New Sort Of

[KENYA]

Hi all,i set up a tank i got from a mate yesterday.I have put in filter sponge from established tank i have.How long before it would be safe to transfer my pleco into it and put new fish in?water quality is at the mo nil ammonia and 0.25 nitrite?

 

[Behold]

Hi all,i set up a tank i got from a mate yesterday.I have put in filter sponge from established tank i have.How long before it would be safe to transfer my pleco into it and put new fish in?water quality is at the mo nil ammonia and 0.25 nitrite?

Althought im new at this i guess the text book answer is monitor the ammonia untill it drops down to 0 on both ammonia and nitrite for a few days in about 12 hours or so.

Question, are you keeping the old tank?? if not just move the filter across with your pleco. done!!!

 

[afishdude]

there needs to be an ammonia source to keep your bacteria colony established. so if your ammonia is at 0 you need to,
A) add ammonia (bottled)
or
B) add your plec and do a mini cycle.

 

[KENYA]

there needs to be an ammonia source to keep your bacteria colony established. so if your ammonia is at 0 you need to,
A) add ammonia (bottled)
or
B) add your plec and do a mini cycle.

MINI CYCLE?i remember doing a full 6 week cycle with my other tank.I have tonight put 7 tetras in the new tank,what is a mini cycle?

 

[CruX]

If you are moving the fish across, just move them across with the filter, remember that you cycle the filter not the tank. If not then you need to keep adding a source of ammonia until the cycle is complete. if the media is fairly mature then it shouldn't take too long.

 

[ShoC]

a question.
assuming one was to plan to add fish slowly. not a huge bulk in one got (thats what the 12hour 4-0 ppm is geared towards)

as I know fully cycling like that then adding 4 fish to say a 55gal would kill most of the bacteria developed as the waste produced will not be enought.

it is not possible to say get the cycle going and the bacterias developed but maybe not have the wait for 12hour 4-0 ppm

if you planned to add a small amount of fish and slowly introduce them?


just out of curiosity as I know many might say just do a fish in cycle.
But for arguments sake and fish health a mini cycle would that be good enough?

 

[CruX]

I would say just get the cycle processing a smaller amount of ammonia. It still might take a while though as the bacteria divides in order to multiply, so if 100 divide the yield is only another 100, but if 1 million divide then the yield is substantually greater in the same amount of time, it just might be that it takes the long time to get anywhere near the amount of bacteria required to process the waste of a few fish and bu then you are only a few days away from being able to process the waste of many fish.

 

[mark.w.jones]

If you have transfered the filter and given it an ammonia source quickly enough, fish waste in your case or from a bottle, then the new tank is fine to stock. What you are describing is a fish cycle where you add a small number of fish who are then adding extra waste to the tank. The extra waste raises the ammonia and consequently the nitrite level but the bacteria in the tank think "AAAAh, more wee and poop, we should reproduce and not let this new waste go to waste" Therefore more bacteria grow and feed on the new waste thus reducing the levels of ammonia and nitrite back to 0ppm again. Now during the time between adding the fish and having enough bacteria to live off of it you may experience a spike or raised level of Ammonia or nitrite which can damage your fish. When cycling with fish it is prudent to do daily water changes to prevent this and to dilute the nasties down to a safer level.

If you already have fish in there you will have to cycle with fish just, DONT DO IT AGAIN And add fish in small groups, do daily water changes, lease for 2weeks before adding next group and keep an eye on water stats.