Fishless or not?

[Japola44]

I was just curious about what is better to cycle. A fishless tank or one with fish?

My bichir was in the 10 and 20 gal tanks while thye cycled and he is just fine. So, i was thinking of using him for my 55 to cycle? Is that a bad idea, because so far it has worked well. I never have really understood cycling

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I would go with the fishless method. It is alot faster and you don't have to worry about the stress on the fish. They may be hardy, but it doesn't mean they are happy.

 

[id10t]

Take your filter media, etc. from the existing tank and put it in the 55 wiht the fish at the same time. Insta cycle pretty much...

 

[Zagz]

I agree on the borrowing filter media etc. If you don't get an instant cycle it will be close and reduce the amount of time before you can add fish.

 

[Japola44]

ok thanks!

 

[malkore]

I agree on the borrowing filter media etc. If you don't get an instant cycle it will be close and reduce the amount of time before you can add fish.

That, or it'll give you enough bacteria to start adding SOME of your fish. e.g. if you had media from a 20gallon that contained 10 inches of fish, you shouldn't add more than 10 inches of fish to the 55gal after adding the seasoned filter media, for about 10-14 days.

and when doing this, you still have to monitor ammonia, nitrites, and eventually nitrates, to make sure that everything is running smoothly. Its foolproof, but still not a 100% guarantee, because, well, stuff happens.

 

[Guest]

The thing is.. the fish may survive the cycle.. but during it they are getting burned by ammona and nitrite. The ammonai especially can cause damage to their gills and respiratory mechanisms and cause them to have problems for the rest of their lives.

 

[malkore]

Ashley,

Not sure if you're responding to my post, but I'll assume you are, and will clarify.

When using existing 'seasoned' filter media to 'seed' a new tank, you'll have all the bacteria needed to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate.
However, unless you happen to have a very large amount of filter media that you can move to the new tank, you can't guarantee you have enough bacteria to handle the ammonia production of a fully stocked tank.
Hence why I said you could start adding SOME fish withing 24 hours of moving the media over.
This will prevent ammonia from getting high enough to cause any harm, and ditto for nitrites. The rest of the tank quickly colonizes with the bacteria, allowing for a full fish load within a few weeks, all the while never having a spec of ammonia most likely.

This is how I start up all my tanks, and is a huge reason why I run 2 sponges in my AC HOB's...I always have plenty of media to meet the demands of my fish.

 

[Guest]

oh no Malkore, i wasn't responding to your post... I always use a seeded filter or seeded filter media when starting a new tank and ive never really had a "cycle" since i started doing that. I was merely commenting because Japola44 said that the Birchir had lived through a cycle without any problems and that it can be harmful to a fish's quality of life to cycle with fish. (without the aid of a seeded filter or something like biospira)

 

[Japola44]

I have another question...
If i were to put my 20 gal filter on the 55 and then take the 55 gal filter and run it in the 20 for a bit so it also built up bactira and after a day or so switch them back would that help keep it pretty stable?

 

[rich311k]

Run the 55 on the 20 for a few weeks. It will be well seeded.