Fastest way to cycle a new tank

[Fishy Fishy Man]

If anyone has done a quick cycle using old filter media i would love to hear how you did it. It would be great if i could speed up the process for my new tank. Do you have to be careful about the first fish you put in while doing this, or will it be fine to add a more delicate species?

Thx

FFM

 

[RYO]

I ran my filter in an established tank for a few weeks, then used half the filter media from old filter in new 1,everything worked fine.Just stock slowly in new tank.
good luck

 

[skimpy]

I used filter media on my baby tank and found it quite quick to cycle, HERE is my post that explained what I did.

I know that if you tank is a different size the timing will be different but it may give some help towards what you are trying to do.

Good Luck

 

[eratosthenes]

I worked with a "two-step" method. I just cycled a 45US gallon tank this way. First dechlorinated, got the temperature to 85F and added ammonia to 2ppm, added gravel and sponge squeezings from my established tank. Then I waited. It took almost a week and a half before I saw a drop in ammonia. Once I saw it drop to ~1ppm, I started testing for nitrite and only then did I start adding ammonia daily. Upon seeing levels of nitrite rise, I added more gravel from the established tank (ie two-step, the addition of more outside bacteria). I did this under the assumption that the nitrite-eating bacteria from the first seeding probably 'starved'. Tested every twelve hours for ammonia and nitrite. Added ammonia after every test to bring it back up to 2ppm. The nitrite levels peaked at >2ppm and dropped to negligable in five days.

The tank was ready this last Monday. I have to wait for the weekend to get stocked, so right now the tank is getting 4tsp. ammonia every 12 hours to feed the bacteria. This should be enough of a simulated biological load to keep the stress to a minimum. I also slowly dropped the tank temperature to 80F.

In addition, I found putting the seed material in the filter is best. The 10 day delay in my tank was probably from several problems. 1) I didn't use enough seed material. I suggest a large volume, say several handfuls rather than one. 2) The heater I had was 'sticky' and the temperature fluctuated +/-10F. 3) I put the seed material (gravel) in the tank, but not in the filter.

 

[Fishy Fishy Man]

Another question id like to ask is wether adding cycle has any real affect in maturing your tank. My lfs offered to give me some but it sounded like a gimic to me... anyone had any success with cycle?

FFM

 

[Def]

I have had great success with Cycle. When I did a fish cycle, it sped the entire process up and kept ammonia/nitrite at minimum, manageable levels. I personally recommend it. Others disagree with me though.

 

[SnowyzMom]

There's a great link by one of the experts here, permanently posted up top about fishless cycling of a tank and being able to do it in 10 days. Wowch. I can say that Cycle has helped me, though I don't rely on it on an ongoing basis.

 

[Def]

Well, FWIW I cycled a tank using seeded media (ie: fresh media in a mature filter next to mature media for a few days) and Cycle in about 7 days.

 

[yhbae]

Although not recomended, I washed really dirty media from 25g filter in the new 30g tank when it was setup. I introduced 10 cichlids (juvs) at the same time. Since the media was really dirty, the whole tank became really messy and it took few hours for the new Aqua Clear 300 to clear them up. I took a chance as I had another spare Aqua Clear 200 that was running in the 25g tank, so if I see ammonia spike, I would have simply moved the whole filter to this tank.

I've never observed any levels of ammonia or nitrite up to this point (6 months later). I observed low levels of nitrates starting on the 5th day...

 

[Tolak]

I keep a few hob & sponge filters running on established tanks in case something comes up. Hook up the established filter on a tank, add water & fish, and it's good to go.

Tolak