Wondering if it takes as long as say a 75 gl to cycle

[Riley]

I bought a 20gl long, marineland penguin 200 biowheel filter a hydora wavemaker and a heater with caribsea argonite sand and instant ocean salt.. Wondering if it takes as long as say a 75 gl to cycle.. Its only for a hospital tank or acclimator..

 

[curiousclam120]

Well you have a nice setup for the 20 gallon if ur using it for a quarantine tank. I would take out the sand in the qt, you don't need it. Just some random piping, so that new or sick fish can hide in. What do you mean if it takes as long as a 75 gallon to cycle, you don't need to cycle a qt tank, jst take water from your display tank. ???(confused)

 

[jsmith]

Well you have a nice setup for the 20 gallon if ur using it for a quarantine tank. I would take out the sand in the qt, you don't need it. Just some random piping, so that new or sick fish can hide in. What do you mean if it takes as long as a 75 gallon to cycle, you don't need to cycle a qt tank, jst take water from your display tank. ???(confused)

Yes it will have to cycle.. no beneficial bacteria is in you water column. However if you go ahead and use some live rock from ur dt maybe 10 pounds or do and some filter material .. u should only have a silght cycle .. you will be fine if its an emergency.. but yes do use your dt water since the parameters will be good.

 

[Grizz]

for a qt i run a small HOB on my sump keep it filled with poly-fill. your water has a very small amount of beneficial bacteria or it would not seed the filter You need to brake down your QT to clean it (no sand) i do this every time i use it clean every thing with vinegar toss the old poly-fill clean the HOB replace fill and put it back on the sump or DT for next time
If you use any LR and dose meds you need to toss it,(costly) you want the QT barren use some pvc elbows for the fish to hide in and i dont use a tank for QT because copper can seep into the sealant and leach out later i use a 30g storage tote instead..sry so long