"you Have To Run It For A Week First"

[onidrase]

So, I'm gonna start anew with a 37 gallon tank (hopefully with a 55 gallon filter cause over filtration is cool, assuming it'll fit)

All I've ever learned about preparing, since I used to only accept advice from my aunt and uncle (they have a 90 gallon saltwater tank, 20 gallon hexagon, and 20 gallon rectangle, which have all been successful) is that you run the tank for a week as you would if it had fish, and then put fish in.

After a lot of research, I'm not sure how much help this really does. My initial thought of this process was to make it so the water was at a stable tempurature and was free of chlorine and whatnot, but then again, my initial thought was also that things like pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites didn't matter, and that the water is clean as long as it's clear. Heck. I didn't even know what nitrites were.

I also didn't know anything about beneficial bacteria, and was pretty stingy about my filters staying "clean" (I.E. I would run them under the sink every 2 weeks, or change them if they looked too ugly)

Things have changed a lot since then, and with the idea of starting a new tank, I want to start it right.

Now, I've never had any issues with the run the tank for a week and put fish in method (as far as the eye can tell, anyway,) and it works well for me given my general impatience, but is it the really the right way to go?

I've gone through a lot of the cycling guides on here and stuff, and always end being incredibly confused, to be honest. Is there a cycling for dummies thread or website anywhere?

I'm gonna be doing with biowheel filters, as always. Are there any extra steps to be taken to make sure that the wheel is nice and processed?

 

[Reret]

Well good on the better filter. For my ten gallon I had a ten gallon filter and it stunk so I got a 20 and I love it

 

[Mowbz]

Things have indeed changed, but "old skool" still works.

There are people with tanks so mature (5-10 years) that their filters can handle a quick wash in tapwater, and can handle non-dechlor'd water if your only doing for example 30% water changes a month etc, however we know more than this now, and so we follow new advice.

As times change, so do fish and equipment/methods.

The "old" method was to "gas off" chlorine, leaving it to stand for a period (24-48hrs). We now know that this only gets rid of chorline, but not chloramine (Ammonia + Chlorine) which is why we all use dechlorinators.

I would say that if your aunt and uncle still have tanks running, their advice would still be sound. It might be outdated, but if theyre fish are happy and thriving, whats the difference?

 

[coldcazzie]

IIf your aunt and uncle, or you, still have tanks running, take some media from the filter and put it in your new filter. Add fish immediately (low stock level of course) and feed lightly. You should be able to slowly add more stock after a couple of weeks.

If not, then I'd recommend the fishless cycle. Poop = ammonia = poor fish health, shortened lifespan or death. In the filter ammonia turns into nitrite which turns into nitrate, which is removed by water changes. So in a fishless cycle you add household ammonia to grow you filter bacteria so you can add fish safely. This takes about 2 months.

Seeding is by far the easiest method. After that fishless is less work that fish-in (where you add fish and change the water).

 

[the_lock_man]

Ultimately, it's your choice how you do things.

Yes, the old advice was to leave it running for a week, whack in some fish, and leave them to it. We now know that this exposes the fish to ammonia and nitrite, which many people, including me, believe to be unnecessary. There is now the option to cycle using bottled ammonia.

Old advice to cure a migraine was to drill a hole in your head, to let the demons out. I personally wouldn't follow that advice these days, either.

My personal advice to you would be to see if you can take some of your aunt and uncle's filter media (no more than a third, and give them an equal amount of your new media in return, so their filtration won't suffer), and use it to kick start a fishless cycle, as per the Add & Wait method given in the Beginners Resource Centre.

Hope this helps.

 

[raptorrex]

So, I'm gonna start anew with a 37 gallon tank (hopefully with a 55 gallon filter cause over filtration is cool, assuming it'll fit)

All I've ever learned about preparing, since I used to only accept advice from my aunt and uncle (they have a 90 gallon saltwater tank, 20 gallon hexagon, and 20 gallon rectangle, which have all been successful) is that you run the tank for a week as you would if it had fish, and then put fish in.

After a lot of research, I'm not sure how much help this really does. My initial thought of this process was to make it so the water was at a stable tempurature and was free of chlorine and whatnot, but then again, my initial thought was also that things like pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites didn't matter, and that the water is clean as long as it's clear. Heck. I didn't even know what nitrites were.

