Can I add the fish now?

[Jessu]

additional fish would not be ok for the tank, this was said in another thread. The reason I say this is because of your intention on keeping the fish after the cycle has completed. The best bet is to get them goldfish out of the 5 gallon pronto...therefore in this case, your only choice is to go fishy. Here's a thread you can read on cycling:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81388

I know there is not room for another but what would I do with the fish I cycled with?


I think I am missing the point of cycling. If I am adding fish to spike the diffrent levals then waiting till it comes down to 0. Whats the point of doing it in the first place if it is allready at 0.

 

[liv2padl]

Whats the point of doing it in the first place if it is allready at 0.

it's currently at "0" because the filter hasn't even begun to cycle.

better read these links:

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/start_up/start_up4.html

http://fish.orbust.net/cycling.html

 

[Jessu]

If you want to add fish now, what you can do is take the filter off the 5gal and run it on the 55. If all the fish in your 5gal are moving to the 55, move the filter and all the fish over. Run the filter from the 5gal as well as the filter you have on the 55. Run both for a week or two, and that will allow the bacteria from the smaller filter to populate the new filter, then you can remove the smaller filter. If you do this, you might not even have much of a spike because you're keeping all of the filter media with the fish.

The other option is fishless cycling, where you dose pure ammonia (found in the cleaning section of supermarkets usually) to cycle the tank instead of having a live fish to produce ammonia. Do a search for fishless cycling and you should find all the information you need.

Heres a pic if the tank. It says it has an ugf. But I dont know if it is really a filter or it it just makes bubbles. The box said filter but I did get it at Kmart.

I put the tank together the only thing that was not tubing was the plastic thing with holes thats under the gravel and thing that looks like this but is blue..an airater(sp)

Thers no foam or sponge things. I dont know I could move that to the 55g tank with out moving the fish fisrt.

 

[liv2padl]

you've probably got an undergravel filter. the gravel itself acts as the 'media' for the necessary bacteria to become established. read those liinks i posted for you. you obviously don't understand the cycle.

 

[Jessu]

I have read the links. So I need to build up Nitrosomonas bacteria.

To do a fishless cycle I can add some gravel from their current tank so they dont have to deal with the stress of cycling.

But what would be more stress full for them , staying in the 5g or cycling in the 55g?

If I do cycle with them in the tank should I still add graval from the old tank. Would that lower the risk of NTS.

 

[ergo sum]

A couple of things. Whenever you add water to an aquarium you need to add the aqua safe. You should have added it when you filled the tank. You should be doing water changes on your little tank and every time you do that you should add the aqua safe.

As for the fancy goldfish I would assume they are living in ammonia right now. Test that tank and see what you get. As far as moving them into the new tank and cycling it that way, I can’t see how it would be worse than leaving them where they are.

You are going to be doing a lot of water changes now. When you do that you siphon water out of the tank. Then you add the aqua safe then you fill the tank back up. Forget about everything else right now. Just concentrate on learning how to cycle a tank.

 

[liv2padl]

But what would be more stress full for them , staying in the 5g or cycling in the 55g?

what weighs more a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers. unfortunately, both situations are extremely stressfull. since it appears you've got no choice now, having made the mistake of getting three goldfish for a 5 gallon tank i guess you'll have to decide which scenario to choose.

if you decide to put the GF in the 55 and cycle that tank with them, take alot of the gravel from the 5 gallon tank and put it into the 55. i'm still not clear whether the latter has an undergravel filter or one that hangs on the back of the tank. if the new tank has an undergravel filter and so does the 5, then remove everything from the 5 and put it into the 55. filter and gravel and etc.

 

[Jessu]

The 55 has a wisper power filter for a 60g. The 5 has the UGF. I am going to go test the 5gs water.

 

[Jessu]

Amonina .6
Ph 6.2..the 6.2 color was a yellow green the water i tested turned more yellow. The high end was blue on the chart.

 

[Shagmaster]

Is the water okay for my fish(and 1 snail) to be in now? There is no fish in the tank. I got the tank a few days ago. The filter and all have been on for 2days. I dont see how I can cycle the water with out adding fish.

Get a bottle of pure amonia. Put in like half a cap every other day. This will get your cycle started. To speed up the process, get a handfull of gravel from your existing tank and add it to the bottom of your new filter. (kick-starts the good bacteria culture) Also takeing some old filter media from an established filter then adding it to your filter will help alot. And testing for nitrates and nitrites is essential, as both can be fatal to fish if allowed to get out of control. Nitrites are harmfull to fish in any amount.
Hope this helps.Good luck.