fishless cycle faster in warm water?

CHINABOY1021

CHINABOY1021

experienced newbie
May 2, 2003
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Toronto ON Canada
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4 more last questions

will my fishless cycle go faster with warm water instead of water without my heater plugged in?

also is it alright if i mix boiled water with cold tap water to get a good temperature so my heater wouldnt have to work so hard to heat up a 65 g? i wanted to use hot water from the tap before, but then read that water heaters in the house may contain unhealthy metals to the fish. what if i boil the water in a metal pot?

after i get my ammonia and nitrite to zerio after cycle, ive read that i should do a large water change. will this water change with cold water kill any good bacteria? or when i mix some boiling water, will the heat kill any bacteria.

last question. i know chlorine is evaporated through airation and surface distrubance. but what if i drop an air stone in a bottle (10 gallon spring water refillable bottle). will this work for decholrination? since the bottle has a very small opening at the top, will this method still work.

thanks

thanks
 
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Bacteria are affected by heat. I don't know the range for Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter (the good bacteria) but they will certainly grow quicker in 80 degree water vs. 40 degree water. There is an upper limit that they will die at (and before that, their reproduction ability will be slowed) but I already stated I don't know what that is.

Mix the hot and cold water in a bucket before putting it in the tank. There are cheap de-chlorinators that also remove heavy metals which would alleviate your worries about the hot water tank. I've always used warm water out of the tap (from a hot water heater).

Yes the airstone in the bottle will work.

HTH
 
CHINABOY, bacteria will grow faster in warmer water, but you do not want to go too warm. here is an article on fishless cycling that mentions water temperature http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html Although it states that there is research that shows that Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter does best at those temperatures, there is new research that debates that these bacteria are not the ones responsible for this cycling process that occurs in freshwater aquariums. Regardless if this is correct or not, this author states that he has been able to cycle a tank in less than two weeks at that temperature range.

Since you live in Toronto you will have water that is treated with chloramine so using an airstone will not dechlorinate your water.
 
Yes, technically very fresh activated carbon would slowly adsorb chloramines.

Don't count on it for your fishes' sakes though.

I think 24 hours curing in a springwater jug is always a good idea for all fish purposes. Equalizing CO2 with the atmosphere stabilizes pH for one thing. And you don't need to boil water (which knocks all the oxygen out of it). And you can add some fertilizer to the makeup water without ever reaching toxic levels.
 
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