Starting tank number 2

[Ted's Mom]

Well, after a month of fishless cycling, our first tank was ready for fish. My son picked out a goregous blue and red betta and named it Crab Catcher. He also picked out two guppies named Molly and Dolly. But he couldn't leave the store without one more fish, a black molly, which he named Chubby. When the fish finally went into the tank after floating around for a while in their bags, my four-year-old, Ted, declared that "I have a real fish tank now. This is the happiest day in my life!"

This morning, there was a smidge of ammonia, less than 0.5 ppm. Nitrites were at zero, and nitrates were under 5 ppm. And Molly, the male guppy was dead. So we have to get a replacement. We told Ted that Molly wasn't swimming around because "she" missed her family. He suggested we go to the LFS and buy her mother, too. O-kay.

I'm ready to start our next tank. I'll have more control over what goes in this one because it is for my younger son. He's two and wants to spend all his time in his brother's room looking the fish which upsets his brother. He's terrified his brother will kill his new fish.

Without upsetting the balance in the first tank, is there something I can use from it to get things going in the new tank and speed the process up a bit? We are talking about domestic harmony here. And also my desire for more fish. I admit it. I'm hooked.

 

[ryan]

You can speed up the cycling process by taking out some filter media from the filter in the current tank and using it in the new tank. This will help the bacteria colonies form faster, therefore speeding up the cycling process.

 

[dcraveiro]

If you really want to get thing going, go to your LFS and see if they have any stuff named "Bio Spira". Bio Spira is liquid live bacteria that is what you want in your tank to convert ammonia to nitrites and so on... With a bag of Bio Spira, you can put it in one day, and have your full load of fish in the next day.

Be sure you test your water very carefully and frequently to make sure everything's ok!

Good luck.

 

[Bol]

In addition to using "mature" filter media, a scoop or two of gravel from the established tank would help, too. It doesn't have to be just poured into the new tank, you could place it in a bowl, or a well-cleaned old nylon stocking, too.

If this new tank can wait a week or two (hah, with kids?! ), then you could also probably add some additional media to the established tank now, and let it build up some bacteria of its own. What type of filter does the established tank have?

 

[BIGMAC]

If you really want to get thing going, go to your LFS and see if they have any stuff named "Bio Spira". Bio Spira is liquid live bacteria that is what you want in your tank to convert ammonia to nitrites and so on... With a bag of Bio Spira, you can put it in one day, and have your full load of fish in the next day.

Be sure you test your water very carefully and frequently to make sure everything's ok!

Good luck.

This sounds like good stuff.I have never seen it can any one tell me is it available in the uk?

 

[Ted's Mom]

Just before leaving today with the dead guppy, I checked the tank and the molly was dead, too. so we took them both back to the store along with a sample of water. It turns out that my nitrates were much higher. I got replacements for "Molly" the guppy and Chubby the molly along with a khuli loach. My son was so excited about the loach. Well it died while the bag was floating. So this isn't my fault. The only alternative is Petco or a store about an hour away, neither of which have khuli loaches. I quess I am just going to have to explain to my son that fish die. This is the conversation I was hoping to avoid by doing fishless cycling. sigh.

 

[heresmike]

If you really want to get thing going, go to your LFS and see if they have any stuff named "Bio Spira". Bio Spira is liquid live bacteria that is what you want in your tank to convert ammonia to nitrites and so on... With a bag of Bio Spira, you can put it in one day, and have your full load of fish in the next day.

Be sure you test your water very carefully and frequently to make sure everything's ok!

Good luck.

This sounds like good stuff.I have never seen it can any one tell me is it available in the uk?

I have heard it's not available in the UK. And from my experience, it's not all it's cracked up to be. It maybe sped up the cycle a bit, but it didn't prevent it like the manufacturer claims it should. Took 2 weeks to cycle with the Bio-Spira and filter medium added from a cycled tank. Could be I got a bad batch?

 

[tstenback]

If your niTRATES are high and you cannot find the bio-spira then do water changes until the level is below 20. Also be careful not to go too far with tank 2 until your confident that tank 1 is fine as you may find that the same thing happens in tank 2. Sometimes fish just cant survive the transportation to the home because they have not had enough time at the lfs to recover from the long trip from the wholesaler to the lfs.
Unless the nitrates are way above the 20-40 level then i dont think this is your problem. I have had platties introduced (by error) to water with a nitrate reading over 80 with no affect on the fish all lived and have survived for over a year now.
I would suspect that the fish may not be well to start with or you have a bully. HTH