Need Help About Two Questions

[dingweding]

first, everytime i change water, i use a pipe to suck the water out. In order to do that, i always have to suck the end of pipe with my mouth, and often end up with tank water in my mouth. It is not nice, so how your guys solve this problem?


second, i need to buy something to speed up the cycle for my tank, basically they are the actually bacteria for cycling tank, what does it called? i was told you can find not only liquid one, but powder one. is the latter one can keep longer? i mean once you open it, how to keep them still alive in those bottle for next use. Do you have any kind to recommend?


Many thanks for your help

 

[celaeno]

i use a gravel vac to do water changes.

with your left thumb over the end of the vac, horizontally lower the other end into the tank water so it slowly fills up.

then holding the vac with your right hand, let go of your left thumb so the water starts gushing out of that end and into the bucket.

once it starts gushing out, immediately block that end with your left thumb again and horizontally lower the vac until it fills up with water.

let go of the vac, remove your left thumb, and the water will start gushing out again until you lift the vac out of the water.

for the bacteria, look for a product that's refrigerated. i'm not sure what's used in the uk, but in the usa, marineland bio-spira is generally acknowledged to be the most reliable bacteria product.

 

[Scotty001]

for the bacteria, look for a product that's refrigerated. i'm not sure what's used in the uk, but in the usa, marineland bio-spira is generally acknowledged to be the most reliable bacteria product.

There are hundreds of products out there to help "speed up" the cycling process and 99.9% are all nonsence. bacteria need Food & Airflow to live, if you took your filter out of the tank and let it go dry then you will have lost almost if not all of your bacteria, that takes say 4hrs, now the "bacteria in a bottle" its been sat on a shelf for Months, has had no food and in airtight bottle, thres enothing beneficial in there. as celaeno said if you do go for something most people would advise a refrigerated version rather than a sat in a bottle on a shelf for 6 months version, i myself used tetra aqua start when i got into fish keeping and IMO it did nothing, but it was free so thought id give it a shot. its best to read the cycling section

HERE

I personaly wont wast my money on that stuff its all out there to make the companies money, they same as they say to replace the filter media every 6 months !!!! its all about gettig your money into their hands. ive had the same media for almost a year and its fine, a little wash out from time to time in tank water when im doing a wter change and all is good, just saved myself £50 (for a few tanks)

cycling a tank is all about mother nature and chemestry, for some i takes weeks, for others it takes a month, for me ive cycled 6 tanks in totall and has ranged between weeks and a month and a half.

 

[paw-paw]

hm...I once forgot the pipe that connects with airstone in the tank after I turned the electricity and it took me awhile to notice but my tank was slowly emptying and there was water all over the floor

But seriously, when I change water I do it with vacum too

 

[Scotty001]

i use a clear tube to syphon the water and can see when the water is geting close to my mouth, i now have it down to a fine at and havent had a mouth full of fish water for almost a year,

I use sand as a substrait and have a little vac the sucks up the waste that rests on the sand, it doesnt involve taking any water out of the tank.

 

[Shrimper]

Mine isn't the most high tech method... I suck the water up the pipe. As the pipe is clear i can see when it is getting near and stick my thumb over the end before it gets to me. You then move the tube over the bucket, remove your thumb and it starts to flow. One method I have seen suggested but have never tried is you fill the vac and pipe with tap water then cover the end of the pipe with your thumb, you then put the vac end into the tank and uncover the pipe end. The water should start flowing then. You need to keep the vac higher than the pipe as you carry it to the tank or it will spill out.

As for speeding up the cycle, have you got a cycled tank you could add some media from? This is by far the quickest way. If you already have a cycled tank you don't really need to go through a fishless cycle so long as you add enough cycled media and fish to the tank at the same time.

 

[Bristlenose]

I bought one with a built in hand pump. you just press it and it starts pumping the water. It was from Pets at home and is for the bio orb but i use it for my regular tank, its far better than the electric one i use to have!

 

[Egmel]

You can start a siphon without sucking on the end.

Assuming you're just using a flexible tube

• Lower the whole tube into the tank slowly so that no bubbles are in it.
• Clamp one end with one hand
• Hold other end in tank with other hand
• Take clamped end to bucket below tank
• Release clamp and the water should flow.

Basically the trick is not to get any air bubbles in the tube as air is a gas and therefore much more expandable than a liquid such as water.

 

[dingweding]

for first question, i used to have a gravel cleaner, but never figure it out how to use it porperly, so i throw it away. Now i just want to suck the water out, something with kinda hand pump will be great, do not know where i can find it, i will try fish shop.


for second question, actually what happen is, i have a 40L tank with some crystal red shrimps with a small internal filter, they live there a few months now, very happily, because i ordered some high grade shrimp and will arrive soon. Thus i bought a new super big external filter. In the first week, i switch on both filters, although two filters stir the water quite a lot, the shrimps are ok. The second week, i thought the bacteria should grown in the new filter, thus i get rid of the small internal one, let the big one running. However, i noticed, all my CRS died because i do not have any test kit now, i guess, the new filter did not mature enough. i waited a few days, put some cherry shrimps in the tank , they all died following day. i already tried 3 times. so i think i need to speed up the cycle because my new shrimp arrive soon, they are very expensive, i do not want them to die.

 

[Shrimper]

Where are you located? You may be able to get some filter media from somebody on This thread.