Hooray! Fully cycled!!!

[fatbobsufc]

Checked my water last night,

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0



Haven't checked the Nitrate but will check that tonight. OK so now my tank is fully cycled, does that mean I can just put what I like in there? Or should I introduce stuff more slowly?

I was thinking of putting in 8-10 Neons and 4 Bronze Corys.

Any advice?

 

[Eelzor]

Gratz fbs! I still have to wait about 2 weeks until mine is finished. But firstly you have to check the nitrate. Once done, add fish slowly so there is no bio-load or something like that. 2 fish max per week I think the rule is.

 

[Lithril]

If you're tanks cycled properly you shouldn't have to worry about adding the fish slowly, if you then most of the bacteria that you've cultivated will die back to the levels of the fish in the tank and then when you add more you'll have a mini-cycle on your hands.

Check your nitrates but normally after cycling a tank you'll need to do about a 70% water change to get them down.

 

[fatbobsufc]

Ok so I'm getting mixed replies - should I add a little or a lot? Would the fish I mention above overload it?

Plus, with a 70% water change - should i take the bilogical sponges out and leave them in a bucket of tank water? Otherwise they will be exposed from the water whilst I am draining it off?

 

[Lithril]

Putting them in water is the safest option although as long as they don't dry out they should be fine, one thing though make sure you use fully dechlorinated water on the water change, may be pointing out the obvious but it has been done and will put your tank back to an uncycled stage otherwise - use a good dechlorinator that will remove chlorine and chloramine.

The idea of fishless cycling is to put in the ammonia that the fish you're going to put into the tank will produce, the bacteria in the tank will multiply until at a a level to convert this amount into Nitrates (at end of cycle). If you put only a few fish into the tank the bacteria will die off as there won't be enough ammonia to keep it alive (you'll get left with enough to sustain the fish in the tank), then when you add more fish to the tank the bacteria will have to multiply again to the new levels .... hence you get another mini cycle!

HTH

 

[Moe]

That is one of the good things about going fishless you can stock your tank when you are done. The two fish a week is the stocking suggestion for adding fish to a non cycled tank adding 2 a week allows the bacteria to build up slowly.

 

[fatbobsufc]

I cycled WITH fish (four little platies). Does this make a difference?

 

[Lithril]

Ah Ok that makes a BIG difference, when you say your tank is cycled, its is but its only cycled to cope with the 4 platys you've got in there, it'll go through another mini-cycle evertime you add more fish to the tank, you can probably add more fish but you'll still have to keep an eye on the fish and continue doing water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites etc down.

 

[fatbobsufc]

can probably add more fish

Would 8 or so Neons and 4 bronze corys be too much to add tonight?

 

[fatbobsufc]

Well I got some conflicting suggestions about what I should add to my newly cycled tank (see my updated signature). In the end, I decided that (since I cycled with fish) a mini cycle was inevitable whenever I added new stock as fish numbers going up would mean a slight spike in levels while the bacteria catch up. So I added ten tiny little Neons and three Bronze Corys. Also I decided against the 70% water change I was advised to carry out as my NitrAte level was only just slightly above zero (other levels at zero).

 

[joshua]

honestly if you just do not overfeed it should be fine. by the way the tank that size would look pretty bare with just those fish.

 

[fatbobsufc]

You're right! It does look pretty bare! I shall be adding more stock after the mini cycle has happened. not sure what yet. may add ten or twenty more Neons (they're so small that the bio-load is negligable) but not sure what else.