Help, Please. I'm Starting A New Tank

[rurtecho]

Hi guys,

I have had one cichlid (5-7 inches) in my 25 gallon tank for about 1.5-2 years, but I decided to give her on adoption. So, once she was gone, I took out all the water, and took out the gravel and rinsed it well. Then, I put the gravel back on and filled up my tank with tap water. I'm not sure if I have to cycle the tank at this point, or should I just put some aquasafe on it? And if not, when can I start adding a couple of small fish? Thank you very much,

Rony

 

[KittyKat]

Between the tank being drained and the tap water (unless the filter was always moist and you used dechlorinator), the bacteria might have been killed off.

I recommend that you at least simulate a fish-less cycle with household ammonia and see what the filter can already process. If the filter is processing a decent amount of ammonia into nitrate within 12 hours, you can probably already add new fish. Your other option would be to complete a fish-less cycle using 4-5 ppm of ammonia and then stock fully from the start. Please do not fish-in cycle.

Have you decided on your new stock?

 

[rurtecho]

Hi KittyKat,

I will try to do that. But, how about Tetra SafeStart? I have read quite a few reviews that say it really works. I was thinking of starting with two neon tetras and then get 4 or 5 more of those, to start. Thank you,

Rony

 

[KittyKat]

I will try to do that. But, how about Tetra SafeStart? I have read quite a few reviews that say it really works.

Personally, I have never seen it work for anyone.. the closest I have seen one of those products come to having any effect is to speed up the cycle by a few days, and in the worst cases mask signs of problems.

I was thinking of starting with two neon tetras and then get 4 or 5 more of those, to start.

Starting with only two neons is a bad idea because then they are more likely to die if there are any problems as being kept in small groups is very stressful to many species of schooling fish. If you want to keep neons, you should be thinking of keeping at least 15 in a tank that size, in the long term.

Again, I strongly advise that you at least check how alive the filter bacteria are with household ammonia.

Also, if you fishless cycle up to 3-4 ppm of ammonia being completely processed to nitrate in 12 hours (which would only take a week or two if any of the filter bacteria are still alive, you should be able to get all 15 neons on the same day and they will be all the happier for it.

 

[rurtecho]

Hi KittyCat,

Sorry to bother you one more time. But, how much household ammonia do I put in? and how often? Basically what's the process I have to follow. And second, I already had a bottle of safestart that I bought by mistake a long time ago. Do you recommend me to put that also? or just stick with the ammonia? Thank you so much for your help,

Rony

 

[KittyKat]

There is a lot of information about fishless cycling, which is available online, here is some from this forum: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Since you already have the SafeStart, may as well use it in the hope that it does something.

 

[waterdrop]

You're in good hands with KittyKat - you do indeed want to perform the fishless cycling process to "qualify" that the filter bacteria are again there in large enough numbers to support fish.

What you should be able to take away from our reference fishless cycling article (by RDD in the resource center) is that once you have found the correct type of household ammonia you will use the "calculator" found on the main forum web page to get an estimate of how much ammonia to dose for your volume of tank. Many of us use little syringes (from the drugstore/pharmacy) to make this a little easier. Sometimes it can be handy to start a little lower than what the calculator says and make sure your subsequent test with your liquid-reagent based ammonia test kit shows you are on track to reach 4ppm or so but that you are definately not up in the 8ppm range.

A working biofilter passes the qualification test when it can take that 4-5ppm ammonia and reduce it to zero ppm ammonia and zero ppm nitrite(NO2) within 12 hours of when it was dosed. Watching it repeat that feat daily for a week is our solid "qualification" that a full bioload of fish can be introduced with confidence. A filter that hasn't started to cycle at all yet will just sit there, showing you the 4-5ppm or taking days to go down very slowly. As KK says, if any bacteria at all have survived, you may be able to confirm within a week that the biofilter is back in shape.

~~waterdrop~~