cycling of my 32

[ryan]

right now my readings are ammonia 0.7 nitrate 0.3 i have been dosing with cycle and my ammonia source is dead plant leaves from my planted 10 g and food flakes which i put in like im really feeded fish so i get ammonia. how much longer will my cycle take?should it have a weird smell that smells like dead fish or old seafood?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Have you had an ammonia spike yet? Is it on its way down or up? It's going to take a while to cycle a tank with just fish food and leaves.

 

[ryan]

its going up also i am seeding one of my filters on it on a well established tank for a week then switching it back to the 32 any suggestions to speed up the cycle?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Bio Spira or run the new filter on an existing tank for two weeks. By doing that it will give you an almost instant cycle.

 

[ryan]

alright thanks i was looking for bio spira but had no luck anywhere i can get it?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm not sure since I don't live in Canada.

 

[ryan]

alright i guess ill keep looking btw without bio spira and using cycle and using my filter on my established tank then back to my 32 will that still take 2 weeks or more.also should i just drop in some dead shrimp and let them decompose since i cant find any pure ammonia around where i live

 

[noncentric]

It sounds like this is a 32 gallon tank you're trying to cycle?

You can try turning the temperature up to around 80-82 Fahrenheit...since there aren't any fish in there.

Also, was the 0.3 reading for nitrIte? Your first post said it was nitrAtes, so just checking. If it's nitrItes, then I think you're progressing well. You may want to make sure you're putting a lot of food in there to produce enough "food" for the bacteria.

Seeding the filter on your 10-gal tank is a great idea.

Good luck!

 

[ryan]

alright thanks and yes it is nitrites. also i add alot of food so how much longer do you think i have to go?

 

[noncentric]

I forgot to add, that you can move some of the gravel from your established tank to your cycling tank. That will help to seed the population of beneficial bacteria in the cycling tank.

As others have said, after the new filter has been running on your established tank for a couple weeks - then moving that filter to the cycling tank will speed things along even better. Just remember to keep feeding the bacteria as you've been doing.

I can't guarantee a time frame, but I would assume your cycle would be finished within one week after making that filter move. So - 3 weeks from when you started running the new filter on the established tank.

Of course, you'll want to keep checking water parameters until you're sure the cycle is finished. It's not necessary to check it everyday if there aren't any fish in the cycling tank, maybe every 2-3 days.

 

[ryan]

ok thanks.i tseted my tank just last night and my results were ammonia 1.2 and nitrite 0.3.