new tank, feel like a newb all over again

Lauren

Lauren

Say hello to my lilttle friends
Aug 9, 2003
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I set up my 45 gallon on Wednesday night. Even though it isn't my first tank, I always seem to forget how to cycle whenever I get a new aquarium. I let some filter median seed for a week or two and added that in. I let the aquarium sit for the night, and then added three harquins on Thursday.

Today, I checked the parameters for the first time. Long story short: I moved a bunch of crap from my room because it is getting redecorated. My full test kit got lost in the shuffle, so all I have is a kit without test tubes. I had a light bulb moment today and a turkey baster and a small, empty glass jar rescued the possibly tragic attempt of “winging it”.

It seems as thought I have already moved through the ammonia stage. The tests for nitrite showed .25ppms, and there aren’t any nitrates yet. I did a small water change. The nitrite didn't change much. The fish are doing perfectly fine. I've been watching them closely, and there are no signs of stress.

I pulled out my old guide to aquariums. And the author was a little vague on what to do with elevated levels. His advice is basically if the readings are "above safe bounds" do a water change, if they aren't, wait for them to get there. So I would like a little clarification on what the proper thing to do right now is.


Thanks
 
Find/get your good test tube. Test exactly according to directions and do water changes where necessary, to keep nitrites below 0.25 ppm.

I’m unclear, sorry, is your other aquarium still up and running? If so, what kinds of filters do you have running on the old and new tanks? Take some media from the old filter & stick it in the new one. Swish your old tank filter sponge in your new tank. Take an ornament or 2 or a handful of gravel (loosely or tied up in a net) and place these items in your new tank.
 
I've looked for over a 1/2 an hour for the past two days. I can't find my good test kit. The turkey baster has a 5 ml line, so it seems to be working just fine.

I have a few other tanks up and running. I have a bio-wheel filter on one, and a small canister filter on an other, and two that run with sponges. None of the filtes match up, so I can't swap sponges. I already have established filter median in my filter.

So, even though I am cycling right now my nitrites should be at zero? I thought they had to elevate themselves in order to estabilish the tank.
 
It is conceivable and possible to set up a new tank and never see any ammonia or nitrite IF you transfer over enough filter media/ornaments/etc. for the new fish load. In such cases, the new tank is instantly cycled. This is obviously easier to do from a larger tank to a smaller one or if you are simply transferring over the same fish load to a newer bigger tank. It seems your seeding of the new filter was enough to eliminate the ammonia phase, so probably your nitrites won’t last very long. Just keep testing and doing water changes.
 
I just finished a similar styled "cycling" as you did today.

The details can be found here http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43274

In short, I added a BUNCH of new media from an existing 55g tank to a new uncycled 55g tank. I went through the fishless cycling process and added NH3 (ammonia) to my new tank to bring the levels to ~4ppm NH3. It took 2 days to bring my NH3 levels down to 2ppm and then they continued to burn 2ppm per 24 hours. During the course of 5 days, Ive yet to see a jump in NO2 (NitrItes) and everything else has stayed the same.

While it is possible your tank has been instantly cycled, I would continue to CLOSELY monitor its parameters and do water changes every other day or so for about a week.
 
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