Cycling a new, old tank

[joefiatoa]

Tank set up

- 40 g

- 50 lbs to 60 lbs of gravel

- around 10 lbs of miracle grow organic choice potting mix

- 2 aquaria filters

- 10-20 assorted freshwater plants

- 6 assorted plecos

- 2 c. Algae eaters

- black mollies



I have a 40 g est. tank that I have had running for about a year now. I wanted to add potting mix to my substrate so that my plants grow better and stop getting kicked up by my fish. Everything I am using for the new set up is coming from the already established tank. I had to drain about 75% of the water to make rescale. I have kept about 25% of the old water and also am using all original substrate of the old tank. I want to know how I should go about cycling my tank the quickest so I can reintroduce my fish again. How should I do my water changes and which fish should i put in first. Any other suggestions as well would be helpful.



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[ppo8820]

Can you add miracle grow to a fish tank? I have never heard of such a thing, and I would think their are chemicals in it that are potentially harmful to fish.

 

[joefiatoa]

It's the organic potting mix. Not the soil or fertz


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[Coyne]

Can you dose 4ppm ammonia into the new tank? If so, then you can just test the water parameters like you would during a typical cycle. Then you'd know for sure instead of guesstimating.


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