Should We Move On?

[brian1]

I had never heard of silent cycling, untill Staxx said about it, still got lots to learn..........

 

[M4R13Y]

Could you use hardy fish and some bottled bacteria to cycle a new tank and keep up the water change

 

[brian1]

As far as I know it does make sense,similar to getting bacteria from your lfs, having said that, I have never done it..........

 

[Staxx]

you could just add fish to a dechlorinated tank full of water with a filter and it be fine.. if your prepared to put in the work to keep the levels as close to 0 as possible. which means the more fish you add the more work your going to have to do.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

This idea of adding a hardy fish is the problem I have. IF you are going to do a fish-in cycle properly and therefore NOT expose the fish to high levels of harmful waste then you can add whatever fish you want (apart from certain very sensitive fish). The point is to do it very slowly with only a few fish (some fish produce more waste than others, so you have to be aware of that as well) so you can manage the amount of waste and not leave them exposed to ammonia and nitrite.

No fish, no matter how "hardy" they are, should be exposed to ammonia or nitrite.

I would much rather have an empty tank for 6 weeks than have to do 80% water changes every day for the same 6 weeks AND risk causing discomfort and damage/illness to the fish involved.

 

[Dazzler666]

Not to hijack this thread but on a similar note ... Can you keep a 60litre tank cycled (with a foam air stone type filter & small internal) just by adding fish food?
Im wanting to keep one of my tanks cycled without fish in as a hosptal tank and hence, wondered if i add food everyday which obviously will decompose and produce ammonia is this enough to keep it cycled?
I have started 4 tanks using my previous media & touch wood has worked out great!!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Why don't you just keep the media from your internal in your main tank's filter and put it back in the internal when you need the hospital tank?

The problem with using food is it's a very inexact science (so you don't know what size bacteria colony you're feeding - it could be very small) and your tank will get very polluted in no time at all. I'd say if you don't want to keep the media in your main filter, use ammonia then there's no physical waste messing up your tank.

 

[Dazzler666]

I can put the small foam from the internal into my external however i have a large round foam style filter which is ran from an airline and it is this that poses me the problem as cant fit it into one if externals (as far as i know but in all honesty, havent tried!!) but im 'assuming' the plastic pipe the air line goes into may be attached. Will have to have a good look.
Just thought id post as it was along a similar topic.
Cheers AA, much appreciated!!

 

[fluttermoth]

I can put the small foam from the internal into my external however i have a large round foam style filter which is ran from an airline and it is this that poses me the problem as cant fit it into one if externals (as far as i know but in all honesty, havent tried!!) but im 'assuming' the plastic pipe the air line goes into may be attached. Will have to have a good look.
Just thought id post as it was along a similar topic.
Cheers AA, much appreciated!!

It's very unlikely that the air line or pipe will be attached to the sponge part; I've never seen one that was. You really ought to be able to get it into your external somewhere. I have one very large sponge filter that I use in fry/breeding tanks, and I had to cut it half, horizontally, to get it to fit in the trays of my external!

 

[Staxx]

if its attached just cut the sponge off and put it all in the external. every bit of media from your internal/foam thing or whatever it is