Fish-less Cycling My New Tank

[Ravi007]

Hi all. Im doing a fish less cycle, not using pure ammonia but fish food in a stocking which has been put into the tank, and a bit of seeded gravel from my previous established tank. Reason im using fish food is because couldnt find ammonia anywhere!Our local boots didnt have it, and I really wanted to get the cycle running this week.

As well as this, Im using a bit of Seachem Stability as directed. Its supposed to be one of those biofilter speed-ups *everyone sighs lol* and it states like most others you can add fish within the week you start using it, not that im going to do this!Anyone had any experience with this one?

With the filter im using, ive taken some of the new filter media, and placed it in the tank of my established tank, hoping to get it to build up with bacteria and get a jump start with it. My first question is when is it a good idea to move the filter media bak into my new tanks filter?Its been in there for about 5 days now. Secondly, ive tested the water parameters, and ive got an ammonia reading of 3-4ppm so far, but still no nitrites. The food has been in there since tuesday, and started to get a bit of ammonia reading on wednesday, and it reached this reading on thursday. Is that normal that theres no nitrite reading yet?? Also, i hope the seachem stuff isnt slowing the cycle down, which is why ive mentioned it.

With the fishless cycle topics I was reading, most people get the ammonia up to about 5ppm, but you dont need to get to this level to start getting the bacteria starting to grow right, ie it will start growing for an ammonia level less than this? I also dont plan to stock my tank to full straight away, so dont want to get too much bacteria in there then having it all die off when I only put a few fish in.

(tanks about 120litre/30gallons, temperature is at 31 degrees/88 fahrenheit, and air circulation is going like crazy)

thanks guys!

 

[orange shark]

its so much easier to use pure ammonia, try homebase or try to buy it of the internet!

 

[scorphonic]

Your method is grand but if I were you I'd keep your cycling natural and not use that seachem product...there's no need for it!

I wouldn't expect you to see nitrites just yet and I would leave your filter media in your other tank for another week to get them properly seeded. 3-4ppm of ammonia is fine.

Sounds good to me!

 

[Ravi007]

its so much easier to use pure ammonia, try homebase or try to buy it of the internet!

I would go to homebase but I dont drive and my parents arent really willing to help as they see this as a hobby being a big chore, but im proving everyone wrong!

Your method is grand but if I were you I'd keep your cycling natural and not use that seachem product...there's no need for it!

I wouldn't expect you to see nitrites just yet and I would leave your filter media in your other tank for another week to get them properly seeded. 3-4ppm of ammonia is fine.

Should I just stop using the seachem product then?If i stop using it, it wont have any adverse effects would it?and no need for any partial water change because of it?
When I say ive put the filter media in the other tank, ive done literally that..theres not any space in the actual internal filter compartment of my other tank for it (its a tetra aquaart tank with the easycrystal filter that comes with it!), as this filter media is quite large and for an external filter, so its just like next to the filter, there is abit of water movement there tho! Is that ok??

As long as im not supposed to see nitrites yet. I just read some post about people getting nitrite readings after day 2 and scared me a bit!

Edit: Sorry i typed the ammonia reading wrong in my first post, its 2-3 ppm, not 3-4!

 

[backtotropical]

You will only see nitrite reading once you have colonised some nitrosomonas bacteria which converts the ammonia. It took about 1 - 1.5 weeks to see any nitrite in my cycle. Then about a further 2.5 weeks until fully cycled. Nitrobacter (the bacteria which converts nitrite into nitrate) is slower to colonise your filter than nitrosomonas (the bacteria which converts the ammonia into nitrite).

 

[rdd1952]

Generally, it will take about 3 to 7 days after you introduce ammonia to see any nitrite so you have still got a bit yet. I don't think the Stability will really help or hurt so you can continue to use it if you want. Most of the bacteria in a bottle products don't actually have the proper bacteria in them to start the process (if there is live bacteria at all in them).

The bacteria will start to develop as long as there is ammonia in the tank, whether it be 1 ppm or 5 ppm. Obviously, the less ammonia present, the less bacteria present. Once the new media has been in the old filter for about 7 days, it should have bacteria present to move over. If the other filter has media in it, I would move some of the original media that has been in that filter and leave the new media in the old one. The media from the established filter will contain a lot more bacteria than what you have put in there to start picking up bacteria and moving some of it (up to half) won't harm your other tank as the bacteria will quickly multiply to replenish itself.

 

[Ravi007]

With the issue of having my new media in my previous tank. Ive already said that it isnt in the old filter, the new media is just hanging on the side next to the old filter, as there isnt much space in there..is this any good? If anyone has them easycrystal filters that come with the tetra tanks they would know what i mean!!
Now I could take the spongy black filter part out of my previous tank (thats the one I assume the bio bacteria lives on) and put this old black spongy bio pad into my new filter, but taking all that sponge out..wouldnt that harm my established aquarium? You cant really take just a 'part' of it out, its a all or nothing situation!Would the bacteria elsewhere in the tank be sufficient if all that foam is taken out?the tank isnt huge, its only 30 litres, but really dont wanna mess it up!

Theres a mechanical sponge in it as well,on one side it has this floss, and the other side its got a green wooly side, but theres not much point touching this as that wouldnt be of much use anyway would it? As not a lot of bacteria grows on it?Or am i mistaken?

Im pretty sure the black filter insert of that tetra easycrystal is the bio foam for the bacteria, as the new media ive put into the old tank looks exactly like it, but its just bigger.(its from a tetra ex 700 filter for the tank im now tryna cycle).

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Ravi007]

Just wonderin if it is ok then to remove all the bio sponge from my matured tank and put it in the new tanks filter?If i do this, is it ok to have it out of the water for a short period of time while changing it over? Or would it be better to take the old sponge out, and squeeze it onto the new filter's pads and put it back?

