Fishless cycling takes too long

[bcmakesiteasy]

Before I started my 10 gallon tank, I did my research on these forums and various other websites and the general consensus was to do fishless cylcing using pure amonia, with water changes and testing water with the API master test kit. I was going to with this route, but decided not to. I simply bought a used tank off craigslist, and told the guy specifically to keep the old filter media and have it in the tank water it was filtering when he gave it to me. I cleaned the old tanks really well, set up all my decor and put the old filter media back into the filter and ran my tank for two days. I then bought 3 fish and put them in the tank. using the API test kit, I had .025 or less amonia, no nitrites, and no nitrates the first day putting in fish. I have been testing for two weeks now and everyday after the 1st day i put fish in, 0 amonia, 0 nitrite, and 5-10 nitrates. Fish are doing absolutely fine, and i didnt "abuse" them or "hurt" them in anyway since the test kit tested 0 levels of toxins. All I am saying is, don't necessarily follow what EVERYONE says and be one of the masses. Do fishless if you want, but if you want fish and dont want to wait weeks/months, I would def say get a used filter media and start your tank, and you'll have fish within a week or less. There is no ONE way to do this hobby!

 

[obedey]

Plenty of people do fish in cycling here you just have to be more dedicated with water changes and it takes longer to cycle. I've never done a fish less cycle.

 

[FishDaAx]

I just finished a fish in cycle. It took my 55g about 35-40 days to complete. But it all depends. You just have to test the water like 2 times a day and do water changes as needed. For me the sweet spot was test water every 12 hours and %30 PWCs every 3 days, unless u get bad news on a test then 30% PWC right away but still keeping on the every 3 day kick.

 

[DavidAl]

Hello,

I think most people on this forum recommend using borrowed media as a reliable way of cycling a tank, but not everyone has the means to acquire such media. There are other reliable ways to cycle a tank, and I think they're often mentioned as well. You were fortunate in obtaining mature media; but that aside, fish-less cycling is one of the best methods to cycle a tank, hands down.

I'm glad to hear everything went well for you.

David

 

[Convict2161]

The established media will work fr sure and it sounds like you have it down. Just a side note. I've done fish in cycles on all my tanks and everything went fine.

Fish in cycles can be done and you can have great success doing it IF your willing to put in the work and time. There were times I was doing back to back water changes on my 55 gallon and I think a went through a API freshwater test kit in a month!

Fish in cycles aren't as taboo as people may think.