125 Litre Tank Cycle

[denismen]

How long should it take for it to be safe to add fish to this tank.
I have used stuff to speed up the filter bacteria process but the ammonia levels are still not 0 and Nitrate is a little high.
Should I be changing some water regularly while waiting?
Tank has been started 10 days ago.

 

[Flute]

Unfortunately there isn't any real evidence that shows that the bacteria starts actually work, although it certainly does no harm to add them to a tank just in case. There for you need to add a source of ammonia to your tank in order to get it to cycle , which can take 4-6 weeks, but is 100% worth the wait and makes it much easier than cycling a tank with fish in it. Check out the link in my signature, it will take you to the beginners resource centre where you can find an article on Fishless cycling. Don't hesitate to ask about anything you're unsure about

Oh, and do you know anyone who has mature tanks? If you do, you could always ask to pinch some of their mature media from them, this will kick start your filter and will cycle the tank much quicker.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

My 100 litre finished fishless cycling about 4 weeks ago, it took almost 4 weeks. I used Kleen Off pure ammonia solution dosed to 4ppm, and it was done when it could process 2ppm ammonia through nitrites into nitrates within 12 hr period. Full of happy fish now. I assume you're taking measurements with a liquid test kit? I did give it a kickstart with some mature filter media from a smaller tank, and raised temp to 28C for the cycle duration. Fishless is the way to go, after reading all the horror stories of fish-in cycles! Good luck!

 

[phoenixgsd]

have a read of the link in my signature, it explains the cycling process

 

[toshapetriji]

As long as I've been a member here the advice generally given to members is that 'bacteria in a bottle' is a waste of time. I can only imagine that its easier to regurgitate information rather than to hunt out information.

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