speeding up cycle

[mollymama]

I'm in the middle (well, hopefully toward the end actually...still waiting) of a fish-in cycle. My neighbor gave me a cup full of gravel from their tank to help speed up the growth of good bacteria. How should I go about adding this to my tank? I had read something about putting it in a nylon stocking and hanging it in the tank.

Other info:
10 gallon tank
2 mollies
Cycle week #8, doing daily 50% water changes to keep nitrites at bay. I rinsed out the filter in tap water a couple weeks ago which is why I think it's taking so long to complete the cycling process.

 

[eco23]

I'm in the middle (well, hopefully toward the end actually...still waiting) of a fish-in cycle. My neighbor gave me a cup full of gravel from their tank to help speed up the growth of good bacteria. How should I go about adding this to my tank? I had read something about putting it in a nylon stocking and hanging it in the tank.

Other info:
10 gallon tank
2 mollies
Cycle week #8, doing daily 50% water changes to keep nitrites at bay. I rinsed out the filter in tap water a couple weeks ago which is why I think it's taking so long to complete the cycling process.

I'd suggest throwing it in a mesh bag and placing it near the filter intake so it sucks the bacteria up into the filter media you're trying to colonize. If it'll fit, you can also throw it into with the filter itself too.

 

[Dylan5359]

nylon stocking, mesh bag, filter bag (you can purchase them at a LFS) All of those will work.

 

[mollymama]

I'd suggest throwing it in a mesh bag and placing it near the filter intake so it sucks the bacteria up into the filter media you're trying to colonize. If it'll fit, you can also throw it into with the filter itself too.

So it'll have to hang pretty low to the bottom of the tank then, right? Thx...I wasn't sure about where exactly to put it, so that helps.

 

[mollymama]

Ok, one more question...assuming this does help speed things up, how long do you think it might take to see results? I'd love to see those nitrite levels decrease on their own w/o pwc soon!

 

[eco23]

Ok, one more question...assuming this does help speed things up, how long do you think it might take to see results? I'd love to see those nitrite levels decrease on their own w/o pwc soon!

Do you know your water parameters? Ammo, no2, no3? Fish in cycles differ greatly, but we might be able to get an idea where you are. Unfortunately gravel is not as bacteria rich as filter media, but it will help.

 

[mollymama]

Thanks for your reply, and sorry it took a while to respond...been super busy and I actually didn't log on the computer at all for 2 days. Anyway, the good news is I tested this morning and things are looking up! Ammo = 0, Nitrites = 0 (whoo hoo!!) and Nitrates = 0-5. This is week 9 of the cycle, so I don't know if things just happened naturally or if adding the gravel helped, too. At any rate, I'm happy to not have to do a water change today! I will test levels tomorrow to see if things are holding steady, but the only time nitrites have been at 0 was right after a 50% pwc, and it's been 24 hours since the last change and I still got a 0 reading.