ah yes, another predicament!

[SeymourFRESH]

alright. i just got these 2 BN plecos as i mentioned in the other post. what i did not mention is that i put them in a newly set up tank (10 gal) for QT, and i have been using fish water from my other tank and a couple of algae covered rocks to help cycle the water quickly. i tested my water before adding the plecos and i had 0 for ammonia and nitrites

well a few days have passed, and yesterday i finally did an ammonia and nitrite test. i got .25 ammonia and .25 nitrites. so then, i changed the water out and put some more water in from the other fish tank. about 10 hours later i got home from work and school, and i tested again (just now). now the ammonia was lower, but the nitrites were still .25. it's slowly climbing, i have observed, and it seems to remain the same after water changes.

to clear one thing up: no, i'm not using test strips.

since i was planning on moving my rummy nose tetras out of the 55 (established cycle) QT, i realized i could just move the plecos and QT them in that tank. but the only problem with this is the fact that i need to establish a cycle in my 10 gallon anyway (i have been procrastinating for a while!), so i kind of don't want to take the fish out of there.

so i guess i've narrowed it down to a few options (unless you guys have any ideas)
1. move plecos to 55 immediately
2. change water in 10 gallon again, and tommorrow go out and buy BIO spira bacteria, so i can instantly cycle my tank (or so that's what the product claims to do, everyone on here says they've had great luck with it!)
3. just keep changing water in the 10 gallon until it cycles (which could be risky, i think)

what's my best option here? if i can avoid having to move the plecos to another QT tank, that would be great! i'm thinking option number 2 would be best, but i'm not sure how that would turn out either

 

[PsiPro]

If you want to try the instance cycle, i would still do 1 to insure the plecos wont be stressed during that. I wouldn't trust an 'instnt cycle' medicine.

 

[Skyrmir]

I'd say do the water change and try the bio-spira. It's worked for me in the past as long as it was a fresh batch. Worst case scenario, you get a bad batch and have to move move the pleco's for a fishless cycle, or change water in a 10 gallon like mad to cycle it with the pleco's.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

If you want to try the instance cycle, i would still do 1 to insure the plecos wont be stressed during that. I wouldn't trust an 'instnt cycle' medicine.

yes i was thinking just that (cycling with fish? could be bad! lol) but if i move them to the 55, that's just another QT tank and i'm inevitably going to have to move them again. so now what i'm thinking i want to do is just officially move them to the 92 gallon, because they seem fine though only being QTed for 4 days...

 

[Japola44]

do you have any gravel you can get from another tank?
You could try skimming off some gravel from the top of a cycled tank and put it in your 10gal. That would be the cheapest thing to do. Or if one of your filters uses a sponge media or some biorings you can add it to the filter on the 10gal.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

Or if one of your filters uses a sponge media or some biorings you can add it to the filter on the 10gal.

if i did this and the tank cycled, would it be safe for my fish to be in there while that's happening?

 

[Zagz]

I would do a water change, try the bio spira. If you hae some seeded media it very well may assist in cycling your tank quickly. Any of the options aside from moving the plecos will have to be monitored and dealt with based on the readings IMO. Any method you choose aside from moving them is not guaranteed 100%, although all of them will help speed things up to be sure. I cycled my 75 gal with lots of seeded media in 2 days, no fish though.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

well zags, that brings me to my next question: if i do a fishless cycle, how long will the tank remain cycled before i add fish?

 

[rich311k]

As long as you keep an ammonia source it will stay cycled.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

alright i took the plecos out. i'm just gonna put them in my 92 gallon.

so if the readings of ammonia and nitrites are low (though still visible) every time i test them, does that mean that my tank is about to cycle?

 

[rich311k]

You will need to add a source of ammonia to keep the cycle going if you no longer have any fish.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

lol now you're just repeating yourself. let me rephrase the question

if my tank readings of ammonia and nitrite are above 0, but remain low at every reading, does that mean that my tank is on the verge of cycling?

 

[rich311k]

If the ammonia and nitrites have both spiked and gone down I would think you are close. How long has it been? Sorry I thought you miss understood me.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

well it hasn't been very long, but i've been trying to speed up the process by using fishwater from my other tank instead of fresh water from the tap. todays about the 5th day

it went like this:
-day1 (no fish yet): ammonia and nitrites are 0 of course
-day 2: ammonia and nitrites still 0, added fish after retesting
-day 3: did not do a water change or test water
-day 4 (yesterday): tested water, ammonia and nitrites were .25 each. changes 3 gallons out with water from other tank
-day 5 (today): tested water this morning, ammonia and nitrites remained at .25. changed another 3 gallons out with water from the other tank. tonight i got home from work and tested again, and the ammonia was slightly lower, and the nitrites were still .25

i was thinking it's ALMOST cycled, but i didn't want to take the risk so i moved my fish out of it (i know i could just be paranoid lol)

edit: BTW, your tank looks awesome!