 

[backtotropical]

Dont remove all the sponge if there is still going to be fish in your matured tank. It would then be operating effectively without a filter, and your livestock would inevitably suffer. If there is no fish staying in the old tank, by all means remove all sponge to the new filter, it will help the cycle. I wouldn't recommend leaving it out for any time though. I would get a jug or something, fill it with tank water and keep the sponge in that whilst doing the changeover. At least that way, you'll lose minimum bacteria.

Hope this helps.

 

[rdd1952]

Hanging the media in the other tank won't really do any good unless it is directy in the water flow. The only way any significant amount of bacteria will develop is if it is in the water flow so that it has ammonia passing over it.

 

[Ravi007]

I really want to put that media in the way of the water flow, but ther is just no space in that silly compartment!im gna try again tho, maybe squeeze the media really compact and bung it in.
I just checked the nitrite levels and there is still nothing so far ammonia's actually gone up to 3-4ppm, probably because of the decaying food. I also noticed something in the pipes going to the external filter..it looks like small round dots of bacteria or fungus..this is probably due to the fish food again. Is this going to harm the cycle to get going?? Im just tryna find out the cause of this slowness because my other tank cycled way quicker, with nitrates appearing after just 4 days, but then again this is a much bigger tank!!
Oh and the pH has also risen, its now around 7.6 on the checker card (thats all the card goes up to so maybe a bit higher),the ammonia does raise the pH tho dont it?

 

[Lorna]

Does using seeded gravel and filter materials actually work in speeding up cycling? Wouldn't the change of H20 in the new tank kill or stunt the bacteria? I thought for the bacteria to thrive and live it would have become accustomed to the H20 that it is in. Does anyone actually have any proof for this method working?

 

[Ravi007]

In theory it should work,Ive put the seeded gravel from my previous tank into my new one, cant say ive noticed anything. Still waitingfor my new filter media to get seeded tho, and then try moving that into the tank im tryna cycle. As long as the new water doesnt have chlorine in or any other substances which could kill the bacteria on the seeded materials it should work.

 

[pandacichlid]

Hi all. Im doing a fish less cycle, not using pure ammonia but fish food in a stocking which has been put into the tank, and a bit of seeded gravel from my previous established tank. Reason im using fish food is because couldnt find ammonia anywhere!Our local boots didnt have it, and I really wanted to get the cycle running this week.

As well as this, Im using a bit of Seachem Stability as directed. Its supposed to be one of those biofilter speed-ups *everyone sighs lol* and it states like most others you can add fish within the week you start using it, not that im going to do this!Anyone had any experience with this one?

With the filter im using, ive taken some of the new filter media, and placed it in the tank of my established tank, hoping to get it to build up with bacteria and get a jump start with it. My first question is when is it a good idea to move the filter media bak into my new tanks filter?Its been in there for about 5 days now. Secondly, ive tested the water parameters, and ive got an ammonia reading of 3-4ppm so far, but still no nitrites. The food has been in there since tuesday, and started to get a bit of ammonia reading on wednesday, and it reached this reading on thursday. Is that normal that theres no nitrite reading yet?? Also, i hope the seachem stuff isnt slowing the cycle down, which is why ive mentioned it.

With the fishless cycle topics I was reading, most people get the ammonia up to about 5ppm, but you dont need to get to this level to start getting the bacteria starting to grow right, ie it will start growing for an ammonia level less than this? I also dont plan to stock my tank to full straight away, so dont want to get too much bacteria in there then having it all die off when I only put a few fish in.

(tanks about 120litre/30gallons, temperature is at 31 degrees/88 fahrenheit, and air circulation is going like crazy)

thanks guys!

I used STABILITY my friend and it maybe did speed up my filter by adding good bacteria I need, but I did add fish and they didn't survive for long than a few days, so I'd do it fishless like you're doing*thumbs up* I added a few bits of food sometimes but not too much cus my tank had already cycled fully at this stage, but it's a good idea to add food cus I've read in alot of books that it works.
As for the ammonia it will only turn to nitrites once the ammonia is down to a low level I believe, so firstly you've have ammonia then it'll turn to nitrites
The pure ammonia sounds good too, cus you don't want new fish going through poisioning.
I don't think adding all your new fish at once is good, if that's what ya going to do?
add gradually, let the bacteria have time to work at a good level instead of adding too many at once

 

[Ravi007]

Noo im not planning on adding fish any time soon anyway!I read ur topic on your setting up, and with the Stability. After you added this, did you see the ammonia go down at all soon after?If it didnt go down straight away, how long did it take?(how bigs the tank??)It does indeed say you can add fish if the dosages are kept for a week, but I would have advised against that unless you checked your levels.Its not doing much for my ammonia levels atm, there still high!

I really want to put that media in the way of the water flow, but ther is just no space in that silly compartment!im gna try again tho, maybe squeeze the media really compact and bung it in.
I just checked the nitrite levels and there is still nothing so far ammonia's actually gone up to 3-4ppm, probably because of the decaying food. I also noticed something in the pipes going to the external filter..it looks like small round dots of bacteria or fungus..this is probably due to the fish food again. Is this going to harm the cycle to get going?? Im just tryna find out the cause of this slowness because my other tank cycled way quicker, with nitrates appearing after just 4 days, but then again this is a much bigger tank!!
Oh and the pH has also risen, its now around 7.6 on the checker card (thats all the card goes up to so maybe a bit higher),the ammonia does raise the pH tho dont it?

Anyone know what kinda bacteria/fungus cud be growin in there?and if its normal?i just dont want anything to mess up the cycling process