cycle not done want to add fish Now!!

[vantgE]

i'm getting a great deal on some relatively rare fish, i don't want to make this guy wait but my tank isn't cycled yet, my nitrites just turned 0.5 this is my first cylcle ever and it is fishless, could i switch to a fish cycle at this stage? how does a fish cylcle work? it'll only be four fish
or will it be mucvh longer before the earliest i've had fish i have been cycleing for just over a week now and it is a 90 galloon tank

Generally, what's the fastest way to safely get four fish into my tank?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Don't get too anxious, why would you want to cycle wth rare fish? Your odds of losing them are very good if you do. Why not ask that guy for some gravel and filter media from his tank, you can add four fish easily if he'll help you out

 

[superpenguin22]

NO
DO NOT!
if you want to speed up the process add bio-spira but DO NOT START WITH THOSE EXTRA SUPER RARE FISH!!! USE VERY VERY HARDY FISH AT FIRST!!!
also ditto to what wuvmybetta said

 

[vantgE]

they not extra super rare, i have seen them it's more of a rare price, (synodontis petrichola) but i haven't found a good price on them this guys giving them to me for 45$ instead of $90, and 35 each in the one store i saw them at i think he's done enough already
can i get biospira in canada? haven't seen it
and it is already partially cycled

 

[heresmike]

You say your nitrites are .5. Are they just reaching that level from zero, or did they spike? 'Cuz if they haven't spiked, the cycle has a long way to go.

Biospira is a good idea, but you will still see ammonia and nitrite spikes. I've done fishless cycles using BioSpira, and they take about 10 days to complete. Also, enough BioSpira for a 90 gallon would run $36USD.

 

[vantgE]

how much longer you think i know it varies, i have a smaller tank that i started ycleing about the same time haven't been testing it but do smaller tanks cycle faster

 

[heresmike]

How much longer.... That depends on many things... for one, how much ammonia you're adding daily. I add enough to get the ammonia level up to 4 or 5. If you're only seeing .5 nitrites after a week, maybe you're not adding enough ammonia? And at .5, the cycle has only begun and could take weeks. Also if you can add some form of bacteria, it will speed up the process.

As far as whether a small tank cycles faster... not sure, but all things being proportional (ie, ammonia level, filter capacity) I would think it would take the same amount of time.

 

[vantgE]

sorry my mistake it's at least 5.0 that's as high as the test tests for

 

[heresmike]

OK then! The cycle is well on it's way. How long has it been at 5.0? It will stay up there for a while and then drop rapidly... but it's still hard to say how long. When I used BioSpira, the nitrites dropped after just a few days.

I assume your ammonia levels are dropping to 0 every day?

 

[Sky042]

if it's above the 5.0 level it's likely much higher. I can tell you that based on my tanks fishless cycle it's actually several times the tests maximum reactant level. the nitrite phase is tough to wait through but at those levels nitrite is toxic to fish. You'd likely get a good deal on fish that would quickly be poisned to death.

 

[vantgE]

no my amonia isn't at 0 yet i think it's at one or two,
so my original thought was remove pretty much all the water and then replace it with clean water and add the fish
what about adding an extra filter i have an extra ac 200 but it hasn't been used and doesn't have seeded media either could this help?

thanks for all your help so far

 

[heresmike]

I really wouldn't recommend changing all the water and adding the fish, unless these are very hardy fish. BTW, what kind of fish are they? Even if you do that, you'd have to monitor the ammo, nitrite, and nitrate levels very closely and do frequent water changes (daily?) for quite awhile. Personally, I wouldn't do it. I'd only put fish in a fully cycled tank unless it was an emergency situation.

I don't think adding another filter would help. Can you get ahold of some mature filter media from the guy you're buying the fish from? That might help speed the cycle.

 

[Sky042]

no my amonia isn't at 0 yet i think it's at one or two,
so my original thought was remove pretty much all the water and then replace it with clean water and add the fish
what about adding an extra filter i have an extra ac 200 but it hasn't been used and doesn't have seeded media either could this help?

thanks for all your help so far

you'd more or less be starting from scratch and would have eliminated a good portion of the benifit of rht fishless cycle. But I feel your pain its tough to stare at an empty tank for that long.

 

[konrad05]

for a 90 gallon tank, your cycle should be FAR from done after a week. Standard time, should be about 3-4 weeks. The only way you can shorten the time durastically is to introduce some real bacteria that will break down you nitrites. Otherwise the buildup of this bacteria takes the longest. You're in for a long wait if your nitrites just spiked (2 weeks or more). If you add any fish now, even if they are hardy, they WILL probably die. No matter how tough they are, they won't be able to handle the huge toxin change. If it really matters to you to get fish in fast, bargain with the manager at a LFS to sell you some "currently used" gravel or filter media. HTH and good luck!

 

[vantgE]

thanks guys he said he'd hold my fish for me, so no worries now i can wait