i have a 10 gal that isnt cycled yet and it has 3 neon tetras in it, i have to do a water change every 3 days which doesnt bother me at all, i was wondering if i could add another 3 neons or maybe 3 cardinal tetras? i dont mind more frequent water changes and wouldnt that speed up the process?
maybe add more fish in a fish in cycle?
- Thread starter baldegale
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BBradbury
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Hello bald...
You could add two or three more small fish. Feed them a little every day or two. Test the water daily for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test for either, remove and replace 25 percent of the tank water and replace it with treated tap water. Test daily and change the water when needed. In a month or so, you start getting daily tests with no traces of the above forms of nitrogen. When this happens, the tank is cycled. At this point, just remove and replace half the water weekly for the life of the tank.
B
You could add two or three more small fish. Feed them a little every day or two. Test the water daily for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test for either, remove and replace 25 percent of the tank water and replace it with treated tap water. Test daily and change the water when needed. In a month or so, you start getting daily tests with no traces of the above forms of nitrogen. When this happens, the tank is cycled. At this point, just remove and replace half the water weekly for the life of the tank.
B
ahh, last time i talked about cycling on here i was told to overfeed a little bit to increase ammonia and it would make the cycle go a little faster, and to replace the water once it reaches 1PPM which ive been replacing 50% every 2-4 days. ive been testing the water every 2ish days cause the neons dont make much waste. if i got more fish id test daily for sure. also i would drip acclimate said fish that id add
Do you have a test kit? This will tell you what tank specs are now
yes, i already know that, i check it every couple days because over the past few weeks ive learned that it takes 2-4 days for the ammonia to reach. i normally check every 3 days and do a water change the 4th day
[emoji106] to me would depend on your stock - I always found neons pretty delicate in a cycled tank - could be stock quality.
It won’t speed up the process imo directly (any excess ammonia will mean bacterial population growth) but I’d think you have a tank cycled for a larger fish load faster.
Against that - if anything goes wrong from adding more fish - everything seeming ok now, adding more fish tips it over the edge.
It won’t speed up the process imo directly (any excess ammonia will mean bacterial population growth) but I’d think you have a tank cycled for a larger fish load faster.
Against that - if anything goes wrong from adding more fish - everything seeming ok now, adding more fish tips it over the edge.
instead of getting new fish i ended up upgrading filters. from a tetra whisper 10i to an aquaclean 20 (per recommendation from this forum) and i read to put it media from the old filter in the new one and the only media from the 10i that would even fit in the AC 20 was the tiny tiny filter sponge so i put it in there but im also running both the filters together until it’s confirmed that its enough
Good choice - any old media you can add into new filter will help.
From memory testing on carbon found it starts to get bacterial populations after several weeks (hence why the old carbon / wool air-driven filters crashed tanks when media replaced), but as you are seeding the new filter I’m hoping it would be quicker.
From memory testing on carbon found it starts to get bacterial populations after several weeks (hence why the old carbon / wool air-driven filters crashed tanks when media replaced), but as you are seeding the new filter I’m hoping it would be quicker.
yeah thats true. when i was a kid (8-10 years ago lol) im really surprised i had fish tanks last as long as they did. i never cycled tanks, never drip acclimated, never did water changes, changed the tetra carbon filter once a month, but id have fish last for a couple years before anything happened. now that im trying to do everything right its crazy all the stuff i never did!
on another thread i was told that i could take the carbon cartridge from the tetra filter and replace the carbon bag in the aquaclean with it for awhile until things get established and completely get rid of the old filter and while im doing that i was thinking of just tossing the new carbon bag in the tank so it can get some bacteria growing on it too.
Same here [emoji4] Had never heard of cycled tanks and used to still keep fish fairly well. I think it saved the tank that I was lazy and just by accident never replaced all the wool / carbon in one go but used to love anything with bubbles so since it was all air-powered, had HOB’s, under gravel filters, internal box filters and about a mile of airline running everywhere. Some old light I bought and never replaced bulbs in about 5 years.
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Same hereHad never heard of cycled tanks and used to still keep fish fairly well. I think it saved the tank that I was lazy and just by accident never replaced all the wool / carbon in one go but used to love anything with bubbles so since it was all air-powered, had HOB’s, under gravel filters, internal box filters and about a mile of airline running everywhere.
my longest tank was a 10 gal glofish tank that i changed the filter once every 6 months and let the water evaporate like 25% before i added more, it was crazy
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