Cycling Help

[everlastingspirit]

Ok. have my 15l betta tank all set-up. Soaked the filter sponge in my currently cycled tank for a day or so (probably didnt do anything but thought would give it a go). Also added a plastic moss ball ornament from my cycled tank. Heater @ 26.5C Filter: Hagen mini elite (<20l)

Sprinkled a few flakes of food in on Sunday and tested today:

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

Im guessing the cycle hasnt even started yet im doing it the same way as i did my 35l which had at least some readings.

I could use a bit of filter media form my cycled tank but dont want to disrupt that ones environment. Could i add the real moss ball from my cycled tank? Does that hold any bacteria?

Can anybody suggest what i need to do now and anything i can do to kick start this tank.

Thanks
Ben

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Ben, You say you don't want to disturb your other, already cycled, tank, but how mature is that tank? How many months/years has it been running (and by that I'm assuming the filter has been running the same amount of time or else we would need to know that too.)

We've learned that up to 1/3 of the biomedia (definition of biomedia being those media types that have biological filtration as their primary function, such as sponges and ceramics) of a mature filter can be removed and that this will hardly cause the filter to skip a beat. Usually it will simply continue to keep perfect parameters in the mature tank and the colonies will enalarge back to their usual size within a few days. But the definition of "mature" varies somewhat, so it would be good to discuss that.

Mature media actually inserted into a new filter is by far the fastest and most effective way to kickstart a fishless cycle.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[everlastingspirit]

Hi Waterdrop,

Thanks for your response.

I have had this tank running now for just under 3 months. It is fully stocked and i am having constant 0ppm ammonia readings (i use the seachem constant alert product back up by weekly/bi-weekly API master test kit)

I suppose in the long scheme of things this probably doesnt class as mature?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, 3 months is significantly less mature than 6 months and 1 year. After a year a filter is probably about as mature as its going to get. Well, lets see.. what about the stocking level in the 3 month tank. Is it under, matched or over-stocked per the inch guideline would you say? If its not overstocked it might be that you could think about taking out -less- than 1/3 of the biomedia as a small seeding for the new filter. [By the way, just in case you were to try that, I usually recommend that the new filter have been up and running and that the fishless cycler is already dosing ammonia and has all that startup set of things stabilized before adding the mature media transplant. Just saying that in case you read this and decided to try it prior to me seeing your thread again!]

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Curiosity101]

Just to elaborate on something waterdrop mentioned. Use liquid ammonia rather than fish food. You can add specific amounts of ammonia so it allows you to definitely cycle your tank to a certain level. That means you're not going to have any bad shocks when you finally add fish and find that the fish food didn't produce enough ammonia to cycle the tank sufficiently.

 

[everlastingspirit]

Ok, sounds good. I might leave the current filter as it is then. Where can i get pure ammonia from though. I know almost all household products/chemicals are extremely unsuitable. Is my lfs likely to have it?

Obviously im really aiming for a fishless cycle as the only fish in the tank will be the betta (with maybe some shrimp or snails)?

Thanks
Ben

 

[Curiosity101]

Are you UK or US based?
UK - Boots is the best place, US...I'm sure WD will tell you.
And no, a local fish shop wont have it. They don't seem to have caught onto the fishless cycling idea yet.

 

[waterdrop]

US - Ace Hardware WD

 

[everlastingspirit]

Im UK based so i will nip to boots tonight! Going to change the filter aswell as its to noisy. Have a Hagen mini elite and going to change to a stingray 5 so its probably good the filter hasnt started the cycle. I use the stingray 10 in my other aquarium and its much quieter.

Waterdrop - thanks for the advice.
Curiosity 101 - Thank too. have you used the boots ammonia before? Is this definately aquarium safe? Did you have much luck using this - how long did your cycle take?

Thanks
Ben

 

[waterdrop]

UK - Boots - this has been established as plain and successful many times
Others:
Homebase - plain white bottle with dark blue accents I believe
possibly Robert Dyas or B&Q
one of the Jeyes KleenOff products is ok

WD

 

[Curiosity101]

I haven't used the boots one no. Since getting my first tank (which was fish in cycled), I've never had to cycle another tank. But if I did I'd do it with mature media and boots ammonia. Hundreds of people have used it and it's perfectly safe.

 

[everlastingspirit]

Bought the boots ammonia but i have done some more test readings and ammonia now @ 0.25ppm. wahoo! Nitrite/Nitrate still @ 0ppm but im started a least. May hold off with the ammonia and see how i get on with the natural cycle first.

Thanks for advice so far. If there is any other input or advise though i will gladly listen.

Thanks
Ben