish for a long time.

 

[Bloopie]

buy one of two products, called either aqurisol, or stress coat. Either of these should be commonly found at your local lfs or even Wal Mart. Cycling has probably already taken place at this point and if your fish have made it 40 days you should be ok. Do your water changes like you should and you should have happy fish for a long time.

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I do have Stress Coat and use it in my new tank but I don't see how this answers my questions

 

[pseud]

1. I have a 40~ day old (20ltr) goldfish tank with 5 goldfish (I know it's a lot)
Which has not been cycled (As I didn't know what that was when I got it, but it may have cycled by now? I don't know) will it be a good idea to get the gravel from it and squeeze the media from its small inner filter into my 96ltr (25 gallon) canister filter?
I don't have test kits atm and have no idea about the level of ammonia/nitrate/nitrite in that tank, but the fish in it look very happy and hungry.

I'm FAIRLY sure you can do this without any fear. I've never ket goldfish, so I don't know how they differ from tropical, I should imagine it's the same. If it's been running for 40 days with 5 goldfish it's probably cycled, or very nearly done.

You could even take the media filter out of the cycled goldfish tank, and put it in the filter in the new tank.

You really do need some test kits. It's pretty essential to know how much ammonia/nitrites/nitrates are in the water - especially when you're cycling.

2. The gravel in the small tank is pinkish (washed well, yes) and won't look good at all with the dark gravel I have in my 96ltr tank. after the tank has cycled, will I be able to take the gravel I used to cycle with out? or does it have to stay in?

You can take the gravel out. Try putting the cycled gravel in an old stocking, and putting it in the new tank. This will make it easy to remove. When you start removing everything that you've put in to help the tank cycle, remember to take it out slowly.. ie one piece every few days. (If you take ALL of it out, you risk removing too much beneficial bacteria, your ammonia levels will shoot up, and your tank will go through what's called a 'mini-cycle'.

3. Btw, do you all agree that pure ammonia cycling is the best way to cycle without fish? or is fish food a good alternative?

Fishless cycling with ammonia is the fastest. You can also control how much ammonia is present in the tank at any time. With fish food, there's no way of telling how much ammonia you'll be adding to the tank.

4. What concentration % of pure ammonia should I be buying?

Not really sure. I use ammonia solution from Walmart. It comes in a 2 Qt bottle with a purple label. Check to make sure that what you buy only contains: "Ammonium Hydroxide, Chealing Agent, Water". Anything else will be bad news, discard it. Shake the ammonia bottle, if it suds up and gets bubbly it's no good.

When fishless cycling you want to add enough ammonia to bring the levels up to 4ppm. Test on 1 gallon of water and measure how much you add to get it to this. (Add a little at a time). When you have the ammonia level in the 1 gallon of water to 4ppm, multiply how much ammonia solution you added by how many gallons of water your tank is and that's how much of the solution you need to add.

Example. In one gallon of water I added 10ml of ammonia to get it to 4ppm. So for my 55 gallon tank I need to add 10 * 55 = 550 ml of ammonia. (I picked these numebrs out of the air. Don't add half a liter of ammonia to your tank).

5. Should I add the (kinda dirty) water from the goldfish tank into the new tank?

Usually, I'd say yes. But i'm not 100% about goldfish, so I'm gonna err on the side of caution and say no.

6. What about asking my LFS for some gravel and bacteria from established tanks? do I have anything to fear?

[snapback]873028[/snapback]​

Sounds like a good idea but I wouldn't. I don't trust fish shops not to have fish that have diseases. Alot of LFS run all of their tanks on a single filter - ie the water is shared. One diseased fish in one tank means all the tanks are infected.

 

[pseud]

Don't forget to add dechlorinator before you start cycling. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

I have a few emergency questions as I want to start the cycling process already, my tank has been standing uncycled for the past 5 days...

1. I have a 40~ day old (20ltr) goldfish tank with 5 goldfish (I know it's a lot)
Which has not been cycled (As I didn't know what that was when I got it, but it may have cycled by now? I don't know) will it be a good idea to get the gravel from it and squeeze the media from its small inner filter into my 96ltr (25 gallon) canister filter?
I don't have test kits atm and have no idea about the level of ammonia/nitrate/nitrite in that tank, but the fish in it look very happy and hungry.

2. The gravel in the small tank is pinkish (washed well, yes) and won't look good at all with the dark gravel I have in my 96ltr tank. after the tank has cycled, will I be able to take the gravel I used to cycle with out? or does it have to stay in?

3. Btw, do you all agree that pure ammonia cycling is the best way to cycle without fish? or is fish food a good alternative?

4. What concentration % of pure ammonia should I be buying?

5. Should I add the (kinda dirty) water from the goldfish tank into the new tank?

6. What about asking my LFS for some gravel and bacteria from established tanks? do I have anything to fear?

[snapback]873028[/snapback]​

Hmm you should consider finding the gold fish a pond, where they can grow to their full potential and be happier and healthier. Ill try and answer some of your questions in the order.

1. Considering the newer tank is nearly 5 times bigger than the smaller goldfish tank i doubt there would be very little point in adding it to the new tank, as the result will be hardly noticeable.
2. There is only a small amount if beneficial bacteria in the gravelm so not much point adding that either considering the size differences
3. Although ive only ever set up my own fish tank once and didnt know about fishless cycle then i would think that fishless cycle is more practical and better for you fish. Although your hardy fish that cycled the tank may survive they wont live as long and will suffer for their remaining lifes. Therefore fishless cycle is alot better as it doesnt harm any fish
4. Sorry youll have to wait for someone experienced with this method.
5. I dont think you should
6. I wouldnt you could introduce diseases into your tank and once again there is very little beneficial bacteria in the gravel.
Hope this helps.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

) Well is was beat to the answers (damn im such a slow typer) )
And we had quite a few different ideas so youll just have to wait for more opnions before starting anything

 

[pseud]

1. Considering the newer tank is nearly 5 times bigger than the smaller goldfish tank i doubt there would be very little point in adding it to the new tank, as the result will be hardly noticeable.

It doesn't really matter. Bacteria grows by doubling. If you don't start off with anything to seed the tank you might as well say you start with 1 bacteria cell. Say you add some gravel and start the tank off with 10 and say it takes 1 day for the bacteria to grow. It will only take 10 days to get 100. If you start with only 1 it will take approximately 8 days to get 100 bacteria cells. Of course, I'm pulling numbers out of the air, but my reasoning is logical and I'm sure you get my point: every little helps

2. There is only a small amount if beneficial bacteria in the gravelm so not much point adding that either considering the size differences

I don't really believe this. There's bacteria on everything that has surface area. The more porous the material, the better. A handful of gravel has quite a large surface area!

3. Although ive only ever set up my own fish tank once and didnt know about fishless cycle then i would think that fishless cycle is more practical and better for you fish. Although your hardy fish that cycled the tank may survive they wont live as long and will suffer for their remaining lifes. Therefore fishless cycle is alot better as it doesnt harm any fish
4. Sorry youll have to wait for someone experienced with this method.
5. I dont think you should
6. I wouldnt you could introduce diseases into your tank and once again there is very little beneficial bacteria in the gravel.
Hope this helps.

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Just thought I'd share my opinion with you on your answers

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Well at least we agree on more than we disagree

 

[pseud]

Indeed!