MurfQ
Aquarium Advice Regular
Ok, so I'm new to the whole cycling thing. When I set up my first tank I didn't know there was such a thing. Now I have a new 25 gal tank that I plan on moving my 4 goldfish into. (I know 25 gal is still too small for 4 gf but it beats the 10 gal they've been living in for the last 2 years and it's all that space would allow at the moment. Hopefully by the time they outgrow it, I'll be in a better position to accomodate them.) I've been reading up on cycling and thought that I would like to have my tank cycled before moving any of my fish into it.
So, I've been reading up on the whole fishless cycle thing, but I've run into a bit of a snag. First I thought I'd add ammonia directly but the more I read about it, the more worried I became that the ammonia I would add would inadvertantly contain something that may kill my fish. I read somewhere that you can do the fishless cycle just by using fish food which will decompose to provide the ammonia, so I've been doing this for a couple of days now. Is this practical? I don't know if I'm adding enough or too much fish food? And how long will it take to get an ammonia reading from the decaying food? I checked last night and there was none detected. I'm probably being impatient but I'd like to know if I'm doing this right or just wasting my time. Would it be better if I moved one of my gf in? I don't want to hurt or kill any of them, I've become rather attatched to all of them
So, I've been reading up on the whole fishless cycle thing, but I've run into a bit of a snag. First I thought I'd add ammonia directly but the more I read about it, the more worried I became that the ammonia I would add would inadvertantly contain something that may kill my fish. I read somewhere that you can do the fishless cycle just by using fish food which will decompose to provide the ammonia, so I've been doing this for a couple of days now. Is this practical? I don't know if I'm adding enough or too much fish food? And how long will it take to get an ammonia reading from the decaying food? I checked last night and there was none detected. I'm probably being impatient but I'd like to know if I'm doing this right or just wasting my time. Would it be better if I moved one of my gf in? I don't want to hurt or kill any of them, I've become rather attatched to all of them