helping the cycle question

T

tank3544

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Jul 10, 2005
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i've seen several posts about adding gravel from an existing tank or putting a piece of a filter from an existing tank into a new tank to help get the process going

i'm wondering how much is needed to do this?

1 scoop of gravel in a fish net? 2 scoops? alot more?
a half inch by half in strip of the filter? a bigger piece?

i think i'm going to try this method .. my numbers haven't changed in the week i've had the fish in the tank so apparently its going to need some help

i've been testing daily and have consistant
.25 ammonia
0 nitrate
0 nitrite

should i be doing water changes even tho the numbers aren't changing?

we had contemplated putting some plants in there but in the end we don't want them in there so that's not an option

so how much of those things do i need?
also will this effectively help cycle it in 2-3 days instead of weeks?

i've read so much cycling stuff in the past few days it feels like my head will explode and i seem to end up with more questions than answers
 
The vast majority of the good bacteria required for the nitogen cycle will take up residence in the filter and not in the substrate. Best thing to do is utilize biomedia from an established tank. The substrate provides a nominal boost at best.

With the media from an established tank you will often skip right through the "break-in" period and will be able to begin stocking the tank incrementally. A couple of fish at a time every 3-5 days.

Wether going the substrate or filter media route--make certain the tank you get the stuff from is disease and parasite free,
 
fish are already in the tank so fishy cycle

do i need to put a whole used filter behind the filter in the new tank or just cut a strip of it off?
 
first, pH?

I think we want to know the pH of the tank, for if your KH is low and ammonia won't go away it is possible that KH was low and pH has crashed.
 
i assume the only way to know if the media is disease and filter free is to see if the fish are healthy? they seem to be .. they like to play and chase each other around .. they hide in a cave sometimes but they seem fine to me

what is KH?

the ph is about 6.4 .. i'm about to add some aquarium salt to bring it up
 
I'm not sure that salt raises ph, it is probably something you don't want to bother with while cycling. Salt is really not necessary unless treating some diseases, and some fish don't tolerate it very well.''

Did you something to remove the chlorine from the water in the new tank before you added the old filter media to the filter?
 
Just to clear things up, we've figured out from another thread that the first tank that the media was added from was not cycled either, which is why the 2nd tank is not cycling :D . Just to clear up that it doesn't sound like it is a problem with kh, or anything :D
 
the water i used is distilled water

so you're saying just take out that little piece of filter since its obviously not going to help?

i already put some gravel in the new tank from the old so i guess that was a pretty stupid move :sad:

Just to clear up that it doesn't sound like it is a problem with kh, or anything
Click to expand...

so in other words quit messing with it and let it cycle i guess
 
Distilled water is not good

Do not use distilled water. It will eventually kill your fish. Fish need the minerals in tap water to get calcium for bones and scales, salts for blood. Find out what sort of water conditioner you need to treat your tap water and begin slowly switching to tap water, or at least part tap water.
 
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