cycling

What is cycling a tank? And use common words, I'm not a huge fish person, I have bred guppies for a while and am switching to mollies fairly soon.

I just set up a 20g tank.  I put in a used whisper filter from my other tank (happened to be good timing, just replaced it) as biomedia to speed up the cycling process.   Then I dumped in a whole bunch of blackworms thinking they would produce ammonia + eventually die to add to the bacteria in...

Okay, so I've been raised around fish tanks for most of my life but I can't seem to get this darn thing right on my own. Took my mom about 3 years to figure out exactly how to set up a tank perfectly for an Oscar Fish. I decided I did not want to kill my fish three times before I asked for help...

I have a few question. I am new at fishkeeping. I have read about the nitrogen cycle, required equipment and my tank is all set up. Okay, so my father does not trust the rotting food and shrimp cycling methods no matter what I say and soap-free ammonia is hard to find so I will have to use...

Hello!   I have some questions about adding things to my tank. When my Gold Dust Molly had 14 fry, we had to rush out to the store to buy a 10 gallon tank so we could fit the breeding tank in with mama Buzz.   It was from one fish in a 2.5 gallon to 14 fry and one adult Molly in a 10 Gallon...

I put two ten gallon filters on my 15 gallon tank. Then bought a new filter for my 10 gallon tank. All went well until the cloudiness wasn't clearing on the 10 gallon (been like this for almost a week now). So, I went and took one of the 10 gallon filters I had on the 15 gallon (which was on the...

how can I cycle a 10-20 gallon tank with guppies. I want to breed guppies and that's the only thing I want in that tank. how long will I do a cycle with fish in and im planning on putting live plants when do I put those in the tank? how many days after the tank is setup can I put the fish in...

Hi All,   I didn't think I'd get a 10 gal till Nov or so, but I was doing my back to school shopping at Walmart and right across from the 17 cent 1 subject notebooks was the pet aisle - and right in my line of vision was a 10 gal for $13.97 - woohoo!   Currently [in case you haven't seen my...

So im at day 15 of cycling my 10 gal tank and i am excited that i am finally seeing nitrite because that just means that i am getting that much closer to being cycled and getting my endlers!!  This may seem silly but i'm just excited that i am one step closer!! 

I have a 5 gallon Fluval spec with my male Betta in it, and it's been running for about 4 days now. The ammonia is at 0 and so is the nitrite, but the nitrate is at 20 ppm. I'm confused because should a tank be fully cycled that fast? Or is there another reason? I've used Nutrafin Cycle as...

Hi all, I'm betting the answer is 'no' but asking anyway :) Is it possible to cycle a tank that doesn't have a filter? I have a 2 gallon tank with 1 beta in it, 2 fake plants, and aquarium gravel. I don't have a tank filtration system for this little tank. Is it possible to "cycle" this way...

So i went to the store and bought ammonia the ingredients are ammonium hydroxide and surfactant

Hi all!   I'm new to both this forum and aquariums, and I need your help! My husband has wanted a tank for years, and while his dream is coming true, we've hit an obstacle that he didn't see coming. We set up our tank on Monday night (4 days ago). Yesterday (day 3) the water was cloudy, whereas...

Hi all,   I've just moved from a 50 litre tank to a 200 litre which is currently cycling.   I'm hoping to create a well planted community tank filled with small schools of small fish.   Plants so far: Egeria Densa Green Cabomba Bacopa Monnieri Dwarf Sagittara   Fish so far: 1 x Female...

This is an open thread to ask questions about cycling.

Could someone please tell me how often i should be doing waterchanges in my 27L tank, its got a 25w heater, real plants, no fish yet will be used for a betta. 

I have a 10gal tank that has been cycling with fish for ~4 weeks.  I have 0 ammonium and my pH is generally around 7, though today it was 7.5.  Not worried about that because I'm going brackish soon.  My nitrite has been high for over a week now, though.  It was .75 maybe 5-6 days ago.  Today he...

Hi all, I posted this comment on another thread awhile ago and thought that I should get it checked out to see what faults you can find with using this guide to cycle with cloudy ammonia:   The other day, after I went to my nearest supermarket to see if they had any pure/clear ammonia, I started...

Hi all,   I've recently acquired a 200L Roma 200 tank from eBay and it's all setup and ready to go. All the decorations, live plants, filtration, air bubbles and water etc are all in and I've started a fishless cycle (pic attached). Water was tested on day 3 and it had a pH level of ~7.5.   Now...

