Okay Guys I need Help

[Derpeder]

Newbie .... info on cycling and prepaying 55g tank

Hey, i'm new to this fish thing. I had a ten gallon for a long time but didn't really care about taking that good of care about it untill recently I've really gotten into it.

SO I bought a 55 gallon tank. what do I need to do to prepair to have a safe and good environment for my fish (of which I currently only have one pleco).

and remember i'm new so I don't understand certain terms and to be honest I don't exactly now 100% what cycling is or how to do. SO talk to me like i'm dumb and we'll go from there.

thanks ya'll

 

[norm3000]

Well, you've got the right idea. First thing you have to do is cycle the tank. Here are a couple of links to get your started:

http://www.petfish.net/cycling.htm
http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/cycle.phtml

At a very simple level you have to keep adding ammonia to your tank until you get enough bacteria in your tank to break down the ammonia to nitrites and the nitrites to nitrates. Generally you add ammonia in one of two ways, by adding a small amount of "hardy" fish to the tank (fish waste turns into ammonia) or by adding pure ammonia to your tank (fishless cycling). If you've already got a pleco in the tank then you won't want to do the fishless cycle since ammonia levels will rise to lethal amounts.

 

[sky.eyes.woman]

Not to mention also if you have a pleco in a new tank he will need to be given algae wafers since there is no algae in there and he could starve if you don't feed him.

 

[Holly9937]

If you can, I would set up the 55g tank and do a fishless cycle (with adding amonia) and keep the pleco in the 10g tank until it is complete. Cycling is really rough on fish and they might not make it throught the process. Plus if you do a cycle with fish you are looking at possibly 50% or more daily water changes (if you want to keep the fish alive) which would be a pain on a larger tank like that !!!!

 

[anonapersona]

second tank doesn't really cycle

If you have one tank going, the second tank wn't really need to cycle since you will move bacteria from the old tank to the new tank but moving some decorations, some gravel and some of the filtration, or even all of the filtration, to the new tank when you move the fish.

First, set up the tank with new gravel and add water and heater and use the proper dechlorinator. Wait for temp to be correct. Now you can move the filter and fish over from the old tank.

Buy a test kit and start using it to test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Buy a Python, or make one, to make water changes easier and do water changes of at least 25% a week, or larger every two weeks.

 

[JosephMCorbett]

I second anonapersona's post.

However, I will add that I would move absolutely everything from the 10 to the 55 - you want to transport as much of your bacteria as you can to the new tank. Think of it this way, you're moving your Pleco and his bacteria.

Also, you will be tempted to go out and fill your tank. Don't do it! You have just enough bacteria for your Pleco...and you will probably kill some of that during the move (hence the amonia test and water changes). If you are going to see an amonia spike, you will see it in the first 3-4 days. If you do see amonia rise, start doing daily 50% water changes for the next few days as the bacteria re-colonize and feed sparingly.

After the first week, provided you have no amonia problems, you can start stocking the tank. It's the same process. Add one or two small fish per week or so. Keep an eye on your amonia, change water if you see any.

If you are careful during the move and stock slowly, you probably won't see any amonia ever.

I'll just comment on the "fishless" cycle thing. You don't have to add amonia, you can just add fish food for the fish-load your planning. It's like feeding invisable fish. Basically, bacteria colonize in direct proportion to the bio-load of the tank. IMO the bio-load corrosponds to fish food...eaten or not.

sky.eyes.woman, unless you have a tank that you can visably see algae and know for sure that your Pleco has enough food, you should always feed him, just as if he were any other fish in the tank. Can't tell you how many times I've heard of Pleco's starving or sucking the slime coat off of other fish because people assume they are getting enough to eat. I feed mine everynight whether there's algae in the tank or not...plus he eats the other fish food as well.

 

[sky.eyes.woman]

I've always tried to feed my algae eaters, I didn't think to mention that in my last post, sorry. I say 'tried' to feed them because in the case of my little oto, his wafers have been getting stolen at almost every meal lately and he's getting skinny. I'm going to keep him in a tank by himself for a bit to fatten him up. He's also going to be my last algae eater, I know a sponge on a stick won't starve! :duh: