240 finally cycled!

[CMC]

Checked water today - 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites

 

[modernhamlet]

Me too! And the LFS doesn't open for another hour! Nooooo!!!!

 

[gadazobe]

That's such a great feeling - what are you both going to put in your tanks?

 

[Idolz]

Um if you were doing a fishless cycle wouldn't you expect there would be no amonia or nitirite??? Amonia has to be in the tank before the bacteria can break it down?? Someone correct me if im wrong.

 

[nightlife20]

they can add amonia to it to help it to cycle... there are loads of way to do it

pure amonia
fish food

just to name to ways...

 

[CMC]

We are putting 10 veiled angels, 2 silver dollars, 5 cory cats and several apple snails in the 240 gallon. In our 55 gallon, we are putting 2 african cichlids.

 

[CMC]

We artificially introduced ammonia into the tank to start the cycling process. We continued to add ammonia until we get negative readings for both ammonia and nitrite. I have cycled tanks both fishless and with fish. The fishless cycle always seems to be faster and is a whole lot less work.

 

[Shizat]

240 gallon would be nice. I have an 80 and I think its too small now.

 

[modernhamlet]

That's such a great feeling - what are you both going to put in your tanks?

I just got back from the LFS. I got a pair of very nice Pearl Gourami. The male is about 3", the female around 2.5" Both with excellent colors. They are acclimating in their bags in the tank right now. 3 weeks of patience is finally paying off!

If everything stays stable, I'll be adding either an SAE or some Harlequin Rasboras next weekend.

Good luck with both your tanks, CMC... They both sound great!

 

[nightlife20]

I have an 80 and I think its too small now

iv not long shelled out for a 40gal and it feels too small now... wouldnt mine an 80 tho lmao

bf dont like the idea tho

 

[G_Sharky]

HHHHHHHHuge Tank, Just wonderin how the maintenance would be on that one, probably not easy

 

[CMC]

I just got back from the LFS. I got a pair of very nice Pearl Gourami.

Modernhamlet, congrats on your new fish. I used to have pearl guaramis, they are beautiful fish. I think you'll be happy with them. How big is your tank?

GSharky, the maintenance on the big tanks is about the same as the smaller ones, just more time consuming, especially the water changes. Thank goodness this is my husband's tank

Our 55 gallon looks so small now. When we first got it, it was big but after looking at the 240 the 55 seems sooooooo tiny now

 

[modernhamlet]

Modernhamlet, congrats on your new fish. I used to have pearl guaramis, they are beautiful fish. I think you'll be happy with them. How big is your tank?

Our 55 gallon looks so small now. When we first got it, it was big but after looking at the 240 the 55 seems sooooooo tiny now

I'm very happy with them so far. They're very active, constantly looking for food, picking through the plants (they've removed a few they didn't like), and generally getting used to their new digs. The male is much more shy than the female. She's got almost all of the food the first at the first feeding, so I'll have to keep an eye on that.

My tank is just 29g! All this talk about 40 longs and 55s being "too small"...

If any of you want to be rid of your "tiny" tanks, you just let me know!

 

[Samage]

I'm happy with my 20

yesterday, my 10 finished cycling, which means I was able to tranfer my ACF from his 3 gal, as he was getting big for it...

The cycling for mine was one hell of a lot faster, thanks to using already-established water, gravel and filters...

 

[CMC]

The 55 gal does look small now sitting across the room from the 240 gal. It dwarfs everything in the room. The angels we put in it look tiny in that thing.

Samage, the cycling process does go a whole lot faster when you use mature filter media, gravel and anything you can spare from an established tank. I ran one of the canister filters I had planned on using on my 240 on my 55 gal for a week before hooking it up to the big tank. I also took gravel, filter media and any decorations I could spare from my established tanks. The 240 gallon tank cycled from the time we put water in it until 0 readings for ammonia and nitrite in one week and 6 days. I have heard of other tanks cycling process taking months.

There is also a new additive I have heard about to eliminate the need for cycling. It's called biro-spira. Has anyone heard of it?