Using no chemicals??

[Em29uk]

I've recently lost all my fish after I upgraded their tank, I did everything right but I may have put too much water conditioner and biological supplement in , my friend has a 80L tank with healthy fish and she didn't add anything to the water!!!

 

[The Trooper]

Was the new tank cycled/in the process of being fish in cycled when you lost your stock? Your friend might've just been lucky.

 

[Em29uk]

Was the new tank cycled/in the process of being fish in cycled when you lost your stock? Your friend might've just been lucky.

The fish were In the new tank straight away, put all the old water in from the old tank, wAter was tested and there's no ammonia in it , woman at the shop said there probably wasn't enough good bacteria in the old tank, the old tank was only 2 months old

 

[Masha]

Sadly, even if the old tank was cycled and had enough bacteria, that would not have helped. The bacteria does not live in the water. They attach themselves to surfaces in your tank. Since they need oxygen and food to survive, most of the bacteria is usually found in the filter, where the high water flow provides these.

So water from an established tank is not much use. You need the filter media, where all the beneficial bacteria lives.

 

[henningc]

I concur, water is not enough to quick cycle. You can speed things up with established-used-filter media,substrate or decorations. I have a lot of crayfish and the need a lot of 4"-6" PVC pipe sections. When I shut down my outdoor kiddie pools I had about 30 pieces. I placed them in some new tanks straight from the pool. The tanks cycled very quickly. I would imagin that trick works with any object. I have also heard lava rock does a wonderful job as well.