The Sixty Gallon Build :)

[George9]

Thanks everyone!

I hope it doesn't leach a lot of tannins, but the bathtub is turning a little brown.

We'll see what happens today with the boiling water.

EDIT: I found out what type of wood it is. The website said either American chestnut, or sycamore.

 

[librarygirl]

Thanks everyone!

I hope it doesn't leach a lot of tannins, but the bathtub is turning a little brown.

We'll see what happens today with the boiling water.

EDIT: I found out what type of wood it is. The website said either American chestnut, or sycamore.

lol I was just going to link you to the page where they say what type of wood it is but you found it. Check your PH though when you put it in the tank; I've found DW plummets my PH depending on the size of the piece and the type of wood. I have ridiculously soft water though so maybe you won't have an issue.

As for dosing ammonia, here'a calculator that'll tell you how much to add: Calculator

If you add some media from one of your other tanks it should speed things up considerably. Good luck!

 

[George9]

lol I was just going to link you to the page where they say what type of wood it is but you found it. Check your PH though when you put it in the tank; I've found DW plummets my PH depending on the size of the piece and the type of wood. I have ridiculously soft water though so maybe you won't have an issue.

As for dosing ammonia, here'a calculator that'll tell you how much to add: Calculator

If you add some media from one of your other tanks it should speed things up considerably. Good luck!

Thanks! That calculator pretty much just saved my life lol the only other filters I have cartridges, and it's just about time to change them. Do you think adding a dirty cartridge to the filter will help the cycle?

 

[librarygirl]

Thanks! That calculator pretty much just saved my life lol the only other filters I have cartridges, and it's just about time to change them. Do you think adding a dirty cartridge to the filter will help the cycle?

I would think so, but I just saw your stats: is this from the 10 gal tank? And is that the only cartridge in there? If so I wouldn't remove it as you'll essentially be re-cycling the 10 gal. Filter media doesn't need to be changed until it's falling apart. What kind of cartridge is it?

 

[George9]

I would think so, but I just saw your stats: is this from the 10 gal tank? And is that the only cartridge in there? If so I wouldn't remove it as you'll essentially be re-cycling the 10 gal. Filter media doesn't need to be changed until it's falling apart. What kind of cartridge is it?

Its a biowheel filter, this is what they look like:
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pu...N9mm8ADGBxq5MY8P-_JEEmlpDNfemiPhxJOuP8fHQPQjV

Its basically a pad with carbon in it. It isn't the only thing in the filter, there is a biowheel, and I would be replacing the pad with a new one like I do every 5 weeks.

 

[librarygirl]

Oh. Well if you replace it regularly anyway and your 10 doesn't go into a mini-cycle then sure, throw it into the new filter, any bit would certainly help! You could cut open the pad and remove the carbon too that way you wouldn't have to keep replacing them.

 

[George9]

Oh. Well if you replace it regularly anyway and your 10 doesn't go into a mini-cycle then sure, throw it into the new filter, any bit would certainly help! You could cut open the pad and remove the carbon too that way you wouldn't have to keep replacing them.

It's never went into a mini cycle, hopefully it won't start now. Lol

I considered ripping the carbon out, but it's hard to cut it cleanly, plus, the ten is going away once the 60 is cycled. Thanks for the suggestion!

Now, I have to find pure ammonia. The ammonia I thought was pure turned out to have surfactant in it.

 

[librarygirl]

Is there an ACE Hardware near you? They sell pure ammonia (ACE brand Janitorial Strength).

 

[George9]

Is there an ACE Hardware near you? They sell pure ammonia (ACE brand Janitorial Strength).

No, there isn't. They all closed! I wish there was, everyone talks about that stuff.

I'm going to text my dad to get some on his way home from work.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

You can always insta-cycle if you already have a tank. Just get some seeded media from the other tank, add it to your filter, and then add a small bioload for a small mini-cycle and you'll be safe

 

[George9]

You can always insta-cycle if you already have a tank. Just get some seeded media from the other tank, add it to your filter, and then add a small bioload for a small mini-cycle and you'll be safe

I would do that, but the only other filter I have are biowheels and the only media from them is the cartridge and the biowheel.
Hmm, that gives me an idea. What If I ripped the pad off the cartridge and put it in one of the baskets in the canister filter, could add the one fish from my ten gallon if I did that?

