Cycling question

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lancerland

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
16
I am cycling a 10 gallon tank, I got a used filter from a coworker of mine, and I was wondering how long I need to get it in the tank for?

He gave it to me right from his tank and I brought it home and through it in my tank right away, making sure that it was still wet.
 
Two to three weeks should be fine, depending on what he had in his tank and what you will have in your tank.
 
Do you have an ammonia source (ie, rotting shrimp or pure ammonia)? The used filter media will only help cycle if it has an ammonia source to feed on.
 
I decided to do a fishy cycle, so I have 3 rasbora's in there right now. They seem to be doing fine to me. I tried to get the AP test kit yesterday.I went to 4 different LFS's and they were all sold out. I found one today at work and called them, they have one left, So I am going there right after work and will test as soon as I get home. I have been doing 25% wc's every day since I put the fish in there last Saturday.
 
lancerland,

i have used that exact same method to cycle many tanks.
if you managed to get the filter media home quickly and with no die off of the bacteria, and fish added the same day its possible that you will not even see a cycle at all, esp if the filter was off of a larger tank.

a hint for you for the test kit:
if you have a Pets*art in ur area, go online and print the price out for the test kit online
they will price match at the store..............
 
Can you believe that I went to 4 Pet*mart's in Chicago, and every single one of them was sold out.

On a side note, I also tried a place called Old Town Aquarium, the LFS that I Bought my fish from, and when I walked in the store I saw a man standing next to their 1000 gallon saltwater display tank. There are probably about 30-40 fish in there. The man looked really familiar to me for some reason so I kinda eves dropped on his conversation with the employee. The man was trying to purchase the tank!!! He kept repeating that money was no object, and that he would pay whatever the young employee told him was a fair price. To my surprise and delight the young employe simply told the man, the this tank isn't for sale, and that if he wanted a 1000 gallon saltwater aquarium that he would have to do everything himself. Too funny. After the man left I finally realized who the man was...... It was Derek Lee, the starting first basemen for the Chicago Cubs. He thought he could just buy his way into the hobby.
 
lancerland said:
It was Derek Lee, the starting first basemen for the Chicago Cubs. .

Really? You're sure? Thats pretty cool. Maybe he should be spending more time on baseball, and less on fish. Perhaps then the Cubs would win once in a while...
 
I am positeve it was him.

The funny thing was that it was about 2 hours after the cubs just lost the game that day I guess he wasnt that upset about it
 
David14259 said:
Maybe he should be spending more time on baseball, and less on fish. Perhaps then the Cubs would win once in a while...
HAHAHA! Maybe during games all he thinks about is buying an aquarium.
 
lancerland- if you have been doing daily 25% pwcs while running an old filter on your tank, then chances are everything is fine. Just DON'T vacuum the gravel or clean the filter until you are sure that the tank has cycled. Oh, and be sure to post those test results!
 
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