egb18c
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
How many days should i let my tank cycle for before adding fish?
fyi its for oscars if it matters.
fyi its for oscars if it matters.
cycleing 80 gal
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Jchillin
Aquarium Advice Addict
egb18c - It depends on what type of cycling your using. It takes a few weeks. When you test your parameters and you get 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 10-20ppm nitrate you should be there. What are your parameters now and how long have you been cycling?
TankGirl
Aquarium Advice Addict
Cycling a tank takes weeks, not days, unless you are seeding the tank with filter media or gravel from an established tank.
Sometimes the LFS will instruct people to "cycle the tank for a few days" before coming back in to get fish. The tank is not cycling at all, it is just a box of flowing water. It is a good idea to run it for a couple of days to be sure all of your equipment is operating normally and to get the temperature where you want it, but you will need to grow bacteria in the tank and filter for it to be cycled, which can take as long as six weeks. The bacteria needs ammonia to grow, so you can add household ammonia to the tank every day or put fish in, which produce ammonia through respiration and waste. Most of us here prefer to fishless cycle, since it is simpler and you don't have to worry about the fish becoming ill from the cycle.
Forgive me if I have misunderstood you and your question, but here is an article that explains fishless cycling: http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html
Sometimes the LFS will instruct people to "cycle the tank for a few days" before coming back in to get fish. The tank is not cycling at all, it is just a box of flowing water. It is a good idea to run it for a couple of days to be sure all of your equipment is operating normally and to get the temperature where you want it, but you will need to grow bacteria in the tank and filter for it to be cycled, which can take as long as six weeks. The bacteria needs ammonia to grow, so you can add household ammonia to the tank every day or put fish in, which produce ammonia through respiration and waste. Most of us here prefer to fishless cycle, since it is simpler and you don't have to worry about the fish becoming ill from the cycle.
Forgive me if I have misunderstood you and your question, but here is an article that explains fishless cycling: http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html
egb18c
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Thanks for that link 
egb18c
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
will a fish store have Top Crest or Whirl Clear Ammonia?
TankGirl
Aquarium Advice Addict
Nope, you get that at the grocery store, Kmart, or Walmart. Even a drug store might carry plain household ammonia. You go into most any LFS and tell them you are going to fishless cycle and half the time you will get a blank look of confusion, unfortunately! (Hope that is an exaggeration...)
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