How to do a fishless cycle

[bluehartmmt]

I am new and I don't know about all the water levels. What's good, what's bad, and why they are good or bad.

I don't understand what I need to do when I set up the tank I have.

Please bear with me! I had a 55 gal about *30* years ago and I don't remember paying any attention to the different levels everyone here is talking about. I know, that was a long time ago. I guess maybe I was just lucky that I didn't have any problems. I kept Mozambiques, Convicts, Blue Acuras (sp), and a couple of other Cichlids, but it's been so long ago I don't remember what they were.

Anyway, I need help in knowing what to do to set up this tank that I recently received from a friend. It has been sitting in his house for about two years, unused. It's a 50 gal corner tank. The tank appears to have a good seal on it. I'm thankful that he had it inside and not in the garage or a storage shed. It has a filter system that I'm not familiar with. It looks like it has an underground filter that covers the entire bottom of the tank, but it also has an outside filter. The tank obviously had an algae problem because the tubing that came with it is all green. I figure I will replace that tubing when I set up the tank. It's complete except for the gravel, plants, filter media and of course, fish!

After reading all this info, I'm really not quite sure what to do, and what it means to cycle it. I thought all I needed to do was set it up and run it for a couple of weeks before I added fish. Actually, I've never heard of adding ammonia to the tank. I thought ammonia was bad. Geez, I feel so silly. I guess it's a good thing I decided to do some reading before I just blindly went into this. I don't want to end up with dead fish and a bad tank.

I have visited a few of the local fish stores, other than the big chain stores. I thought they were scary. Not clean, sick fish in the tanks... visible ick. Now I don't even know where to go to buy fish since I've seen some people post about NOT buying from the big chain stores.

Sorry, I know I've posted several questions and concerns here, that should probably be in different areas, but I didn't know where to start!

I would greatly appreciate any help.

 

[Dark Wolf]

Rdd is pretty much the authority when it comes to fishless cycling, so if he stumbles across this topic, i'm sure he can help you a lot more than i can.

I'd suggest reading rdd's informative topic first: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

This should give you some idea of what you are supposed to be doing, and set you along your way, then you can ask some more specific questions.

 

[exsarg]

Well that was a lot of work for not much reason WayBack Machine always helps for this...

Cycling Without Fish

For many years, the common method of cycling a tank has been to set everything up, then add a few hardy or "disposable" (a tern that I personally find somewhat offensive) fish, then wait 4-6 weeks until the bacterial colonies which convert ammonia into nitrites into nitrates have become established. It is very common at this point for the stress caused by toxic ammonia and / or nitrites to kill some or in extreme cases all of your starter fish, no matter how hardy they're supposed to be. In addition, it's a well known fact that the damage caused by high ammonia levels to the gills of a fish is, to some extent at least, permanent. Once the tank has been fully cycled, you can start adding fish slowly, usually at a rate of a couple every week or two, until capacity is reached. This slow addition allows time for the relatively small bacteria culture on your filter to grow until it can handle the increased bioload. If done incorrectly, for example by adding too many fish at once after the cycle, an ammonia/nitrites spike can occur before the bacterial colony can adjust.

What is the effect of the fish added during cycling? Quite simply, through their digestive tracts and the food that we feed them, they are a source of ammonia, which the beneficial bacteria require to live and to multiply. While the above method is the traditional way of cycling a tank, it is neither the only nor the best way..

In order to properly cycle a tank, all that's required is the filter media, water movement (to supply oxygen to the bacterial colonies, an introduction of the right type of bacteria, and a source of ammonia. The best and most efficient source of ammonia is (surprisingly) pure ammonia. The household cleaning variety is perfect for this use, but make sure that it does not contain any additives or perfumes before using!

In order to cycle a tank using ammonia, start everything up and add some gravel from an established tank or a few potted plants (their roots contain all of the necessary bacteria, and the plants themselves do not seem to be harmed by this process). Then simply add 4-5 drops of ammonia per 10 gallons per day until you get a nitrite spike. Once you have nitrites, cut the ammonia back to 2-3 drops per 10 gallons per day until the nitrites disappear. When you get a 0 ppm nitrites reading, you have a fully cycled tank.

The advantages to this method are several. First and most importantly, in my reckoning, is that no fish are harmed during the cycling process. This means that you don't have to risk the fish you really want in the tank to a nasty death, or alternatively, find a new home for several fish that you were using to cycle the tank and no longer want. Secondly, no matter how cheap the fish, I can guarantee that 10 or 20 mL of ammonia is cheaper!

Thirdly, and this is of particular interest, the tank will cycle much faster by this method. I have used this method twice, the first time was on a 45 G tank with a fluidized bed filter, the second was on a 10 G tank with a lowly sponge filter. The time for complete cycling of these tanks was 12 days and 14 days respectively. Compare that with the standard method which averages 4-6 weeks.

Finally, once the tank has been cycled, the bacterial colony created by this method can handle a large bioload immediately. The amount of ammonia added to the tank during the cycle is significantly higher than what would be contributed by a small number of hardy fish, therefore, a much larger, healthier bacterial colony exists at the end of the cycle using ammonia than would if you used fish. After cycling my 45 G, I immediately added 6 bosemani rainbowfish, 3 clown loaches and a plecostamus. This is far above the recommended stocking levels at the same stage if I had cycled with fish. All of the fish are very healthy, and there was no ammonia or nitrites spike after the addition of the fish.

The benefits of this method are obvious, and as far as I can tell, there are no disadvantages. Overdosing isn't a problem since there are no fish in the tank. Stop needlessly stressing / killing your fish. The next time you have a tank that you need to cycle, try this out. I guarantee you'll be pleased with the results.

Written by Chris Cow [email protected]
Ph. D. Organic Chemistry

 

[exsarg]

I have 12 gal Eclipse which was changed over from FW, friend gave me fish, damsels(dead), snails(dead), giver former SW, no direction for me, now to the nitty gritty, I have a star fish, and a feather duster. I have maybe 8 pounds live rock, using ground up coral shell material. I knew absolutely nothing about cycling prior to this article. I have been changing out 25% water weekly. I would like to start the cycling process using plain ammonia, will this harm the star fish and feather duster ? I would also like to change out the ground up shells etc with sand, any recommendation on doing this again I don't want to harm my animals. The local FP has white sand and some with brownish color to it, both are CaribSea brand, I prefer the looks of the white, any opinion? I plan on starting another 24gal Aquapod in the event I can learn on this 12gal tank, hopefully I will learn from the small tank and have better results with the 24. I don't know whether there is any significance or not but my live rock originally had considerable red and purple coloration, now it is predominately green, good, bad, tell me please ? Pending reply to my basic, if I start the ammonia treatment immediately, will it harm my star and duster ? I'll be back, but I sure do thank any and all help suggestions !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm an 81 yr old widower after 57wonderful years and I'm extremely grateful for any help to keep me off the srteets!!!!!!!!!!
exsarg