new 55 gallon tank

[nickbuter]

I recently purchased a 55 gallon tank. I am wondering the easiest and quickest way to cycle the tank. I was reading about the fishless techniques, and I have another ten gallon tank to get bacteria from, and I know it involves adding ammonia directly into the tank. I am unsure about the amounts and what exactly I need to transfer to the larger tank (and how much) what temperature it needs to be at? how long it will take? etc... or just anything else I need to know about keeping a tank this large.

 

[SuperD]

The quickest way to cycle your tank would be to order some bio-spira online. I'm not sure where to go, the site I ordered from is out of stock until Nov. 10. If you can get a hold of this, it will literaly cycle your tank within 24 hours.

Hope you find some.

If you can't find any then you should do a fishless cycle. You can add the filter media, gravel, and anything else that you can steal from it to help out. As far as adding ammonia, start off with 2-3 mg/l per day then test to see where you are at (add more if needed). You want the ammonia level to be at 4ppm. Once your ammonia spike has occured, reduce the amount of ammonia to half, then wait for your nitrite spike. Keep the temperature at about 78-82 degrees. Also keep an eye out for your pH level (don't let it go past 7 ppm) and your KH level (80 ppm minimum).

Thats all I can think of for the time being.

Good luck