I also didn't know anything about beneficial bacteria, and was pretty stingy about my filters staying "clean" (I.E. I would run them under the sink every 2 weeks, or change them if they looked too ugly)

Things have changed a lot since then, and with the idea of starting a new tank, I want to start it right.

Now, I've never had any issues with the run the tank for a week and put fish in method (as far as the eye can tell, anyway,) and it works well for me given my general impatience, but is it the really the right way to go?

I've gone through a lot of the cycling guides on here and stuff, and always end being incredibly confused, to be honest. Is there a cycling for dummies thread or website anywhere?

I'm gonna be doing with biowheel filters, as always. Are there any extra steps to be taken to make sure that the wheel is nice and processed?

Cycling has been the norm for decades. though there are sections of the hobby, even now, with too few neurons to understand it necessity.
clean, looking, water. is no indication of water quality. water swarming with the legionella bacteria, looks clear! so water clarity is, largely, aesthetic.
lol, a bio wheel will not keep the water clear. even if it provides enough bacteria to clear ammonia. you need mechanical filtration for that.
what a cycled filter does is remove chemicals (well convert them really) which will harm your fish.
what we want the filter to do is:
1, remove Ammonia. (very toxic)
2, convert that ammonia into nitrites. (toxic)
3, convert the nitrates to nitrates.(not so toxic)
4, leaving us to remove nitrates with water changes.

I see what you mean about confusing when reading "cycling threads". i suffer too.
personally i think its down to over analysis of, what should be a simple, the procedure.
I support the "fishless cycle". mainly because it allows full stocking, on completion. having waited weeks for the cycle to finish. its hard to expect keepers to wait even longer as the bacteria builds up to handle their new stock. (an in fish cycle only gives you enough bacteria for the fish that were in the cycle. )
All i want from a cycled filter (tank size is academic) is it to remove 5ppm ammonia in 12 hours.
so, first off i check the ammonia. around a week in i check for nitrites. through the next week i check for nitrates. (I've never had a cycle take longer than 18 days).
there are a myriad of variables. PH, water temperature, nitrate and ammonia content in tap water. however, in my view, these only become important if you cycle hits a snag.
water temperature is the only one i use. i set my heater to 80-5F for the duration of the cycle.

Things have indeed changed, but "old skool" still works.

There are people with tanks so mature (5-10 years) that their filters can handle a quick wash in tapwater, and can handle non-dechlor'd water if your only doing for example 30% water changes a month etc, however we know more than this now, and so we follow new advice.

As times change, so do fish and equipment/methods.

The "old" method was to "gas off" chlorine, leaving it to stand for a period (24-48hrs). We now know that this only gets rid of chorline, but not chloramine (Ammonia + Chlorine) which is why we all use dechlorinators.

I would say that if your aunt and uncle still have tanks running, their advice would still be sound. It might be outdated, but if theyre fish are happy and thriving, whats the difference?

A tank is mature at, between, 6 and 12 months. however old it gets, it will get no more mature.
a mature tank at 6 months, can have 25-30% water changes with no de-chlorination. (Chloramine, is water company dependent. used much more in the USA than in UK/Europe.)

 

[Louiseness]

As everyone else has said, cycling is not so hard to understand at all, but the terminology and ppm and everything can be a bit perplexing!

'Leaving the tank to run' really does absolutely nothing - the process starts when you put your fish in. This is a fish-in cycle. Basically, your fish produce the ammonia from their waste that helps bacteria grow in the filter.

In a fishless cycle, you provide the ammonia instead by adding it yourself, which works the same. Most people here will suggest fishless rather than fish-in ecause fish-in subjects the fish to often harmful levels of ammonia and nitrite while the bacteria establish themselves. Less water changes and fuss for you too!

But if you can take some mature media (sponges or ceramic bits etc) from your aunt and uncle's filter (known as seeding) you will be able to put some fish in immediately without subjecting them to harmful levels of toxins because the bacteria already existing in the old media will remove them. Simple!

 

[This Old Spouse]

We started our fishkeeping career by doing a fish-in cycle on our 55g tank, simply because we didn't know any better and I hadn't found this site yet. However, once that tank was cycled, many other tanks have been started up and cycled by using the seeding method, and we haven't had any real problems since.