Cycling Mbuna Tank

[Stoty]

Hi,

I want to do a fishless cycle.

I recently bought a 60 gallon tank with an emperor 400 filter (may buy additional filter as fish are added). I have it filled up with water, sand, and all of the rocks plus some seashells to bring up the ph. I also have the filter running, water is dechlorinated.

I also have a well established 20 gallon community tank with filter media, gravel, and decor i can use to seed the tank. I also have a well established 1.5 gallon fry tank with some slate i can use to seed. I also have some bottled bacteria (stresszyme) and the ammonia for the cycle.

It looks like i have everything i need to get going but have no idea what to do. Info from webpages vary and i cannot find any step by step guide for cycling for mbuna. Do I do this as I do a normal tank? I am asking because of the high ph involved for keeping mbuna.

If someone could give me some step by step instructions on how to do a fishless cycle (for mbuna with mature media) would be greatly appreciated.

I want to have the perfect conditions for my fishies, and i know i am among experts. Thanks!

 

[elisew]

Hi,

I want to do a fishless cycle.

I recently bought a 60 gallon tank with an emperor 400 filter (may buy additional filter as fish are added). I have it filled up with water, sand, and all of the rocks plus some seashells to bring up the ph. I also have the filter running, water is dechlorinated.

I also have a well established 20 gallon community tank with filter media, gravel, and decor i can use to seed the tank. I also have a well established 1.5 gallon fry tank with some slate i can use to seed. I also have some bottled bacteria (stresszyme) and the ammonia for the cycle.

It looks like i have everything i need to get going but have no idea what to do. Info from webpages vary and i cannot find any step by step guide for cycling for mbuna. Do I do this as I do a normal tank? I am asking because of the high ph involved for keeping mbuna.

If someone could give me some step by step instructions on how to do a fishless cycle (for mbuna with mature media) would be greatly appreciated.

I want to have the perfect conditions for my fishies, and i know i am among experts. Thanks!

You`ll definately need a bigger filter but for initially starting off, the principle of seeding from already matured media is the same for mbuna as it is for a tropical setup. Don`t use the stresszyme.

IF you already have an existing tank then why do you want to do a fishless cycle?
Use approx a third to half of the media (sponge) from your existing filter, transfer it into your new filter and use it for your new setup and you can add a few fish straight away, there`s no need to fishless cycle.
The most important thing is to have a liquid test kit that you use to test the water daily to keep an eye on the ammonia and niTRIte levels for the first couple of weeks to make sure there re no spikes in either the existing tank or the newly set up one. It`s not much good using the decor, gravel or slate from your other tanks to seed a new tank as the majority of the beneficial bacteria will be in the filter sponge.

Do you have a liquid test kit already, if so what are the levels for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

 

[Stoty]

Thank you. I have a test kit on the way i bought from amazon.com. Should have it by weds. PH is about a 7.4.

I could put the whole sponge in the filter. The one on my 20 gallon is about do for a change. I read that I should squeeze the sponge in the new tank before putting it in the filter. Should I do this?

So let me get this right: put the sponge in the filter and do the ammonia thing until the levels are right. Do I want to maintain a certain PH while doing this? How long do you think this would take?