Cycling a 55?

schigara

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Jan 2, 2005
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I just setup the 55 and went and bought an Emperor 400 Biowheel and a Rena 300w heater. I set the heater to 85. I plan to keep Discus and is the reason for this temp but is this a good temp to cycle with?

To help the cycle along, I did a water change on my 15 and replaced one of it's filter cartridges. I cut 2 strips measuring 1 in by 3 in from the established filter floss and put one in with each of the cartridges on the Emperor 400 in the 55. I also took a big decoration out of the 15 and put in the 55 and put in 2 raw shrimp. My question is, how long should it take before I start to see ammonia levels rise and then how long until the nitrites rise?

Thanks

PS:

Will seeding the filter and the addition on the deco from the established tank make the cycle very quick? I am goin to check ammonia levels every 12 hours or so and so far, the first 12 hours shows 0ppm for ammonia.
 
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85 with a 300W heater in a 55 gallon is a little high. First, Discus live in anything from about 78 to 82 degrees and for a 55 gallon you only need about 200W.
 
Vitaliy said:
85 with a 300W heater in a 55 gallon is a little high. First, Discus live in anything from about 78 to 82 degrees and for a 55 gallon you only need about 200W.


Most everyone on Simply Discus says 84-86 for full grown healthy discus and 86-90 for juveniles, sick, or new arrivals. The say they can be in 78-82 but they will be more prone to infection and parasites at those temps.
 
EDIT... my mistake, somehow I missed the "adding raw shrimp" - sorry. Anyhow, as I have never fishless cycled myself, I'll now leave the answer to experts on it, but adding the filter, etc. will definitely help quicken things.
 
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