What does 'Cycling' mean?

[finfayce]

i have read you should “cycle “ a new tank. what does that mean exactly. i have guppies and plecos and catfish in a 20 gallon tank. i will keep the fish in the 20 gallon until the 40 gallon is ready. does it matter that i am getting the 40 tank going with a different filter?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

This thread likely will answer all your cycling questions. If not, feel free to ask more. We love to help with this.

 

[Essjay]

Do you intend keeping the 20 gallon tank running after the fish are moved to the 40 gallon? If not, you can try to persuade all the filter media in the 20 to fit into the 40's filter. Sponges can be cut up, for example.

If this is not possible, if you could squeeze some of the 20's media in to the 40's filter it would speed up the cycle considerably. You can take up to a third of the media from the 20 gallon's filter.

 

[finfayce]

i will be taking the 20 gallon down. i rinsed our the sponge and changed the charcoal cartridges. i put that
original filter - Cascade an internal filter- in the new tank. the other filter had been in the guppy’s tank before. i used a addictive to remove chlorine and also APi
has Start Right which is supposed to make the water usable right away. right now the fish and i are de- stressing from moving the fish to the new tank. they were hard to catch and i did it slowly , hoping to alleviate some streas.

 

[FishGuest5123]

When you say you ”rinsed out” the sponge, do you mean you rinsed it in tank water? If so you should have carried the beneficial bacteria with you to the new tank. This should give you an automatic cycle or at least jump start the cycle for you. If you washed it in tap water, then the chlorine destroyed the beneficial bacteria in the media. Good luck!

 

[finfayce]

When you say you ”rinsed out” the sponge, do you mean you rinsed it in tank water? If so you should have carried the beneficial bacteria with you to the new tank. This should give you an automatic cycle or at least jump start the cycle for you. If you washed it in tap water, then the chlorine destroyed the beneficial bacteria in the media. Good luck!

When you say you ”rinsed out” the sponge, do you mean you rinsed it in tank water? If so you should have carried the beneficial bacteria with you to the new tank. This should give you an automatic cycle or at least jump start the cycle for you. If you washed it in tap water, then the chlorine destroyed the beneficial bacteria in the media. Good luck!

 

[finfayce]

thank you.
yes i rinsed it under tap water. the tank water was in poor condition. i have never heard about rinsing in tank water. i use Start Right to help condition the new water.
i guess i have been lucky tor 29 years.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Start Right is a dechlorinator product. It removes the chlorine and heavy metals from the tap water.

It doesn't do anything with the bio-filter.


It is also a bit of a myth that rinsing the filter in tap water will kill the biofilter as well. The beneficial bacteria live inside a biofilm they create, so they can tolerate some exposure to tap water like that. It wouldn't completely kill off the biofilter. Also, the bacteria live on every surface in the tank, not just the filter (though the vast majority are found in the filter). So, a mature tank can 'absorb' a loss of bacteria from a rinsing filters in tap water, and then repopulate from there. So, its not that much luck.


If you are looking for speeding up a cycle, TSS and Dr. Tims are bacterial supplements that meet that requirement. The ones from API and Seachem are considered for fresh and marine, but the bacterial strains for those different environments is not the same. So, those products aren't going to do what you really want. They aren't a long term solutions.

 

[FishGuest5123]

IMO, a used filter media is much better to use though. I get immediate cycled with them. I have never been able to achieve that with bottled bacteria. Don’t get me wrong. I have used it to speed up a cycle but never immediately. Due to that fact that this is a new tank being set up, no beneficial bacteria will be found in gravel, sides, or decor. It will depend on the seeded filter media or now, the bottled bacteria. Of course, you can move over used substrate (gravel) too. I still would not risk washing my filter in tap water. Why would you need to? I’ve dealt with too many people who have sent their tank back into a mini cycle by doing so.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

A used filter media is much better to use though. I still would not risk washing my filter in tap water. Why would you need to?

That's a different question. I was merely pointing out that it wasn't 'luck' that finfayce didn't have an issue while doing that.




Yes, used filter media is the top choice for starting a new tank. However, bottled bacteria is an alternative. And using old filter media can lead to problems, if there are problems in the donor tank... which isn't the case here.

 

[finfayce]

thanks for the info.
Start Right says it contains nitrifying
bacqteria. i also use Fluval biological cleaner, but not often.
it’s hard to know the tone of someone’s comment. i responded with the “lucky” comment because i took the member’s “ good luck “in a
sarcastic way. i’m shouldn’t have said anything. but i have had aquariums, raised angelfish. i have never had to deal with so many guppies at one time. i have another freshwater aquarium as well as a 55 gallon with a 7 year old red eared slider. the vet who treated my turtle said to feed her live foods. i really don’t want to see little fish get eaten , but after the turtle had been treated for ear infection, i asked the neighbor if i could have a few guppies. that’s how the big guppy population got started. btw my turtle didn’t eat feeder minnows or guppies. i can’t flush the guppies- i’m not that kind of person. i did have an additional small Whisper 10i in their previous tank that i transferred-not rinsed- to the new tank for a few days before adding the fish. i guess i am overwhelmed with 3 aquariums and sought additional advice because whatever i was doing wasn’t working. i thank you and the other members for your help.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Oh my goodness, no! If you look at most of my posts I wish everyone good luck at the end. Perhaps I need to stop doing that then. My sincere apologies if you took it that way.

 

[FishGuest5123]

And you are correct, Start Right is a bacteria starter like Tetra Safe Start+.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I see. So, I think the product name is what confused me. Start Right is from Jungle, and that's just a water conditioner for chlorine, etc. API Quick Start is their nitrification bacterial starter.



Anyway, we are losing the cycle now...

Where is your tank in terms of the cycle now?

 

[finfayce]

Oh my goodness, no! If you look at most of my posts I wish everyone good luck at the end. Perhaps I need to stop doing that then. My sincere apologies if you took it that way.