How long did it take to cycle your tank?

[coolbeenes]

In the middle of cycling my first tank. I just want to hear from others on how look it took them. Also, any help on how to get the nitrite bb going would be helpful.

 

[Dreamingdragon]

I took me 3 weeks, just let it run till its stable, ad bacteria to the water.

 

[shellieca]

In the middle of cycling my first tank. I just want to hear from others on how look it took them. Also, any help on how to get the nitrite bb going would be helpful.

Fish IN or Fish LESS? When you say half way through, how far along? My 10g fish IN took 8 wks, my 46g fish IN took about 6 wks.

 

[coolbeenes]

Fishin cycle. Tank has been up since 8/22/12. No ammonia, nitrites and nitrates high. Using prime every 24 hours to detox nitrites. Fish are all doing well.

 

[shellieca]

Fishin cycle. Tank has been up since 8/22/12. No ammonia, nitrites and nitrates high. Using prime every 24 hours to detox nitrites. Fish are all doing well.

Are you doing water changes or just adding Prime? You should be doing water changes to bring down the nitrites, they need to be removed not just detoxified.

 

[coolbeenes]

I am still doing water changes every week. Most recently last night. I was doing water changes every day for about a week until I talked to someone from Seachem. He told me to do less water changes so I did not slow down the bb process. He said to use Prime every 24 hours and trust that my fish would be fine. He said the nitrites and nitrates would still show up in water testing but to trust that Prime would detox the nitrites and nitrates.

 

[coolbeenes]

So far my fish have showed no negative signs. I have plenty of air flow in the tank and surface movement. I have the temp up a little to encourage bb growth.

 

[TommyP]

Sorry for chiming in on your thread but if I purchased salt water already treated from my LFS do I still have to cycle the tank? Or is this only when you mix the water and salt/chemicals yourself?

 

[coolbeenes]

Sorry for chiming in on your thread but if I purchased salt water already treated from my LFS do I still have to cycle the tank? Or is this only when you mix the water and salt/chemicals yourself?

Water from an established tank will help you jump start your tank, however you will still have some time to cycle your own tank. Imo you would be better off using your own water. Most lfs water is not the best even with expensive filtration systems. Most lfs aquariums have two many fish, dead fish in the water. I never add this water to my tanks.

 

[tamtam]

Sorry for chiming in on your thread but if I purchased salt water already treated from my LFS do I still have to cycle the tank? Or is this only when you mix the water and salt/chemicals yourself?

are you talking about a salt water tank? This is a fresh water forum.

The bacteria that the cycle grows is mostly in the filter, very little is in the water column so I would imagine whether salt of fresh water you would still need to cycle a tank.

Never heard of buying treated water before though so i could be way off on what you are talking about. lol

 

[TommyP]

Yes Tamtam I am talking about salt water, accidently posted in the wrong forum. My apologies.


my LFS sells pre-mixed salt water only it wasnt something that they took out of the tanks it was boxed.

 

[tamtam]

Took me 6 or 7 weeks fishless and 8 weeks fish in.

Personally I would not rely on PRIME to replace water changes. A company is going to of course tell you not to do them if it means using more of the product. All of the bacteria in a bottle products instruct you not to do water changes at all either. It's a great tool of course but doing water changes are not going to slow the process that much.

When you say nitrates are high what are they at? I don't believe PRIME effects nitrates at all so water changes would be the only solution for this as well.

 

[tamtam]

Yes Tamtam I am talking about salt water, accidently posted in the wrong forum. My apologies.


my LFS sells pre-mixed salt water only it wasnt something that they took out of the tanks it was boxed.

hmmm, then yes I would assume you still need to cycle. The good bacteria attach themselves to surfaces like filter media and decor so not a lot of this would be in any water, even coming from an established tank

 

[TommyP]

Thank you very much.

 

[shellieca]

I am still doing water changes every week. Most recently last night. I was doing water changes every day for about a week until I talked to someone from Seachem. He told me to do less water changes so I did not slow down the bb process. He said to use Prime every 24 hours and trust that my fish would be fine. He said the nitrites and nitrates would still show up in water testing but to trust that Prime would detox the nitrites and nitrates.

I trust Prime to detox my water but I would still do water changes based on my water tests to lower the ammonia, nitrites & nitrates. But that's just my opinion.

 

[librarygirl]

I am still doing water changes every week. Most recently last night. I was doing water changes every day for about a week until I talked to someone from Seachem. He told me to do less water changes so I did not slow down the bb process. He said to use Prime every 24 hours and trust that my fish would be fine. He said the nitrites and nitrates would still show up in water testing but to trust that Prime would detox the nitrites and nitrates.

So a Seachem rep wants you to use more of their product? Wow I'm shocked lol
Prime only lasts 24-48 hours and if you keep adding it it could very well buildup and poison the fish in the long-run. It also only detoxes nitrite up to a certain point, so if nitrites are really high (I think 1 ppm but I'd have to double-check) the Prime alone won't doing much to help the fish. If nitrites are over .25, do water changes (which will NOT slow the cycling process, btw).