Can I? New filter & cycling

[FishyBusiness]

Hello, I'm new here and recently got back into fish keeping. I have a 90 gallon tank set up for FW with an aquaclear 110. I've started my fishless cycling with ammonia and a pinch of fish food for about a week now. Anyway I know most of what consists of fishless cycling thru a TON of reading the last few weeks but I found a site: Angels Plus, that I can buy "active" MAG sponge filters. Now I don't have an air pump so my question is, if I buy that, can I put the sponge filter in my aquaclear HOB to get the bacteria in there for a month or so (then remove it) or would I have to buy an air pump?

 

[Mrc8858]

As long as there is water flowing over it it will work. Also if its an established sponged then it probably won't even take a month to fully seed

 

[FishyBusiness]

Ok great. I have room in my filter since I left the carbon out for now so I'll just stick it where that goes!

 

[jlk]

Yep, cut up the active filter & stick it in your present filter! The angleplus filters have helped numerous members cycle their tanks. If your ammonia is at 4ppm, do a 50% water change before adding the active filter media to drop your amm to 2ppm- this will prevent the bacteria from being overwhelmed when they are introduced. Once your tank is happily converting 2ppm ammonia, you can increase your amm dose by .5 over a few days until your back to 4ppm without an issue.

 

[FishyBusiness]

Thanks jlk! Do you know by chance approximately how long it would take to cycle? I'm hoping for about a week so I can have a few fish in by next weekend...

 

[jlk]

How many active filters did you purchase? On a 90g, a single active filter will help seed the tank but it likely will still take a while to cycle fully. Its all relative- one filter on a 10g would cycle it probably in a few days or instantly. On a 90g, you would need multiple cycled filters to cycle this quickly. But, no two tanks are the same or cycle on an exact schedule, so hopefully things will go quickly for you! If you have any questions, just ask!

 

[FishyBusiness]

I just purchased one a few minutes ago. I have a 20 gallon that just completed cycling. Maybe I'll put a few cups of that gravel into something to help out. By the time the filter gets here my ammonia should be lower. I just won't let it get above 2 until then.

 

[jlk]

Sounds good! If you need any help or are unsure, just ask!

 

[FishyBusiness]

Update:

So it's been a week fishless cycling my 90g. My 20 gallon I cycled with fish and that tank has been good now since I started my 90. I have had no fish loss. Sunday I squeezed my 20g filter in my 90 real well. Yesterday I added ammonia to 5 ppm and this morning it was at 0. My nitrites are at 1 and nitrates are at 10. This morning I put 2 cups of gravel from my 20 into a glass bowl and put it at the bottom of my 90g. I would have just dumped it in but my gravels are different colors so I don't want it mixed. I also put a few plants in my 90 from my 20 along with rinsing the sponge and shook the bio cartridge in a lil water from my 20 and dumped it into my 90. I will be excited to see my levels in the morning! Maybe I'll check tonight too... This is my first fishless cycle. I didn't know about it before! I have my 90g temp at 85 and the water level is down 2" so there's lots of air. I hope someone can understand this it was so much to say. I am real excited and it's going faster than I expected! I'm still waiting on the active filter from AngelPlus. I ordered it yesterday so I should have it by Monday!

 

[jlk]

Looks great so far!!

 

[FishyBusiness]

If I'm only going to stock a few fish in my tank do I need to add ammonia up to 5 ppm or can I just do it to 2 or 3 for the initial cycle?

 

[FishyBusiness]

I will add more fish later and at a slow pace but I don't see a need for me to build my BB colony up strong just for some to die off? Or should I still do the initial cycle to 5?

 

[jlk]

If you plan on adding just a few fish (guessing larger fish), your fine to cycle to @3ppm. If your just adding a few neons or some other tiny fish, 2ppm is fine. Just stock slowly when you add new fish in the future & continue to monitor your water parameters daily when the new fish are added- your good bacteria will have to adjust upwards when you increase the bioload & its possible you may see a spike in toxins. Some extra water changes will handle this (should it occur) until things stabilize.

 

[FishyBusiness]

Ok. I was wondering why my tank was cycling so fast! I was only adding ammonia to .5 NOT 5! Wow. Leave it to me lol. Anyway this morning I put in 6 ml of ammo in and now it's only to 1.5 I'll keep it there until I get my active filter hopefully today if not Monday...

 

[FishyBusiness]

So I got my filter from AngelPlus so I cut half of it up and put it in my aquaclear in place of the carbon and just plopped the other half in the bottom of the tank. My ammonia is at 1.5 from this morning so I'll keep it at about 2 for the week and see how it progresses.

 

[Mrc8858]

Sounds good now the fun part, waiting... Lol

 

[FishyBusiness]

Yesterday morning status:
Ammo .5
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 10

Added 8ml ammo bought it up to 3ppm

This morning before adding ammo:
Ammo .5
Nitrite 15
Nitrate 10/15 (hard to tell exactly)

I added 8 ml more so should be back up to 3ppm soon. My ph went up from 7.2 to 7.5 since I upped my ammo from 1.5 to 3 the last couple days.

 

[jlk]

Your ph going up a bit is normal- ammonia has a very high ph. Just keep an eye on it for drops. I assume the nitrite reading of 15 is typo? Keep us posted!

 

[bloodlucky]

After my tank was cycled I was left with high pH for about a week. My fish didn't seem bothered

 

[FishyBusiness]

Getting a little better! Today:
Ammo .25
Nitrite 2 (yesterday was a typo! Was 1.5!)
Nitrate 10

Added 8 ml ammo so hope should be close to 3 again. I'll check in a half hour. Now that Amos going down a lil more and Trites are going up a lil more. Im sure that's how that works?!