I just set up a new tank a few days ago. Its a 40 gallon tank, the biggest ive had yet. I put a few live plants in and a couple fake plants from another tank that are covered in algae, to help get the cycle going. I also put in a nuisance goldfish that was eating all the food in my 29 gallon tank and some mosquito fish, also to help the cycle get going. Then yesterday i put one of my plecos from another tank in. When i get ready to start putting new fish in im going to take the goldfish out and probably put him in one of my outdoor ponds. All the fish that are in the tank now look pretty happy and swim around lively. So how long do you think i still need to wait to add the important fish?
My new 40 gal tank
- Thread starter fishy45cory
- Start date
I would guess a couple of weeks but you'll have to test your water often to verify that your tank has been cycled. You can speed this up by transfering some filter media from your old tank to your new tank, since the fake plants probably won't have much beneficial bateria on them.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
well see, It has an undergravel filter in it. so its hard to put old filter media in for an undergravel system.
Have you been testing frequently? There's no gurantee that the transferred plants have enough nitrifying bacteria on them to cycle the tank.
I've done a similar thing recently in switching froma 10g to a 29. I transferred the entire filter from the 10 to the 29g though and was still paranoid. I checked levels nearly daily even though I knew I had transferred a lot of bacteria. I would test daily or every other day for a week or so at least. If after a week you still test for 0 levels of ammonia and nitrite I would say you'd be safe to add new fish slowly (like one or two a week as long as levels stay at 0).
Tom
I've done a similar thing recently in switching froma 10g to a 29. I transferred the entire filter from the 10 to the 29g though and was still paranoid. I checked levels nearly daily even though I knew I had transferred a lot of bacteria. I would test daily or every other day for a week or so at least. If after a week you still test for 0 levels of ammonia and nitrite I would say you'd be safe to add new fish slowly (like one or two a week as long as levels stay at 0).
Tom
Close to it doesn't really work. I would wait until its at zero. A low reading still means that the bacteria aren't present in sufficient numbers to control the ammonia levels. Might only take another week or so.
Tom
Tom