cycling time?

[lornajane89]

Hi i just started a 25g tank. Ive been running the pump in my established tank for over a week and today when i did a water.change today and put the water in my new tank along with some fresh water. 2 questions really

How long should i wait before i can expect a complete cycle and start testing?
Will it be better for cycling if i turn the heater on already?

Thanks

 

[lornajane89]

Oh and i put the filter in my new tank..sorry

 

[eco23]

So you put the new tanks filter on your established tank to seed it, then after a while you'll move it over to the new tank and stock lightly or do a fishless cycle?

If so that's fine, but in reality if you stock slowly you can just donate a good portion of filter media from your old tank, jam it into the new filter...then go ahead and add a few fish or fishless cycle. There wouldn't be a need to cycle the other filter on the main tank...but it definitely won't hurt anything.

Unless you have a filter running on the second tank...and you're adding an ammonia source...there's absolutely no cycling going in in that tank. You can either take it down and out it in the closet for now...or go ahead and decide what type of cycle you're going to do in the new tank and get it started.

 

[lornajane89]

Will guppy fry be a good starter lol I already moved the filter over from my established tank with the water and gravel vacuum waste.. Will that not act as a source of ammonia?

Ill probably look more into fishless cycling if i can im struggling to find the fish im after so im not in a massive hurry i need to get it planted up.

 

[librarygirl]

Will guppy fry be a good starter lol I already moved the filter over from my established tank with the water and gravel vacuum waste.. Will that not act as a source of ammonia?

Ill probably look more into fishless cycling if i can im struggling to find the fish im after so im not in a massive hurry i need to get it planted up.

How many guppy fry? In a 25 gal? Not sure if that would create enough ammonia to start a cycle but fry are very sensitive and you generally don't want to throw any fish into a pool of ammonia, particularly babies.

To cycle a tank properly you need a source of ammonia. WIth fish this comes from the fish waste and uneaten food; without fish you have to add it yourself with something like pure ammonia. Cycling basically means growing the bacteria that's needed to get rid of the toxins ( ammonia) your fish put out so they are not harmed by it.

Running the filter onto the main tank for a week may have helped it, but not sure if it would transfer enough bacteria in that time to fully handle the waste fish are going to put out in a 25 gal. Is the tank still empty? If so you could test it with a fishless cycle where you add pure ammonia, test the water with your test kit and try to get the ammonia level up to 3-4, then every day test the water. Any time ammonia reaches <1 redose the ammonia. When the tank is cycled it will bring the ammonia down to 0 after 24 hours, nitrite will stay at 0, and you'll have some nitrate. Then it'll be safe for fish. Otherwise you won't know for sure; you could add a couple of fish in and test the water every day and if you see an ammonia reading then you'll know the tank isn't ready, put them back into the other tank and continue with the fishless cycle. There's a link in my signature called 'new empty tank' that'll walk you through the process.