Just cycled a 120 in 6 days...

dr_sudz

dr_sudz

Round Peg, In A Square hole
Nov 20, 2005
77
0
0
45
Milton Ontario, Canada
Well I wanted to try out my own "fishless" cycle. When I first got my new 120 I had to reseal the tank because it leaked and then had problems with the stand. But when I picked up my filter I threw it onto an established tank and ran it for a couple of weeks to get things going there. Next after I was able to actually set the tank up, I grabbed my two turtles and gave them a vacation from home. I put them into the tank that needed to be cycled and they have been in there for almost a week (tomorrow will be a full sunday to sunday). And I just took my readings:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites:
 
dr_sudz said:
Well I wanted to try out my own "fishless" cycle. When I first got my new 120 I had to reseal the tank because it leaked and then had problems with the stand. But when I picked up my filter I threw it onto an established tank and ran it for a couple of weeks to get things going there. Next after I was able to actually set the tank up, I grabbed my two turtles and gave them a vacation from home. I put them into the tank that needed to be cycled and they have been in there for almost a week (tomorrow will be a full sunday to sunday). And I just took my readings:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites:
Click to expand...
Grr the rest is suppose to read:
Nitrites 0 ppm
and Nitrates: 10 ppm

I am so siked about doing cycles this way would def do it again!
 
2 turtles in a 120 gal? Not a real huge bio-load.
 
hmmm, i cycled my 125 gallon by running the filter in my established tank for 3 weeks and in the mean time i was useing flake food to establish a cycle in the new aquarium with just the sponge filters and powerheads running. After 3 weeks added danios and the ammonia never came above .50 ppm. My problem, and i'm sure you will face the same, is that everytime i add to the bioload the tank goes through a "mini-cycle" as the nitifying bacteria adjust to the higher levels of ammonia. The only way to manage this is to add your stock slowly and wait for the mini-cycle between adding fish.

Best of luck with your big new tank. What are you going to keep in it?

Guzz
 
the way to do it is to have some established media in the tank and do a fishless cycle with pure ammonia. if you add in enough ammonia for there to be 5ppm in the tank every day, your bacterial colonies will grow to be able to consume that amount in 24 hours. then you can add all of your fish at once b/c there will be more than enough bacteria established to take care of the bioload. no mini-cycles.
 
well I measured the ammonia after the Turtles being in the water for 24 hours and the it was reading just under .5 ppm on the strip. They seem to have done a great job in cycling the tank.
 
Dip strips? Not very accurate and often give false readings. Recomend a good quality liquid test kit, like APs'.
 
cycling is when there is ammonia present at first and then it goes away. if you only have ammonia, then you still have a while to go. you want to see nitrites, and then nitrates. when you see nitrates, you're ready to go.

ammonia (toxic) -> nitrites (toxic) -> nitrates (safe)
 
dr_sudz said:
Well I wanted to try out my own "fishless" cycle... ...my filter...onto an established tank...
Click to expand...

Hey fellow ]V[ FKer, isn't using a cycled filter to "cycle" a tank considered cheating.
biggrin.gif
 
rbishop said:
2 turtles in a 120 gal? Not a real huge bio-load.
Click to expand...

So you have never seen a turtle poo? Not very pretty. Trust me.

They are a huge bio-load. The nice thing is they can tollerate nasty water.
 
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