New 46G tank

[fishguy04]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and this is my first real fish tank. I have a fluval edge with 5 cardinal tetras and its been going strong for about 6months. I've been doing a lot of reading on the forum and there is a lot of useful information, but I still need a little help to put it all together.

46G bow tank
Marineland emperor 400
200watt Marineland heater
No decorations or plants (haven't decided if I will put any in yet) have been put in the tank, just black sand

I started running my tank last Wednesday and I've tested the water twice so far. PH was around 7.6 both times and my ammonia was 0 as well, the last test was yesterday. I just wanted to know approx how long will it take for me to see the ammonia rise so I can start testing for nitrites and nitrates

 

[librarygirl]

So did you add fish from the edge or are you just letting the tank run empty or are you adding ammonia? The cycle can't start without an ammonia source, either from fish or you adding it manually. With that said, if you added the fish with the filter media from the edge, you shouldn't see any toxin spikes as the bacteria from the edge will cycle the tank for the fish you have now. Once you start adding new fish toxins will rise, so just add them slowly and test daily and do water changes as needed. I'm not sure if I answered your question, though?

 

[fishguy04]

I haven't added any fish from the edge yet but I plan too once the tank has cycled. The one think I did add was the filter media from the edge when i changed it a couple of days ago. The only thing is it sat out side of water for two days before I read it on a thread to do it, so I don't know if its still good. I bought a new biomax bag for the edge but I'm hesitant on changing it and adding it to the 46 since I read on the box not to change the biomax and filter media at the same time. Would adding some water from the edge to the 46 help? The edge readings are ammonia - 0 nitrites - 0 nitrates - 20 pH - 8

 

[fishguy04]

I also crumbled up a bit of fish food and added it yesterday

 

[librarygirl]

If you let the media sit out it might not be viable if it dried out. So there's new media in the edge now too? Even though the manufacturers say to change the media every so often, if you do you lose the bacteria you've built up to cycle the tank, so don't change it unless it's literally falling apart and then only change out small portions at a time.

Again the large tank can't cycle without an ammonia source, so I'd either add the tetras or start adding some ammonia. Since you have the fish already and they are a bit active and would probably prefer the larger tank, I'd just move them to the 46 and test the water daily and see how it goes (effectively doing a fish-in cycle; with any luck some bacteria made it over from the edge filter).
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

 

[librarygirl]

I also crumbled up a bit of fish food and added it yesterday

You'd need a lot of fish food for enough to decompose to add enough ammonia to the tank for it to cycle. So it's up to you, you can either add the tetras and start with them or add some pure ammonia and do a fishless cycle. If you keep the tetras in the edge though I"d keep testing their water too as you just changed out the filter media, so you may need to re-cycle that tank anyway.

 

[fishguy04]

Thank you for the links, I did come across the second link already but not the first one, so I'll give it a read. As for the edge I changed the filter because I was just following the instructions and didn't realize the benefits of keeping it and just rinsing it. The biomax bag in the edge is still original and I was going to change it as well until I read some threads on here. The readings in the edge are good right now and the media was changed 2 days ago. Would it be beneficial to change the biomax filter in the edge and add to the 46? I'm going to try and fine some pure ammonia, what's your thoughts on adding a raw shrimp?