Speedy Cycling

[nicola]

I have a 180l tank that is cycling. For the last 2 weeks I have been adding bacteria but still have sky high nitrite (ammonia etc are fine). My LFS advised to not add anymore bacteria (cycle - Hagen), and to just let it run its course. However, patience is something I am running out of!! :wink:
I was thinking about putting some neons or something to help the colony grow but as it is a tank for my malawi's to go into (leaving my 17 gallon for apistos) I think its a bit barbaric as they will get eaten once the tank is cycled!
Another option is to put one of the malawi's in the tank but I really don't want to run the risk of loosing it - would this happen if I just put one in do you think? The other problem with this of course is that I wanted to add teh malawi's in at the same time to decrease established territories and aggression.
Of course, my other option is to wait, and wait, and wait... but its been two and a half weeks!! I promised myself I wouldn't test the water for nitrite until the weekend to aviod disappointment - this, of course is not happening
Any suggestions :?:
Thanks, Nicola.

 

[Peter Lovett]

What are you cycling it with at the moment?

I assume you have added some kind of ammonia to the tank( Fishless cycle)

There is no real way speeding up any kind of cycle fish or otherwise. It just has to take its cause.

Though there are ways to make the cycle less extreme as you have an existing tank, when doing a fish cycle.

After the tank has stood for a couple of days take some decor out of your existing tank and place that in the new tank. The whole tank acts as a bio filter so ever thing in it, other than the fish has bacteria on it.

Also I run may tanks with double sponge foam filters. So when setting up another tank new tank I take out one of the old sponges and use it in the new one and then do a 20% water change each week for about four weeks.

Using the above method I can have the tanks half stocked from the start.

Hope this helps.

Also if you plan to do any of the above I would get the nitrite level down to a save level before adding any fish by doing water changes.

Just some of my most resent fish that have been in a new 36â€Âx12â€Âx12†for about four weeks.

There are

4 wild A. panduro and 1 tank bread
5 wild A. atahaulpa
4 wild Ancistrus sp.â€Âstar lightâ€Â.

 

[aspen]

hi nicola. 'cycling' means letting the bacteria levels grow to a sufficient level, to have enough to 'eat' all of the ammonia into nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate to support the fishload. obviously, you do not have enough bacteria to change your nitrite into nitrate yet, for the ammonia dose that you added.

what ammonia source did you use, and how much?

bacteria multiply best, ime, at warmer temps, like 84 deg. do not touch your filter when cycling and always let your tank fully cycle before adding fish.

i use fishless cycling, and i like how it works.

http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

but you must remember, that the length of cycle is dependant on how many bacteria that you started with, (ie, a sponge or other media like gravel from a cycled tank) and how much ammonia that you added to start with. this amount also means how many fish the tank will support when the nitrite has been reduced to 0. for example, i cycled some filters, and they would turn 5 mls into nitrite, then nitrate in a day. i used these filters for 33 baby discus, at 1- 1/2" or so, and still had a mini cycle to deal with. the next time i tried it, i got those same filters ready to accept 15 mls of ammonia per day, then with 60 baby discus, from pea sized to fingernail sized, i used only 2 of the three filters i had cycled with no problems.

once you have the nitrite level to 0, i would suggest that you dose the ammonia once more, to check your ammonia eating bacteria have not died off while waiting for the other ones to grow.

imo, there is no reason to use fish to cycle a tank, (actually the filter), and using cycle does very little, if anything at all.

you can use a 'seed' from another tank, if you have one handy, or you can just wait. you are much better waiting, than adding fish. that would serve no purpose imo, except to watch the fish die sooner or later. patience is the key to fishkeeping, and of course careful planning.

have fun, rick

 

[farm41]

Aspens link on cycling is a good one, I used that method before I got into planted tanks. One word of caution though, this is not for a tank with fish in it already, and make shure you get clear ammonia and not some lemon scented kind.

Cycling can be very different when planting from the start, if planted heavily with lots of light, there may not even be any ammonia or nitrite.

HTH

 

[nicola]

I was using Cycle for 2 weeks which has "500 million good bacteria per dose"! I've stopped that now. Admittedly, I started off with all new rocks and gravel, so maybe that's where my problem lies. Tonight I was going to take some of the water out and fill up with water from my existing tank as well as putting in some bog wood and ornaments, hopefully that should do the trick. My tank is at 84 degrees to temperature wise I'm ok.

The link for fishless cycling was really useful - thanks. Although I've never seen ammonia in its pure form in any LFS, maybe that's because I wasn't looking for it - or LFS's don't supply it. Do you have any suggestions as to where I could get some, or should I just add stuff from established tanks and wait?

Thanks again, Nicola.

 

[aspen]

i buy amex brand pure ammonia from the grocery store. it is clear and colourless, and doesn't foam up when you shake it. (no foaming agents)

rick

 

[nicola]

Well, it too nearly a month but my nitrite went down and my fish are in
16 2-3" mbuna are swimming around very happily, with a syno multi, in their new home. Can't wait to get started on the older tank with some apisto's. I'm gonna let it for a while though as I've just bought a 6x2x2 foot fish tank which we're going to put sharks and catfish in.
This is addictive, I just can't seem to stop looking at and buy, and wondering when and where from the next tank is going to come from
Is this a common illness? I hope it's not just me who has been struck down :lol: :lol:
Nicola

 

[nicola]

Well, it too nearly a month but my nitrite went down and my fish are in
16 2-3" mbuna are swimming around very happily, with a syno multi, in their new home. Can't wait to get started on the older tank with some apisto's. I'm gonna let it for a while though as I've just bought a 6x2x2 foot fish tank which we're going to put sharks and catfish in.
This is addictive, I just can't seem to stop looking at or buying, and wondering when and where the next tank is going to come from
Is this a common illness? I hope it's not just me who has been struck down :lol: :lol:
Nicola