Tank Beginnings - Cycle Question

[Adzatious]

Hey Guys.
It's been five days now since I started my 150 Gal tank
I'm cycling it with some feeder fish and a few yabbies in there for interest - hopefully they will kick the cycle along aswell!
How long is it typically before I see some Nitrites in my readings?
Also I am running a canister filter which has a couple of different foam inserts, bio balls and what I think is ceramic pieces...? They are hollowed out cylinders...? My water isn't getting crystal clear so I was going to ask what kind of media I should get to help it along? Activated Carbon?
I've also been thinking I might get my old aqua clear 500 out and run that on it aswell... just a thought.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Adam

 

[TankGirl]

Congrats on your 150 gal!

What are yabbies? (forgive my ignorance)

I would say a week or 10 days maybe before you will start seeing nitrite. Depending on exactly how many fish you have in there it might take a bit longer in a large tank like a 150. The cloudiness is likely a bacterial bloom - nothing to worry about for now and if your ammonia is not at a dangerous level I would ignore the cloudiness at this point, it will resolve itself. Try to leave the filter as it is for now, as disturbing it at this point might set you back.

It absolutely cannot hurt a bit to slap on that AC - the more media the merrier! The ceramic pieces are sometimes called "noodles" and are an excellent biomedia, so it sounds like your filter is set up just right to me.

Good luck!

 

[Adzatious]

Cool, thanks TankGirl.
By the way I think the word yabbies must be Australian slang.
They are small crayfish - my local fish store was actually selling them as feeders... even though as a fish there are some big ones in my tank that I wouldn't go near (look at those big blue pincers!)
Anyway they add a bit of interest for my house mates while the tank is cycling... no-one seems to understand why we can't just throw everything in straight away. This buys me some time

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks for the lesson on your local vernacular - now I've a new term that I can whip out sometime!

Those crayfish are carnivores so they might give you some trouble but you likely know that already - I imagine they are great for cycling a tank.

 

[Diva]

Hey there TankGirl - long time no see!

Adzatious - Im not in any way shape or form a cycling expert - or fish expert - but I just wanted to say that my 240 L cycled without ever showing nitrites in the readings. And I tested at least once a day from 1 week old until about 2 months later.

I cylced with 6 Corys (doh! didnt realize they were sensitive!) but they pulled through the cycling. (though 4 didnt make it for bizarre reasons, 2 are still going strong 6 months later..) and then added 8 Red Tailed Rasboras when people suggested there might not be enough fish in there.

Anyway. Alls Im saying at some point I started getting normal Nitrate readings and never saw nitrite - and I tested with 2 different types of kits.

Good Luck to you!