Cycle-- How do YOU Cycle your tank?

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DragonFish

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
81
Location
NY
yea, what the title says. Im curious how everyone cycles their tanks. I know they're a few different ways.

so, how do you cycle your tanks?

with fish or no? ect ect
 
for my 75gal I threw some shrimp pellets in there to rot and just let it sit for a while. Also seeded the filter with some media from my 30gal tank.
 
I've cycled all my tanks without with, with the use of cheap flake food.

Each time it took me about 5-6weeks to cycle the tank, I've always added about a teaspoon every few days (for a 70gal), waited till it's gone, made as much as maybe 2 pwc in that time and had no problems with algae.

Besides, after the cycle I've been able to immediately keep happy German Blue Rams and a few weeks later Otos. So everything works just fine for me.
 
I cycled my tanks by running the new filter on an established tank for a few weeks. The original tank cycle was done with fish...many many fish that ultimately died beacuse I had no clue what a cycle was.
 
yeah, when I first set up my 30gal I had never heard of a cycle. Set up the tank, added water, let it sit for a night, and added fish. All of them survived though, and this was even before I had heard of doing waterchanges and such. :?
 
at least this is a learning thread. when I get my new tank (30 gal or so), Im going to use some gravel and such from my 15 gal mature tank to help the cycling. I may use that filter for a while, or put the new filter in the old tank for a week.
 
I have never purposely cycled a tank in my life. If I have a live filter, that would be my preference, but I seldom have the luxury of planning a cycled tank. Often I have bought fish at an auction, brought them home set up a sterile tank, and put the fish in. I don't test the water anymore, but I know that I will be changing water more frequently, until the cycle establishes. When that happens I couldn't tell you. I routinely change large amounts of water, so it is not a concern. I did that with the most expensive fry I have ever bought, and they are surving and gowing7 months later. I wanted them in a sterile environment that was uncontaminated by previous fish. I have yet to lose any fish from this practice.
 
I am just in awe of the amount of tanks you have Toirtis. I couldn't imagine how long it takes you to feed them all, let alone water changes. I would love to see pics sometime of your tanks.
 
Yeah... Toirtis must have lots of room. If I had the space I'd probably have that many tanks too. Right now I'm just trying to figure out where I could possibly fit a 29g amphibian tank that's on my mind thanks to this forum. ;)
 
That is why I plan on buying a new house, the kitchen table has the 5 gal now. :lol:

As for cycling, now that I know better, I add pure ammonia to the water and keep the ammonia at 4ppm until the cycle is over. Now that I have 7 tanks, I swap filter media tank to tank.
 
In my early days in the hobby (20+ years ago) there was no talk of cycling - most people did not even change water, just topped off. I cycled my tanks but I did not know I was doing it, lol. Later I learned about cycling and cycled with fish, and saw how stressful this was and learned that I could cycle fishless with household ammonia - how cool! This took about 6 weeks on average for me and after accumulating several tanks (not anywhere near Toirtis' level, trust me!) I realized I could use the bacteria from those tanks to get new tanks started. Now I do this without even a second thought. I don't even own an ammonia or nitrite test kit anymore.

I have used Bio-Spira to set up new tanks for other people and for public displays, and when used correctly it works exactly like seed material - basically overnight. These days I have so much seed material I don't have to shell out the bucks for Bio-Spira, and every new tank is seeded with mucky filter floss.
 
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