fishless cycle

[uk28scots]

hi all i have started a fishless cycle and have a few things im unsure about so here goes.

1)the water has gone slightly cloudy, will this clear?
2)will all the bubbles in the tank dissapear?
3)do you have to put real plants in the tank or are the plastic one's ok?
4)do i do water changes whilst im cycling?
5)when you do a water change, do you have to heat the water up to the same as the tank before putting it in?
6)i have a Fluval 3+ water filter, it came with carbon and polyester filter pads, do i put these in during the cycle? what do they do? and which one should i have in cos you cant use both at the same time.

i know its alot of questions, but i want to do this right before i even start to put any little fella's in.

thanx.

 

[Dragonslair]

1)the water has gone slightly cloudy, will this clear?

Yes it will, this is commonly known as bacterial bloom. Once the bacteria has nothing to feed on it will die and the water will clear itself.

2)will all the bubbles in the tank dissapear

Yes it will. This happens when there is a saturation of oxygen in the water, normally when you're filling a new set-up or you've drained the water off to within an inch or two from the bottom and refilling it again

3)do you have to put real plants in the tank or are the plastic one's ok?

This is a personal choice question and I will give you a personal choice answer.
Personally I choose real plants. Reason: Real plants help the nitrogen cycle in the water, they are natural and are more algae resistant to plastic plants. however on the down side, they do need looking after and there is not the same choice as plastic plants and if you have greenary eating fish and you don't supply enough greens they will start to chomp on the plants. So the choice is yours.

do i do water changes whilst im cycling?

In my opinion, when you are going through a fishless cycle there is no need to change the water. After all you are trying to introduce beneficial bacteria to the system, not take it out. Keep the filter running throughout.

5)when you do a water change, do you have to heat the water up to the same as the tank before putting it in?

It is preferable to within one or two degrees. If you don't your fish may suffer a shock and that could bring on disease, the most common is white spot. Also put in a good dechlorinator. This will help remove any heavy metals and chlorine from the water.

6)i have a Fluval 3+ water filter, it came with carbon and polyester filter pads, do i put these in during the cycle? what do they do? and which one should i have in cos you cant use both at the same time.

If you have no fish in the tank at the moment I would suggest you use the poly filter pad and maybe buy some fine good quality filter wool to "polish" the water as it returns from the filter. keep the carbon pad to remove any meds you put into the water later. Carbon is only short lived and should be discarded once it has been used.
I hope this has helped.
One last word of caution. when you begin to introduce fish, only introduce in the first instance 3 small fish. Leave then in for about one or two weeks before introducing another two or three. If you try to introduce more you will overload the filtration and the balance in the system. This will result in giving you mega problems later on.
Good luck

 

[uk28scots]

thanx your a star

 

[Dragonslair]

You are very welcome.

 

[Def]

One other word. I agree with Dragon's comment about not doing water changes, but when your cycle has finished and you're ready to add fish, you'll need to do a 99% water change. Nitrates build up like crazy in a fishless cycle, so you must get rid of them before adding fish.

 

[canarsie11]

IMO you wont need 99% water change. 25 to 30 percent will do.

Also, IMO one of the benefits of fishless cycle is that you can add a good amount of stock to your tank. If you are gonna add 3 small fish and wait couple of weeks you might as well cycle with fish.

By doing that you may have bacteria die off, because thier will not be enough waste to maintain your colonies.

Example. When finished my fishless cycle on 75, I added.

10 tiger Barbs
5 Zebra Danios

No ammonia spike at all