Hi,   This may seem silly but I do not understand what filter media is. It's described often, used frequently, but when I look at my filter, I just don't understand what part of it is the media. When I have replaced my filters, I just have bought the packs.   This is my...

Hi   I have recently bought a new tank (Aquanano 40, 55ltr) and am currently running a fishless cycle.  This has been going for over a week now and progress is pretty slow.  My Ammonia reading has been about 4ppm for the last 6 days and doesn't seem to be going down.  I finally have some Nitrite...

So i started cycling my tank last monday, all seemed to be going well until this morning when i looked at the surface water which seems to have an oily layer in it.   Im not sure if this has been caused by a recent "spring cleaning" in the living rom where the tank is or something else...

Well, I'm setting up four new tanks and I have the sponge filters, but not the tanks. Would I be able to put them in an empty tank, cycle them all together, then add them to their respective tanks?

So today I received my aqueon betta bow 2.5. I replaced the incandescent light and added some sand substrate. After I get my driftwood and plants bought snd in the tank, how should I go about cycling? I'd really rather not have to buy ammonia and test my water so often, as I don't have a kit...

I'm not sure this is the right place for this but since it's a 30L AquaOne I'm trying to cycle for a betta I thought I'd try here. I'm on day 30 of fishless cycling. I've sometimes been getting 0 ammonia and 0 nitrItes @12 hrs but never together. In the last week I've had 2 spectacular pH...

Hi all,   I've had a 60l tank that I've been running for a number of years which has been relatively successful (only a couple of Tetra's have died after a couple of years) and decided to upgrade.   So I've gone out and bought a new tank! I did it for a number of reasons - not least deciding...

http://hotsearch.aol.co.uk/2013/03/26/fish-keeping-for-beginners/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk-ws-bb%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D165223 Yet another woeful online piece on how to set up a new tank. Think the title of this thread might give a clue to my opinion on it. Said my piece in the comments section...

Hi everyone! Im very new to this hobby and am incredibly frustrated with the different answers I'm getting from multiple lfs's. Here's my problems background: I set up my tank 3-4 weeks ago the way the lovely ppl at the lfs said to do. I got a 10ga tank, bought the normal paraphernalia, filled...

Hey guys, so basically i picked up a free 15 gallon tank from a friend and im looking to get a new pump/filter (preferably biological) next week so i can start to cycle it before i put my fish and shrimp in. What i want to do is put almost everything from my old 10 gallon into the new 15 gallon...

Hello, I bought a tropical fish care book and got advice from the LFS, then read about cycling on this forum and could use some help. I am brand new to fish. I have a 10 gallon tank recently (in last four and five days) stocked with 4 neon tetras and 4 platys and moss ball plant. I read on...

So I was at my friends today and he feels his tank is nearly done cycling. He was going to do a water test later to be sure (wife was picking up kit on her way home). We were both wondering what the white, milky film was all over his glass and air hoses. He has also started to get some brown...

So we had an iccident that caused us to have to clean out our HOB completely, and now our tank is cycling again. I have raised the temp to 80f, as I think the higher temp increases bacterial growth, and a hope to minimize parasites while the cycling is happening. Anyways, I use the Fluval 45 Bow...

Hi. Would it be possible that underdosing dechlor would slow a fishes cycle down,and also can you overdose dechlor? Sorry if these are generic questions. Rich

Hi, all! I have three established tanks with bettas and 1 ADF: 3.5g, 5g, and 10g. With all three of these, I did fish-in cycling with the bettas. Everyone did beautifully and their tanks are all sparkling clean now. I live in a small apartment and can only have tanks smaller than 20g, so I...

Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone has set up a tank without completing a full cycle? I did it when i was younger and allot less knowledgeable but it was a success! I had 6 black widow tetras and a red tail shark in there for a few years (unfortunately had to sell them when i moved home)...

Hi all, Firstly I'm new here and quite new to tropical fish keeping all together, so please help . I have and have had set up a 60l tank for about 6 months, fully stocked and everything has been good with it with no deaths or diseases during its entire time. But I have just bought a new tank...

Evening all. I have a question about dosing Homebase value ammonia. I believe it's ammonia content is 9.5%. My tank contained 0.6ppm ammonia and using the ammonia calculator I need to dose 4ml ammonia. After dosing this I wat 30 mins to an hour and test the ammonia again. The level has hardly...

Hi All, This is my first post here and just really looking for some good advise on my tank and its cycle. Tank info - 200L, planted, 5 statues / ornaments, gravel substrate, Fluval U4 internal filter, Fluval heater, temp 25-26 C, PH 7.5 Im currently doing a fish in cycle. ( i know should have...