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Time for cycle?


Bruce

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I'm getting my new tank this Saturday, it's a 6x2x2.5 with a 4ft sump. The total amount of water is about 1000l. I plan to empty a whole bottle of stresszyme into it and then add some bio filled dirty water from the lfs. I'm also adding Wardley dechlorinator and Seachem Tanganyikan salt buffer.

I plan to do the cycle fishlessly. How long would it take as I need to add fish two weeks later? Is there any way to speed up the process?

Bruce

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get a few different brands of "bacteria in a bottle" and squeeze out an existing filter as well. If you fed lightly you could just about put them in immediately if you have prime or another ammonia neutraliser on hand just in case.

With good seeding you should be fine in two weeks, how are you "feeding" the bacteria starter? raw prawn? fish food? pure ammonia?

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I usually just add some fish food. I guess I could do my multi water change straight into the big tank with all the poo and stuff to feed it.

Bruce

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tops idea. (Bruce's old water into the tank idea, not so much Camo's goldfish one)

actually it might be good to not buffer/salt the water straight off - the bottled stuff might be at pH7 & the reports of them being useless might be cause they die when dumped into pH8.5+ tanks.

I've had luck with Cycle in tanks about 7.5pH for instance, maybe the bacteria get killed in african tanks due to the pH difference?

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Ok, so I'll wait till a couple of days before fish arrival before adding the Seachem buffer. I'd rather stay clear of goldfish as they carry a lot of disease and despite having a UV sterilizer I'd still rather stay clear of them. The lfs has some $5 convicts at the moment which I'd rather add, they are about 3-4cm in size. Would they be too small to make any real change on the water?

Bruce

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what is the weight of the fish you're putting in? ideally you'd want the same bioload so a couple of convicts won't cut it.

forget the convicts/goldfish & just feed the tank as if the fish are in it.

perhaps buffer the water over a few days rather than in one hit - unless the other tanks are african buffered anyway of course

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The tank requires 13.3 tsp's of buffer so a tsp a day should be perfect. I'll also add the food as I would normally, add the stresszyme bottle, the dirty lfs water and do a multi water change into the tank.

Bruce

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just bear in mind your own and the shops waterchange water might have some buffering to it already.

If you get enough dirty media sludge from tanks with similar perameters just buffer her up from day dot. Don't think I was really clear about that.

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Oh ok, yeah will do. I heard that Seachem is a little strong and puts the pH at about 9 point something. Is this too hard? The dosage is 1tsp per 80l. What dosage would you recommend for pH around 8.8-9?

Bruce

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Oh ok, yeah will do.  I heard that Seachem is a little strong and puts the pH at about 9 point something.  Is this too hard?  The dosage is 1tsp per 80l.  What dosage would you recommend for pH around 8.8-9? 

Bruce

really it depends on how hard your initial water is - most of the bottles say 1tsb for 40-80l, I'd err on the 80l side first & test it after 24hrs

Camo - I know it works it's just a lot of people jump on the cruelty bandwagon & get offended using "throw away fish" to cycle with. there was a thread deleted in the FS section recently when someone requested Convicts for cycling for instance.

I've always cycled with the fish I intend to keep, bacteria in a bottle & mature filter squeezings have seemed to nail the ammonia within a day or two at worst, combined with really light feedings or fasting the fish for the first two weeks. I mega dose with ammonia neutraliser incase of course & check it daily, never had a drama but maybe I'm just lucky?

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get one of your wifes/girlfriends stockings(or yours if your that way inclined-not that theres anything wrong with that) fill it up with gravel from a cycled tank and hang it in the water current or put it in the filter itll cycle in the filter in 24hours or a week laying on the bottom OR take some filter media from an established filter and put it in your filter as the first layer again around 24hrs

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get one of your wifes/girlfriends stockings(or yours if your that way inclined-not that theres anything wrong with that)

laugh.gif Haha. I just got back from lfs. The girl there told me not to worry about ammonia confused.gif She ended up selling me a bottle of Cycle which I was told is full of bacteria. I am also going to hang a stocking full of sand from my multi tank in the big tank to transfer more bio. The guy at lfs also said I can have a bag of dirty water full of poo and other wonders bigsmile.gif .

Bruce

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The guy at lfs also said I can have a bag of dirty water full of poo and other wonders  .

The last thing I would want to do is put anything from another aquarium specially from an lfs in my new tank. There is always the chance of putting some unwanted bacteria or virus that may come with the dirty water. To me it just sounds crazy.

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When setting up a new tank i allways have it in the works so to speak, so I am prepared.

I usaully fill the new tank with fresh substrate (sand) and then when i do my water changes i pump the tank about 3/4 full with old tank water ( but i do weekly water changes anyways)

I get a new filter and place it into one of my existing tanks about 2 weeks prior to the event, when the new tank has water in it i take the old very established filter from the other tank and place it in the new tank, leaveingh the new two week old filter in the other tank ( which would also still have an older filter aswell )

I then add/ top up with 1/4 fresh water to the new tank the day before i intend to add fish to it.wait a few hours ..test everything..adjust as needed...

retest before adding fish, so they can be acclimatised correctly

Never had a drama. The actually cleaning filling stocking usually takes 2 days!

But i also never dump a heap of fish in there strait up...be gentle. wink2.gif

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Unfortunately I only have a 2ft multi tank running which won't provide me with much bacteria. I am getting the filters at the same time as the tank aswell which means I can't start aging them. I will put a stocking full of their sand into the big tank.

Can someone give me a step by step guide of what I should be doing during those first two weeks before fish. I got:

~Wardley Dechlorinator

~Stresszyme

~Cycle

~Seachem Tanganyikan buffer

Bruce

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Mate,

You add the dechlorinater when you put your water in.

I would then add the Stresszyme/Cycle (does the same job) straight into your filter onto your filter media (as this is where you want your bacteria colony to grow). Do this when you add the water.

Persoanlly I would then add the buffer. Take your time with it and get your parameters right before you add your fish. SPend the two weeks playing until it suits your needs.

If you can get some filter wool from your existing filter or from a friend then this will increase the speed of the cycle.

After you add your fish, (two weeks) remember to only feed small amounts so if the cycle is not complete, you don't get a massive ammonia spike.

HTH

Jason

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