I recently had my aquarium up and let it cycle for about 4 weeks. I had it up and running but something happen causing me to have to empty it and clean everything. I had two fish in it at the time. Since I don't have another tank, my fish are in a temporary home...a.k.a. a bucket. They are doing fine in there but I don't know how long that will last. I know my tank probably isn't cycled all the way through. The ammonia is at zero and so is the nitrites. I don't want to put them in the tank and cause the tank to get cloudy or anything. When is it safe enough to put them back in the tank?
How early is to early
- Thread starter buffdaddy
- Start date
what do you mean by you "let it cycle?" did you actually cycle it? or was it just sitting there running empty water for 4 weeks?
Well he said he had 2 fish in it at the time, so it was prob in some process of cycling no matter what his intentions.
Were you testing the water buff? What were your readings right before you had to tear it down? I bet if you had to take it down so thoroughly then you are essentially at square one again. Were you doing a fishy cycle when this happened and you had to take the tank apart? If thats they case then as soon as you got the tank set back up you can re-acclimate the fish and just start cycling like you did before.
If you did a fishless cycle and then put the fish in and then whatever happened, then you are going to have to either decide to do a fishy cycle this time or find someplace better to keep your fish while a fishless cycle is going on. Maybe even return them.
If you did just let empty water run in the tank for 4 wks and then add the fish, you wasted 4 wks of your time. Thats not cycling at all.
Do you have a filter, heater, etc on the bucket? How big is the bucket and what exactly are the fish in it? Do you do water changes on the bucket? Do you test the water in there? How long have they been in there already?
Were you testing the water buff? What were your readings right before you had to tear it down? I bet if you had to take it down so thoroughly then you are essentially at square one again. Were you doing a fishy cycle when this happened and you had to take the tank apart? If thats they case then as soon as you got the tank set back up you can re-acclimate the fish and just start cycling like you did before.
If you did a fishless cycle and then put the fish in and then whatever happened, then you are going to have to either decide to do a fishy cycle this time or find someplace better to keep your fish while a fishless cycle is going on. Maybe even return them.
If you did just let empty water run in the tank for 4 wks and then add the fish, you wasted 4 wks of your time. Thats not cycling at all.
Do you have a filter, heater, etc on the bucket? How big is the bucket and what exactly are the fish in it? Do you do water changes on the bucket? Do you test the water in there? How long have they been in there already?
