does 90% water change hinder cycling?

idonthavegills said:

Fish in cycling. I switched from daily 30% to daily 90% in order to save a few fish from fungus and algae. Have been doing 90% for three consecutive days now.
Will this hinder the growth of bacteria in the eheim canister as my ammonia readings are now zero?

Note:

• Previously ammonia was at 0.1 to 0.2 with test done before the water change.
• Also my definition of 90% water change (for brevity of thread headline) is actually two or three 50% water changes in the space of one day.
• No Nitrates detected yet

Click to expand...

Yes. You are on the path of crashing the tank. What is the issue you are trying to resolve?
Is this an established tank with a new problem? Or new tank with issues from the start?
What size tank? What species?

Most likely no nitrates means your tank is not cycled due to the amount of water removed in such a short period of time.


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Ok thought about your post. If you are doing a fish in cycle stop doing water changes! You actually want the bio load from the fish.
90% of fish used to cycle a tank die. If you are using infected fish get rid of them do not waste your time infecting a tank you have not cycled yet. Don't chance losing the fish you want to inhabit the finished Enviroment. If you are using anything other then a cheap fish or feeder fish for the cycle shame on you.
You can get a handful of substrate from your LFS for the same price of a handful of feeders if not for free.
Good luck and keep us updated.



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^ Instead of asking for some substrate, ask them if you can have some of their old filter media from one of their clean tanks (i.e. make sure the tank doesn't have obvious signs of disease)... then once you get home, place that filter media into the tank with your existing media to help seed your new filter media, and you can pretty much start stocking the tank slowly...

I honestly haven't cycled a tank in years, i just keep moving old bio media from one filter into a new one when i setup a tank, and slowly start stocking it and haven't had a problem yet... not unless you try and stock it too quickly and don't give the new filter media enough time to build up the beneficial bacteria...

-EDIT-

Alternatively, if you have a spare HOB filter, or sponge filter running on one of your other tanks, you can transfer that whole unit over to your new tank, and add fish that way while still running your new filter, than over the period of about 2 - 3 weeks, your new filter will start to build a colony of BB to help keep your tank cycled...

+2 with Freshy

you need to do very large water changes in a fish in cycle as you need to keep the ammonia to a minimum.. trace ammonia will still halp to get the ccycle going.
In most cases of fish in cycle you should closely monitor the water parameter(nitrogen) and do water changes to keep them low.

I am NOT a big proponent of using gravel from a LFS . this is largely because you do not know if you can trust the gravel or any other source of bacteria. you could simply be releasing another pathogen into your new tank.

I do recommend using filter media from a well establish tank , if you have one that is running.
the alternative is to find a good 'live' bacteria source ..there are now shelf stable additives that have proven effective.

You should only do this when you have a 'trusted' source for bacteria.

+3 with freshy. When i had space and tanks to setup i only did fish in cycles. You HAVE to do to large water changes everyday, Maybe every other day depending on water params, to prevent ammonia poisoning. But i just use seeded media i have in some extra filters now for my hospital tote and quarentine tank.

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