New Tank, Cycling Question

[chuckie]

Hi, Just joined this forum after finding that there are so many experienced and helpful people on here, so hope you don't mind another newbie firing questions at you.

My son has a 5 gallon tank with a few fish in and ive become addicted to his hobby so treated myself to
a fluval duo deep 600 (84L/18 UK gal)
The tank is all set up and i have started the fishless cycle. I have added 'cycle' which came with the tank etc
( i note that people say it is useless, but hey... its free lol) and added Aqua plus, I have spent this afternoon searching for pure ammonia but i live in the South West of England and places like homebase, b&q, boots etc dont stock it (have had some funny expressions from the shop assistants when i asked for some)

I obviously dont want to remove the filter sponges from my sons little tank as he has healthy fish in there but what i wanted to know is can i add some of his water from the water change to my tank to kick start the cycle?

I have also added about a tablespoon of flaked fish food into an old stocking end which is weighed down in the tank (as suggested when i cycled sons tank)

Any other suggestions are appreciated, but please dont suggest ammonia as i spent 4 hours today trying to hunt them down.

Many thanks in advance for any advise

 

[lizjamie]

You might not like this but I bought I bottle of "household ammonia" homebase own brand from Homebase near Leeds last night, white bottle, was in the ailse with all the mister muscle, air freshners etc.

 

[bogwood]

Ammonia seems to be easier to find in 'local' hardware stores imo rather than the big retailers... I bought 'Jeyes Kleen Off Pure Ammonia'...500ml for £1.88... I've cycled 3 tanks with it no probs... still 2/3rds of bottle left...

There will be little of the beneficial bacteria you need in your sons tank water... most is in the substrate itself or the filter media... you could put some of his tanks substrate in a stocking and leave it in your new tank... it will speed things up...

 

[chuckie]

Hi, thanks for your responses, Homebase was where i tried first but our branch doesnt stock it, i tried b&q, focus, wicks (tried them all in 2 different towns) my local hardware shop doesnt sell it either. Ill take some of the substrate out of my sons tank but cant take too much as he only has a small 5 gallon so there isnt much going spare but it may help.

Any other suggestions are welcome

Many thanks

 

[windy713]

a good product for faster cycling is bio-spira. i actually has live bacteria in it although it is kind of expensive it is well worth the money. also a better water conditioner is Prime a little more expensive also but it removes amonia as well as chlorine and chloramine. you get what you pay for.

 

[dwarfgourami]

a good product for faster cycling is bio-spira. i actually has live bacteria in it although it is kind of expensive it is well worth the money. also a better water conditioner is Prime a little more expensive also but it removes amonia as well as chlorine and chloramine. you get what you pay for.

I don't think biospira is available in the UK, is it?

 

[chuckie]

I don't think biospira is available in the UK, is it?
[/quote]


Have been searching but doesnt look like it, will put some of substance from sons tank and keep adding
the flaked fish food.

Thanks for reply,

Jane

 

[Marcos]

Not sure how you're going to able to carry out a fishless cycle without any ammonia? Can part of your filter media fit in your son's filter? That way you could build up a certain ammount of bacteria then replace it back in your filter together with one or two hardy fish and leave it a month for the filter to mature.

 

[kateyoup]

How about eBay - you can find most stuff on there

 

[Fat Boy]

Hi Chukie, The way I'd go is put a good handful of gravel in an old stocking, tie the end and place in your sons tank ( leave for at least a week or 2). When you put your 1st new fish ( only add a couple at a time ) in your NEW tank take the stocking from your sons tank and place in yours ( not before ).

The good bacteria from your sons tank will automatically start multiplying in your tank.

When you come to clean your filters always clean the media in OLD tank water not tap.

Buy yourself a water testing kit that test for Ammonia and NitrIte.

Hope this helps.

 

[chuckie]

Thanks for your responses.....

Marcos:..... Re the source of ammonia, i was advised that the combination of rotting fish food and the stocking of gravel from sons tank would work the same but the process would be slower. I didnt really want to go down the route of adding hardy fish as i'm a big softy and didnt want to subject them to an uncycled tank.

Kateyoup:..... Tried ebay but no success

Fatboy:.... Thanks for the advise, I have added some of old tanks gravel in stocking but not a great deal due to there not being a huge amount to spare as only a 5 gallon tank, but will do the reverse as you suggested.
I have a test kit which i have just done, i didnt bother with Nitrate at the moment but NitrIte is showing as .25ppm and ammonia at .50ppm. Im guessing that that means the cycle has started???

At present i have a stocking end with fish food flakes which is tied and floating to a bigger stocking end of old tank gravel. The fish food looks like its just a mass of gunk now, and the water is cloudy, should i add more fish flakes or leave a couple of days to see what the results show?

Thanks again for everyones advise
Jane

 

[KrayzieVanh]

Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't you need a source of ammonia anyways? If not won't the bacteria will die. How good does rotting fish food provide as a souce of ammonia?

 

[chuckie]

Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't you need a source of ammonia anyways? If not won't the bacteria will die. How good does rotting fish food provide as a souce of ammonia?

Decaying food releases ammonia so i have been adding a fairly large amount daily... is obviously working as ammonia is now present

Jane