Cyling A Tank

[Daveuk]

Hello i have two main tanks at this time 6x2x2 Tropical tank and a 7x2x2 fishtank

My problem is that i have be given some tropical fish and i have no other way of keeping them so i have to setup the 6x2x2 tank and use hagan cyle and waste control for the 3 days has it said and then use every week i have a fx5 filter running witch is doing good. i am also thinking of buying 1 more fx5 and using that on the tank has well and just using that for filtering ammonia out

also i was given about 12 goldfish and i am puting 2Fish in contains 90litres each and changing thier water every day. until the 7x2x2 fishtank is cyle i am also running a fx5 filter on their has well, i was also thinking of getting one more has well fx5

Also when seting up the 7x2x2 coldwater tank i am using hangan cyle and waste control has well dosing full for 3 days then everyweek.

so for the goldfish shell i wait until the tank is cyle or leave them in tubs and change water every day?
Also shell i set up tubs for the tropical has well the fish are tin foil barbsx2 Blood parrot fishx1 Clown loach 1big 1 small angelfish
fishx2 2small placs

Any help
Thankyou

 

[H. Houdini]

Dave,

Welcome to TFF.

I'm by no means an expert, and I can't help at all with the filters, but get some dechlorinator and get those fish into the tanks ASAP. As I understand it, you'll have to do a fish in cycle. Whilst you're looking for dechlorinator, buy yourself a test kit to check on the chemicals in your tap water and to monitor the tank water your fish are in. (most people recommend the API master test kit, but don't buy sticks, in my experience they are useless) If the filters came with the tanks and they are well established you may not need to cycle. Were they kept wet, or did the media dry out?

The smaller the amount of water those fish are in, the more dangerous it is to their well-being.

Give us the details on the filters, then get out and buy yourself a test kit and come back to us again.

One more piece of advice, as a relative beginner myself, you cannot read enough or ask enough questions about the hobby!

Harry

 

[Daveuk]

Dave,

Welcome to TFF.

I'm by no means an expert, and I can't help at all with the filters, but get some dechlorinator and get those fish into the tanks ASAP. As I understand it, you'll have to do a fish in cycle. Whilst you're looking for dechlorinator, buy yourself a test kit to check on the chemicals in your tap water and to monitor the tank water your fish are in. (most people recommend the API master test kit, but don't buy sticks, in my experience they are useless) If the filters came with the tanks and they are well established you may not need to cycle. Were they kept wet, or did the media dry out?

The smaller the amount of water those fish are in, the more dangerous it is to their well-being.

Give us the details on the filters, then get out and buy yourself a test kit and come back to us again.

One more piece of advice, as a relative beginner myself, you cannot read enough or ask enough questions about the hobby!

Harry

Hi harry thanks for the info i have atest kit hangan test kit the levels are has follow 1.0 on ammonia nirata .0.1 my filters are fx5 fuval i did have some wet filter media witch i am using and also i had wet gravel witch i using also on the 7x2x2 tank

 

[m00se]

If possible, get the fish to a LFS for store credit or rehome them to a suitable tank. If you absolutely, 100% cannot get rid of the fish, you're going to have to do a fish-in cycle. This is not ideal, but if you're stuck with them, you're stuck with them. Houdini has it right - get those tanks filled, dechlorinated, filters on and fish in. They'll be far happier, healthier, and less likely to die in a 6x2x2 or a 7x2x2, even if it is uncycled, than in 90L containers.

This thread on fish-in cycling will help, but you're gonna have your work cut out for the next few weeks if you want them to live.

In fact, read everything in the Beginner's Resource Centre. Good luck, and I wish you resolve with the million water changes in your near future :\

Hi harry thanks for the info i have atest kit hangan test kit the levels are has follow 1.0 on ammonia nirata .0.1 my filters are fx5 fuval i did have some wet filter media witch i am using and also i had wet gravel witch i using also on the 7x2x2 tank

Yikes 1.0 ammonia! What tank is that in? My advice is two big water changes on that now (80% each). What is your nitrIte (with an i, not nitrate with an a)

I must admit I'm a bit confused about what's in where at the moment. As I see it:

6x2x2, running an fx5, which currently houses your tropical fish (what fish and how many are these, exactly, in a list, please)
7x2x2, also running an fx5, which currently houses nothing
Goldfish in buckets

Correct?

