I have a empty 30 gallon bowfront that i just bought a filter for today. Is there any point in filling it up and filtering the water without substrate or plants etc.? Its a brand new filter btw
Thanks
Thanks
"Cycling" with nothing
- Thread starter Wateveryousay
- Start date
You can filter the water without the substrate or the plastic plants if you want but the tank will not cycle or even begin a cycle until you add an ammonia source. This is accomplished with either a fishie cycle ( not recommended ) or a fishless cycle.( recommended ). There is a stickey at the top of the page you can read on cycling a tank and the nitrogen cycle.
Marinemom
Marinemom
You also need a starter population of bacteria. Put some gravel or filter media from an established tank in the new tank, then add the ammonia source.
Well, there is a point in filling it for an half an hour to check for cracks. I personally would wait until you got everything else to set it up, as putting in sand for substrate would be a real pain.
You can cycle with out starter bacteria...that just speeds the process a bit.
Here read through this, it will answer pretty much anything you need to know.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598
Here read through this, it will answer pretty much anything you need to know.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598
Do you know anyone else with a tank? Sometimes even LFS's will give you a handful of gravel from one of their tanks.
Even better, if a friend who lives nearby has a tank, see if he'll let you put your filter on his tank and run it for a couple weeks. This should thoroughly populate your filter media with bacteria. Just be sure to keep the media wet during transportation and move the filter from your friend's tank to yours in a reasonably brief time period. Have dechlorinated water already in your tank when you set the filter up in it.
Even better, if a friend who lives nearby has a tank, see if he'll let you put your filter on his tank and run it for a couple weeks. This should thoroughly populate your filter media with bacteria. Just be sure to keep the media wet during transportation and move the filter from your friend's tank to yours in a reasonably brief time period. Have dechlorinated water already in your tank when you set the filter up in it.
True, but then you're relying on bacteria to drift in from the outside environment. This can take a while.
Ive done tanks before, i know how the cycle works basically, i was just wondering if there is ANYWAY i could start my cycle without anything in the tank other than a filter. Maybe fish food or a couple drops of ammonia or something
You don't really wait for the outside environment...adding ammonia is what you do. Yes...it takes a while.