now what do u mena by filter media
the white spongy stuff just stick it in the new filter some where
the white spongy stuff just stick it in the new filter some where
amonia
- Thread starter danielle_adam
- Start date
Filter media is anything that is in the filter cleaning the water. This can be floss, sponges, etc.
Carbon isn't needed in a normal tank. All it does it remove order and other chemicals such as meds. But in your normal tank you are not using meds so it isn't needed.
I say only half because you still need some bacteria in the filter for any fish that are in the 20g.
I say only half because you still need some bacteria in the filter for any fish that are in the 20g.
I just finished my first fishless cycle! Yes the ammonia is extremely important...and your tank won't cycle without it. When doing a cycle with fish, the fish add the ammonia for you. When a tank begins cycling, the nitrite levels spike very high, this is why large water changes are important at that time, especially if you are doing a cycle with fish. I only did one water change in my tank, during this process.
Here's what I did to cycle my tank...I set it all up, filled it with tap water treated with stress coat, I added used media from the 10 gallon that my Oscar was currently in, unfortunately this did not give me enough biological agent for a tank so much larger. I also added a couple plastic plants from the original tank, and some bio spira. I let the filters run like this for about a week, then added ammonia and brought it up to 3ppm, slowly my nitrites spiked, and ammonia was slowly disappearing. My nitrites spiked to a whopping off the charts! and the tank just sat like that for about a week, then i did some reading and realized that i wasn't adding enough ammonia, that I should have been adding it daily, to everyother day. Within 4 days of keeping the ammonia up there, the nitrites began to drop critically, nitrates went up and ammonia and nitrites now both read 0, nitrates measure at 20, well in the safe zone on my test strip kit.
I would recommend you get a good test kit for nitrites and ammonia at least. I tried using the test strips, to monitor the cycle and I found they weren't accurate enough. It saved much time and hassle getting the proper testing kits.
The whole process took about four weeks, had I been adding the ammonia that i should have would have probably saved a week, so 3 weeks for a cycle, not bad!
Here's what I did to cycle my tank...I set it all up, filled it with tap water treated with stress coat, I added used media from the 10 gallon that my Oscar was currently in, unfortunately this did not give me enough biological agent for a tank so much larger. I also added a couple plastic plants from the original tank, and some bio spira. I let the filters run like this for about a week, then added ammonia and brought it up to 3ppm, slowly my nitrites spiked, and ammonia was slowly disappearing. My nitrites spiked to a whopping off the charts! and the tank just sat like that for about a week, then i did some reading and realized that i wasn't adding enough ammonia, that I should have been adding it daily, to everyother day. Within 4 days of keeping the ammonia up there, the nitrites began to drop critically, nitrates went up and ammonia and nitrites now both read 0, nitrates measure at 20, well in the safe zone on my test strip kit.
I would recommend you get a good test kit for nitrites and ammonia at least. I tried using the test strips, to monitor the cycle and I found they weren't accurate enough. It saved much time and hassle getting the proper testing kits.
The whole process took about four weeks, had I been adding the ammonia that i should have would have probably saved a week, so 3 weeks for a cycle, not bad!
when i set up the new one cant i just keep testing it till the water is at the prper levels of every thing then put the fish in
it says u have turtles in your tank would i be able to put turtles in my tank and can i take them out and let them run around and stuff