 

[H. Houdini]

Hi harry thanks for the info i have atest kit hangan test kit the levels are has follow 1.0 on ammonia nirata .0.1 my filters are fx5 fuval i did have some wet filter media witch i am using and also i had wet gravel witch i using also on the 7x2x2 tank

Dave,

The ammonia reading should be less that 0.25ppm, also for nitrites. If it goes above these two levels, you need to water change. So I would recommend a that immediately. If the media was in use and kept wet, you may just experience a mini cycle. Keep a very keen eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels, I suggest testing twice a day until you see the right results. You need to aim for 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites. Also, test your tap water, it'll help you understand what you're putting into the tank. I still recommend getting the API master test kit. Everybody on TFF swears by them, although I don't have one as I can't source it here. Gotta be a liquid test kit though, and take care to test correctly. Small mistakes can give crazy readings.

If you're reading nitrate already and none is present in the tap water I'd think that's a positive. Gotta get that ammonia down though! Big water change right now, maybe 70%.

That big angel will need 18" of water, so PLEASE get them out of the foil and into the tank pronto.

Harry

 

[Daveuk]

If possible, get the fish to a LFS for store credit or rehome them to a suitable tank. If you absolutely, 100% cannot get rid of the fish, you're going to have to do a fish-in cycle. This is not ideal, but if you're stuck with them, you're stuck with them. Houdini has it right - get those tanks filled, dechlorinated, filters on and fish in. They'll be far happier, healthier, and less likely to die in a 6x2x2 or a 7x2x2, even if it is uncycled, than in 90L containers.

This thread on fish-in cycling will help, but you're gonna have your work cut out for the next few weeks if you want them to live.

In fact, read everything in the Beginner's Resource Centre. Good luck, and I wish you resolve with the million water changes in your near future :\

Hi harry thanks for the info i have atest kit hangan test kit the levels are has follow 1.0 on ammonia nirata .0.1 my filters are fx5 fuval i did have some wet filter media witch i am using and also i had wet gravel witch i using also on the 7x2x2 tank

Yikes 1.0 ammonia! What tank is that in? My advice is two big water changes on that now (80%+ each). What is your nitrIte (with an i, not nitrate with an a)

I must admit I'm a bit confused about what's in where at the moment. Are your two tanks filled and running? Where are the fish? Where's the filter? Do you only have one filtered tank, or are they both filtered with one fx5?

6x2x2 is fill with the tropical fish i i be testing at this time for the pass few days Nitrit is amd keeping at beteen 0.1 and 0.3 ammonia 0.50
the 6x2x2 tank is running on a fuval fx5 and when i set the tank up i use hangan cyle and did the dosing has it said also i use the waste control.

7x2x2 tank will be runiing tomorrow with fx5 filter and hangan cyle and waste control. Godlfish

 

[H. Houdini]

Dave,

Some great advice there from m00se. He's right, try to get the fish re-homed, it'll be better for everybody. It'll also give you plenty of time to research and plan what YOU want to do. If you fish-in-cycle, I think I'm correct in saying that it'll shorten the lives of the fish. The loach is very sensitive?!?!?

 

[m00se]

OK I think I'm up to speed. With an ammonia of 0.5 in your main tropical tank, I'd do at least a 50% water change straight away, then retest.
As for the 7x2x2, get it up and running asap, and get the goldfish in the tank.

It would be helpful for us if you could clearly post:

Ammonia
NitrIte
NitrAte

for each tank separately, and for your tap water, so we know what's what.

 

[Daveuk]

Dave,

Some great advice there from m00se. He's right, try to get the fish re-homed, it'll be better for everybody. It'll also give you plenty of time to research and plan what YOU want to do. If you fish-in-cycle, I think I'm correct in saying that it'll shorten the lives of the fish. The loach is very sensitive?!?!?