 

[librarygirl]

I would do that, but the only other filter I have are biowheels and the only media from them is the cartridge and the biowheel.
Hmm, that gives me an idea. What If I ripped the pad off the cartridge and put it in one of the baskets in the canister filter, could add the one fish from my ten gallon if I did that?

If you're going to upgrade from the 10 to the 60 then you could move the filter pad from the 10 to the 60 and all of the fish as well. Since it's the same bioload there shouldn't be a toxin issue (or if there is it should be minor and not last long). If you did do this you'd want to add new fish very slowly and keep testing the water as you go and do pwc as needed. Because the filter pad on the 10 gal only has enough bacteria for that bioload so it wouldn't be able to carry a full 60 gal stocking right away but it would help seed the new filter and if you added one or two fish at a time as you went along the bacteria would have time to grow and adjust to the new bioload until you're fully stocked. If on the other hand you're impatient and want to stock the 60 gal right away then doing a fishless cycle with ammonia might be better.

 

[George9]

If you're going to upgrade from the 10 to the 60 then you could move the filter pad from the 10 to the 60 and all of the fish as well. Since it's the same bioload there shouldn't be a toxin issue (or if there is it should be minor and not last long). If you did do this you'd want to add new fish very slowly and keep testing the water as you go and do pwc as needed. Because the filter pad on the 10 gal only has enough bacteria for that bioload so it wouldn't be able to carry a full 60 gal stocking right away but it would help seed the new filter and if you added one or two fish at a time as you went along the bacteria would have time to grow and adjust to the new bioload until you're fully stocked. If on the other hand you're impatient and want to stock the 60 gal right away then doing a fishless cycle with ammonia might be better.

I think I'll just do a fishless cycle. There's so much to screw up if I added the fish from my ten gallon and I just don't want to see then die. I could wait two or three weeks for it to finish cycling. Thanks for the info!

 

[George9]

Do you know if surfactant in the ammonia will screw up the cycle?

Edit: nevermind, I already found my answer

 

[joejeff]

If the driftwood effects ph DO NOT use chems to adjust bc it may lead to problems later... It is better to seek a natural fix. Like limestone or a little crushed coral to counter act the effects of the tannins. And about the media. Changing it every 5 weeks wastes money and throws out the bb w the dirty water... Rinse ur media and reuse. Trust me. I was always changing my media and my tank appears cleaner and stays more stable now that u reuse it.

 

[redsea]

Here it is:

Oh and, how could I get this driftwood to sink? I have it soaking in the bathtub now, but I've learned that this could take months! I might just find some big rocks and weigh it down.

Nice! I like the black sand!

 

[George9]

crushed coral to counter act the effects of the tannins. And about the media. Changing it every 5 weeks wastes money and throws out the bb w the dirty water... Rinse ur media and reuse. Trust me. I was always changing my media and my tank appears cleaner and stays more stable now that u reuse it.

Thanks. I learned that the hard way with the chemicals a while back.

Nice! I like the black sand!

Thanks! I like it too.

 

[George9]

I cut the pad off the filter cartridge from my other filter and I'm going to put it in the new filter to see if it will help the cycle. Its sitting in a bucket of old tank water now and probably for the next 15 minutes, will the bacteria die on it by the time I start the cycle (20 mins maybe)?

 

[George9]

Cycling: Day One!

I added the ammonia, and it was at 2 ppm. Added more, going to see the results.

Ammonia: 4 PPM -Got Lucky lol It took 2 teaspoons.
Nitrite: N/A
Nitrate: N/A
pH: 7.6

 

[absolutangel04]

For what its worth, the bacteria will not die in 20 minutes (assuming they stay wet the whole time). They can actually live for days (some people say up to 2 weeks) without an ammo source.