Cycle-- How do YOU Cycle your tank?

[DragonFish]

yea, what the title says. Im curious how everyone cycles their tanks. I know they're a few different ways.

so, how do you cycle your tanks?

with fish or no? ect ect

[jrp1588]

for my 75gal I threw some shrimp pellets in there to rot and just let it sit for a while. Also seeded the filter with some media from my 30gal tank.

[Tiffi]

I've cycled all my tanks without with, with the use of cheap flake food.

Each time it took me about 5-6weeks to cycle the tank, I've always added about a teaspoon every few days (for a 70gal), waited till it's gone, made as much as maybe 2 pwc in that time and had no problems with algae.

Besides, after the cycle I've been able to immediately keep happy German Blue Rams and a few weeks later Otos. So everything works just fine for me.

[Fishyfanatic]

I cycled my tanks by running the new filter on an established tank for a few weeks. The original tank cycle was done with fish...many many fish that ultimately died beacuse I had no clue what a cycle was.

[Codefox]

I'm going to try giving Seachem's Stability a try.

[jrp1588]

yeah, when I first set up my 30gal I had never heard of a cycle. Set up the tank, added water, let it sit for a night, and added fish. All of them survived though, and this was even before I had heard of doing waterchanges and such.

[DragonFish]

at least this is a learning thread. when I get my new tank (30 gal or so), Im going to use some gravel and such from my 15 gal mature tank to help the cycling. I may use that filter for a while, or put the new filter in the old tank for a week.

[BillD]

I have never purposely cycled a tank in my life. If I have a live filter, that would be my preference, but I seldom have the luxury of planning a cycled tank. Often I have bought fish at an auction, brought them home set up a sterile tank, and put the fish in. I don't test the water anymore, but I know that I will be changing water more frequently, until the cycle establishes. When that happens I couldn't tell you. I routinely change large amounts of water, so it is not a concern. I did that with the most expensive fry I have ever bought, and they are surving and gowing7 months later. I wanted them in a sterile environment that was uncontaminated by previous fish. I have yet to lose any fish from this practice.

[Toirtis]

With 65 tanks, I just swap cycled filter media on to the new tank....otherwise I would likely fishless cycle.

[jrp1588]

*falls over dead at the staggering amount of tanks*

[Toirtis]

Originally Posted by jrp1588

*falls over dead at the staggering amount of tanks*

Fall over dead at the staggering water and electrical bills....

[Fishyfanatic]

I am just in awe of the amount of tanks you have Toirtis. I couldn't imagine how long it takes you to feed them all, let alone water changes. I would love to see pics sometime of your tanks.

[Toirtis]

Originally Posted by Fishyfanatic

I couldn't imagine how long it takes you to feed them all,

About 10-12 minutes.

let alone water changes.

About 2-3 hours daily, but I work in a well-oiled routine.

[jgc8fan]

Yeah... Toirtis must have lots of room. If I had the space I'd probably have that many tanks too. Right now I'm just trying to figure out where I could possibly fit a 29g amphibian tank that's on my mind thanks to this forum.

[Toirtis]

Originally Posted by jgc8fan

Yeah... Toirtis must have lots of room.

Nope....just tanks everywhere....everywhere.

[Zagz]

That is why I plan on buying a new house, the kitchen table has the 5 gal now.

As for cycling, now that I know better, I add pure ammonia to the water and keep the ammonia at 4ppm until the cycle is over. Now that I have 7 tanks, I swap filter media tank to tank.

[TankGirl]

In my early days in the hobby (20+ years ago) there was no talk of cycling - most people did not even change water, just topped off. I cycled my tanks but I did not know I was doing it, lol. Later I learned about cycling and cycled with fish, and saw how stressful this was and learned that I could cycle fishless with household ammonia - how cool! This took about 6 weeks on average for me and after accumulating several tanks (not anywhere near Toirtis' level, trust me!) I realized I could use the bacteria from those tanks to get new tanks started. Now I do this without even a second thought. I don't even own an ammonia or nitrite test kit anymore.

I have used Bio-Spira to set up new tanks for other people and for public displays, and when used correctly it works exactly like seed material - basically overnight. These days I have so much seed material I don't have to shell out the bucks for Bio-Spira, and every new tank is seeded with mucky filter floss.