Upgrade to 55 Gal FW, Fishless Cycling with Seeding question

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Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
50
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Hello: I'm upgrading to a 55 gallon tank (for my two 4" fan tail goldfish), and I'm using filter media from my current tank to seed the new one with good bacteria, along with some decorations and a few handfuls of substrate. I ran two filters in my previous tank for about 4 weeks just for the purpose of seeding my new tank). I'm doing this fishless...
My question is this: Do I still need to add ammonia with a 'seeded' fishless cycle? Or can I just use some fish food?

I'm not sure how the nitrogen cycle should look with a seeded tank.

I just set up/filled the tank yesterday (6/1/15) so I haven't even tested the water yet. I have my trusty API kit on standby to test tomorrow... I heard that I should wait a couple of days.
Please let me know if I should test now - if that would be helpful in answering any questions.
Thank you!
 
Yes, you would still add ammonia. If you do not, then you will have nothing to test if the cycle is complete. :) You need to see if the ammonia is converting to nitrite and then to nitrate.

Someone with more experience will hopefully chime in, but if you are moving the two filters from the old tank to the new tank, and not adding any additional fish, I think you can just switch straight to the new tank and it should be fully cycled. Those filters are already capable of handing the bio load.
 
Ummm I think I may have messed something up. When I filled my tank yesterday, I pretty much transferred the filter media to the new tank right away.... Did I kill my BB by transferring the filter media too soon? Before the tank had a chance to come to room temp? (The new water was Prime treated, but I filled it from a clean garden hose, and our water here in Cleveland is still pretty cold).
I just now added (about 28 hours after filling the tank and running the seeded filter media) about a pound of substrate from a very well established and healthy tank.
Thoughts??
 
Okay, so I'm a few days in now, and I'm adding pure, unadulterated ammonia to my new (fishless) tank for cycling. Last night I started with a few drops, then some more until I got to about 1/2 tsp, and I couldn't get the ammonia above .25ppm (I was adding a few drops at a time, then waiting an hour and testing - did this three times then got tired and went to bed)...
I've just now tested again and added more this morning - I'm trying to get it to 3ppm to see where I am in the cycle. I am currently at 1ppm.
 
You are on the right track. If you want some help with the dosing, check out the bottom of this page: Calculator

Input your tank size, the desired ppm you want, the % of ammonia your solution is (from the bottle) and it will tell you how many mL of ammonia to add. Since you are at 1ppm already, enter 2 and that should bump you up to 3.
 
Thanks for the calculator! That's so helpful... I'm going to test again and then adjust right now!
 
Woot! We have lift off... Here are my current parameters:
Ammonia: 3ppm (the color is between 2 and 4 on the API test, so I'm calling it 3)
pH: 7.6
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

So based on what I've read, I wait 24 hours and test again to see how well my little bb are doing. I'll update tomorrow!

GeekLikeThat - did you by chance see my post above about putting the filter media in too soon? Thanks!
 
I think you will be fine, but the only way to know is to do your tests today and see what happens. If your bacteria survived fine, you should see a drop in the ammonia.
 
The ammonia is down to 2ppm, so the bb are eating :) I'll keep an eye on it, and if it drops further I'll re-does with ammonia to keep the bb fed. The filter media that I transferred was small (20gal) moving to a much larger home (55gal), so I bet that it just needs some time and some food. I'm going to do a little crushed up fish food to keep the nutrients up as well. Thanks!
 
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