A Question About Cycling Tanks

[FishLover14]

What would the bets way too cycle a 55gal tank.

I have heard of just waiting 3 weeks without adding any fish.
Putting in Bio-Spira which is costly, and i also would have too add all my fish at once.
Manually cycling it with pure ammoinio and doing tests till i know its cycled.
Which one do you think is the best way or is there other ways i havent heard about.

BTW.
I am going to buy a Melanchormis Aurctus

Also known as Auctuas Very aggresiive lake malaiwi cichlid.

I have a spare 10gal I am going to put him in it alone with,
Penguin Mini Bio-Wheel HOB Filter, Heater, Live plants, and bubble wand.
Would that be ok he would be alone, They only grow to be 5inches long an the tank is 20 icnhes long by 15 inches tall.
Do Auctauses shred plants?
I love the paticular aructus cihlid veyr pretty, but i dont have the money too set up a tank and pay 500 for rock and 300 for a tank.

Thanks everyone.

Dan

 

[Springcheeks]

I'm a little confused. Is the Melanochromis auratus going in the 55g or the 10? What is going in the other tank you mentioned? Sorry if I missed it, its late here and has been a long day.
I would recommend against putting the above fish in a 10g, regardless of its 5 inch adult size. If the fish is very aggressive then its also going to be territorial and need more space to establish territory than what a 10g can give it. You may very well end up with a fish that is stressed and does not behave at it would given the bigger tank.
I've never used Bio Spira as it is not available here but I have heard people are quite successful with it. If money is an issue I'd imagine that a bottle of ammonia is going to be cheaper than BS, you'll just have some waiting time before you place fish in the tank if you cycle with ammonia.

 

[cginflorida]

Using ammonia is easy and cheap. And if you can seed the tank with some decorations or filter material, substrate etc. from an established tank, that'll speed things along. Sorry, can't help you about the fish, I don't know anything about them.

Are you planning to use the 10 gal as a quarantine tank?

 

[FawnN]

Unless you have an established filter you can put into your 55, I personally don't think it matters how you cycle it. You can seed it with plants, decor and gravel, but your still looking at a cycling time of 4 weeks, if not more.

As for easy, I would go fishless cycling. All your doing during the process is testing your water and adding ammonia when necessary.

When you do a cycle with fish, you are testing your water, doing water changes, worrying about diseasses, worrying about stress on your fish and death. A lot of work if you ask me.

When I cycled my tank, I just lowered the water level for a bigger splash, brought the temp up to 81, added an airstone for additional aeration and was able to successfully cycle my tank within 4 weeks, without any seeded stuff from my established tanks.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Fishless cycling is the way to go! It should only take 7-10 days, if done correctly.

See: http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm

 

[FishLover14]

Thanks everyone.

I will probably not go with the Arcturus.

Dan