do i need to fishless/fish cycle a Q-tank

[mikedeb]

I am thinking of setting up a q-tank for some new fish and keeping them there for apprx. 2-3 weeks before adding them to my main tank. My question is do a need to cycle the q-tank - or do a just do major water changes almost daily while the new fish are in it. Any throughts would be great.

[Slappy*McFish]

I would take some dirty filter media(about a cup's worth) from your main tank and instantly cycle the q-tank. Don't even bother rinsing it off, just put the dirty media right into the tank, stir it up and allow it to clear over night. You should be able to add fish immediately afterwards.

[mikedeb]

when you say a cup's worth of dirty filter media, do you mean a cup's worth of water from my main tank, or part of the sponge in my aquaclear 200? Also, what is a good size for a q-tank?

[Slappy*McFish]

The actual filter media, the water will do nothing..all the bacteria are in the filter, on the gravel. I would grab a clump of the darkest, dirtiest filter media(hopefully the sponge will be dirty), then take it over to the q-tank and squeeze out all the dirt from the sponge into the water as if you were cleaning it in a bucket. This will dirty your water temporarly, but will clear up over night and you will have successfully seeded the q-tank with nitrifying bacteria.

A good size q-tank would be 10-20g for most community fish. Big cichlids and larger fish would need about a 40g breeder tank.

[valerie]

I have never cycled my q tank before adding the fish. I just take out some of the filter media(filter floss that you throw out anyway each week works good, so does AC sponges) or gravel from another tnak and add it to the Q tanks filter. For the gravel i put it into a pantyhose stocking first, then place it in teh filter or near the intake tube.

I also do more frequent water changes on my Q tanks so it works out well.

[JSchmidt]

I take some filter media -- a sponge, some ceramic noodles, floss -- from an existing tank and vigorously rinse/squeeze them in the new tank. Does a good job of transporting bacteria. I always challenge the new tank with a dosing of ammonia, usually 4-5 ppm, just to see if it can handle fish.

Jim

[Leopardess]

Yah, I'd cycle it first ( by this, i mean either truly cycling it with ammonia, or borrowing filter media from another tank - both of which accomplish, more or less, the same thing)...the last thing new/stressed/possibly diseased fish would want is stress from cycling.

Also, if you do need to medicate, many medications need to be left in the water for days at a time before a water change...so, constantly doing water changes would go through a lot of meds!

Its helpful to either keep enough extra filter media in an existing tank..or to run a small extra filter in that tank. That way, if you need the tank to act as a hospital tank, you can just transfer the media/filter to the qtank. Or, after the qtank is empty, you can keep the cylce alive by feeding it with ammonia. That way, the tank is always ready if need be:)

[ash]

Okay I have a stupid question, I almost hesitate to type it, but the method of cycling a tank using dirty filter media, can that be accomplished using some componant of a biowheel filter? (sorry, I'm a quasi newbie to serious fishkeeping)

[OrionGirl]

The Biowheel contains the bacteria, so if you can swish it vigorously in the water, it will seed to some extent, but not as much as some mulm from a sponge filter. If you have 2 bio wheels, you could replace it and use the old one on q-tank. But, if you do this, you won't want to use that bio-wheel on your main tank unless it gets sterilized.

[JSchmidt]

Biowheels are harder, for the reasons Oriongirl notes. You don't want the biowheel to become a vector for some nasty bug, transporting pathogens to a healthy tank. Biowheels tank long enough to become populated with good bacteria that I'm hesitant to use them in a fashion that might require sterilization.

Jim

[WaterBaby]

What I have done to help cycle one of my tanks is to take the filter bag containing used up charcoal from my HOB filter (meaning that it's been in the filter awhile) and put it into the filter of the tank I want to cycle. No waste there. :)