Hi thanks would i have to do the water change every 2 days for 1 month on each tank while cyling the tanks

also does hangan cyle work i read a lot of on and of stuff about the product.
Thanks
David

 

[H. Houdini]

Moose, is that hagen cycle any use??? I'm sure people are generally told to throw those kind of things, right? (the bacteria is dead, correct?)

Edit* Beat me to it Dave. I'd suggest throwing it. AS for the water changes, test twice a day after you have the levels below 0.25ppm ammonia/ 0.25 nitrite today. If either of those read higher than I said, you MUST water change immediately.

Every 2 days??? Could be many times a day until you know how messy your fish are!

 

[m00se]

The Cycle probably does nothing, but it won't be doing any harm, so go ahead and keep adding it for now, you might as well (just don't buy any more!). I can't say how often you're going to need to do your water changes until we get test results. You wanna be testing ammonia, nitrites and nitrates twice daily for several days, and basing your water changes on those results. Until we get clear results we can't be more specific about how much changing needs doing. Definitely do that big change now in the 6 footer though.

 

[m00se]

Moose, is that hagen cycle any use??? I'm sure people are generally told to throw those kind of things, right? (the bacteria is dead, correct?)

Edit* Beat me to it Dave. I'd suggest throwing it. AS for the water changes, test twice a day after you have the levels below 0.25ppm ammonia/ 0.25 nitrite today. If either of those reader higher than I said, you MUST water change immediately.

Every 2 days??? Could be many times a day until you know how messy your fish are!

It could be many times a day, indeed. Check some other fish-in cycle threads to see how much of pain your life will become in the next few weeks (sure you can't rehome those fish? lol)

As for your question Harry, I don't think it's really been properly, scientifically tested (i.e. by trying to grow bottle contents in a lab under controlled conditions - if it has, someone will likely correct me ). I'm sure Hagen and the other manufacturers put bacterial cultures into the bottles when they ship them. The thing is, without a food source, the bacteria in the bottle are going to die off. If they're not kept chilled (which they won't be, those things sit on shop shelves for months), that doesn't help. Since neither Nitrosomonas (A-bacs; ammonia --> nitrite) nor Nitrospira (N-bacs; nitrite --> nitrate) are spore-formers, you can't even imagine that they'd spore up (spore-formers can survive for ages without food or any even vaguely acceptable living conditions), so that's not even feasible. So, in short, it's probably just a bottle of dead bacteria. Expensive, when you look at it that way However, having said all that, there are some anecdotal reports of people having good results. Although, if there's one thing we know from good science, it's that anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all...

 

[Daveuk]

So 4 weeks of hard work lol how many times a day shell i change the water.

also by chaneing the water i am not going to harm or remove the good bacteria? or course i will use a product to treat the water

Ok i will now post the result for 4 weeks everyday on this forum

And please feel for me has i am going to need sleep working full time and 2 night a week i will have no life lol
Anyone buy me a beer ather this lol

 

[H. Houdini]

So 4 weeks of hard work lol how many times a day shell i change the water.

also by chaneing the water i am not going to harm or remove the good bacteria? or course i will use a product to treat the water

Ok i will now post the result for 4 weeks everyday on this forum

And please feel for me has i am going to need sleep working full time and 2 night a week i will have no life lol
Anyone buy me a beer ather this lol

Just keep looking at those test results Dave, they'll tell you when you need to water change, or not.

As for the water changes, yeah, good luck. If it means anything to you, we've all made mistakes at one time or another! Beer is a different subject, though I think you owe m00se a couple!

 

[m00se]

Good for you

Hang in there man, you'll get there eventually. When we see the regular water test results we'll be able to advise you how often to change the water.

What I'd suggest is:

Test water, post results, change the water as advised, retest an hour later to make sure it's worked ok, test again 12 hours later or so.

As for the water changes affecting the bacteria - no. There is a very (*very*) small number of bacteria in your water, but no more than you'd find in your tap water anyway. Almost all your bacterial colony lives in your filter media (the foam inserts and filter floss etc.), and a small amount in the gravel. There is a thin biofilm that covers everything in your tank (which is why everything feels a little bit slimy) but that's only a very small proportion of the total bacterial colony as well. Almost all of it is in your filter.