seeding an uncycled tank

new2tanks

new2tanks

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Feb 18, 2006
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Hi all,

Im trying to save this uncycled tank (10g) at work that has never been cycled. The owner has never heard of cycling and just upgraded to the 10G (which is small for this fish-a medium sized cichlid-the only occupant there). the filter and media are all new, no established bacteria at all.

So i went to my tank and took one of the sponges that was dense (almost disintegrating), cut it in half with one piece bigger than the other. saved a tiny piece for my filter, put in a new foam piece (in mine) and brought for my colleauges tank the other piece. (it was transported in tank water).

I now have put my piece of filter foam in along with a new piece of foam (swished in the water the established piece travelled in). I also did a minor 20% water change.

Am i on the right track here iwth the cycling? When should the next PWC occur?

(I will work on the tank size next-one piece at a time with this tank).

Thanks all.
 
Sounds like you're on the right track to me. If you can, water tests are the best guides as to when to do pwc. If you can't test it, I would go at least every day for the next few days. Your piece of foam should seed the filter fairly quickly though. Nice job!
 
you cannot do too many water changes. You did a great thing, but it will depend on what your bioload was like vs. hers as to how much of a cycle will be encountered. Testing is the only way to know for sure, but certianly monitor the fish for gasping, reddening of the gills, etc and do wc's as necessary.
 
Nice save. I'm sure the fish will appreciate your efforts! Maybe you can help him find a tank off CraigsList. I'm with you in that "medium sized Cichlid" and "10 g tank" shouldn't be used in the same sentence.
 
Thanks all for the great feedback and encouragement.
My colleague is dropping by work today to do a PWC.

When I go in on monday, Ill take my test kit and run through the numbers myself.

My biolad is in my signature (minus a couple of shrimp) so I hope that assists in a speedier cycle.

Im not really fond of her filter, its tacky one that came with the generic 10g kit and has some filter floss and chemical filtration in the form of charcoal which I know is unnecessary. I wanted to take her an AC 20 and lose the current filter but is it too early to mess with the media?

Thanks once again!
 
If you can get her to agree to the AC filter just put the sponge part in with the current filter for a few weeks to seed it. When it looks like its dirty put the new filter on, put the established media in and you can then clean out the old filter in tank water in a bucket. Throw out the old filter, and slowly pour water back over the filter that way tou save what ever is established in the old filter.
 
Okay so i went in today to check on him . (owner didnt go in , boo).

so i took my trusty water test kit and was pleased that Ammonia and nitrites were showing at 0ppm and nitrates were at 20 ppm.
So i did a PWC (around 20%) and left him quite happy. (Did the filter media get seeded that fast? amazing)

I feel much better now.

Thanks!

PS i took pics of him and will be posting them in the cichlid section hoping someone can ID him.
 
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