Cycle

[adgo]

Feeder fish are still goldfish. They can grow to over a foot. They are not fish that you just use to cycle and throw away when you're finished so you can get what you really want. It is always better to do a fishless cycle so no fish have to go through the stress of high ammonia and nitrite and daily water changes. Hardy tropical fish include danios and some types of tetras.

gotchya. im usually on a piranha forum and ppl use the feeders to help cycle then usually their piranhas just eat them as part of their diet. but i guess if youre not going to have something in there to eat them then its kinda pointless to just have them then get rid of them, etc. didnt really think that one through lol

 

[Miss Wiggle]

whoah ok all that isso confusing!! i am doing it fishless. i have put my old tank water in the new tank and it went an even darker red?? im testing it with the 2 bottles of NO2?? im testing it everyday!

what is media? i also have random snails in my new tank too!! i have been told they wont cause any problems. i have even tried half emptying the tank etc. i will just have a trip to my local shop and see what they suggest.

Your filters have sponges or plastic/ceramic pieces that the bacteria grow on...this is media. If you were to transfer some of this medium to your new tanks filter then the levels in your tank will reduce...

Also if your not conditioning your water before adding it to your tank you will be killing some bacteria each day with the chlorine in the tap water...prolonging the cycle.

HTH.

yeah bang on.

the nitrifying bacteria that live on your filter and keep your water healthy are sessile, meaning they don't just swim around in the water but live attached to surfaces, filter media in particular. so transferring water from one tank to another will do nothing helpful at all, but transferring some of the sponges/floss/cermaic bits etc from your old filter into the one on your new tank will mean it's pretty much instantly cycled.

 

[scorphonic]

yeah bang on.

the nitrifying bacteria that live on your filter and keep your water healthy are sessile, meaning they don't just swim around in the water but live attached to surfaces, filter media in particular. so transferring water from one tank to another will do nothing helpful at all, but transferring some of the sponges/floss/cermaic bits etc from your old filter into the one on your new tank will mean it's pretty much instantly cycled.

And what about just getting about 6L of external filter water and sponge squeezings...would that be enough also instead of taking out the filters and putting them into a new filter.