dravyn Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 (edited) Hi, It seems my tank won't be delivered for another 3 or 4 weeks depending on covid. I had a thought last night, I am able to fill a (new) bin up with water and start a filter running on it and start the cycle then when I get my tank set up and filled I can move the filters on to it saving me a few weeks! Cheers! Edited June 30, 2021 by dravyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dravyn Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 (edited) Well I started my experiment. I have a 60l clean bin with a fluval 407 and a 200w heater to keep the temp up. I've got the 407 packed with biological media (it is going to be a biological filter for the main tank). I've got some coral rubble and some left over media in a bag that I will also put in the main tank when it's up and running. I'll dose with ammonia to kick off the cycle, hopefully when my tank is up and running I'll have a head start on cycling. Edited June 30, 2021 by dravyn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dravyn Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 Do the kh/gh levels matter for establishing the bacteria while cycling? My levels are quite low, I'm not sure if I should correct them at this stage? Parameters are; PH: 8 Ammonia: 2ppm Gh: 53.7ppm Kh: 143.2ppm Any advice re kh/gh? Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Your plan should be fine and give you a head start on the new tank, most of the bacteria will establish on the bio-media in the filter and coral rubble etc. Start slowly on the new tank though because the bacteria in the filter and media you moved over into the new tank will initially only be able to consume the same amount of ammonia and nitrite that it was consuming in 60 litre bin. If you avoid extremes or large sudden changes your water parameters shouldn't affect the cycle too much. Now might be a good time to experiment with buffers and find out how much you need to add to your water to achieve the kh/gh values that Link2Hell recommended in the other thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dravyn Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Thanks. I've got some things coming to sort out the water so I'll sort out the water in the bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dravyn Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Water parameters arecgetting better; PH: 8 Ammonia: 2ppm Gh: 71.6ppm Kh: 179ppm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dravyn Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 Well that was a short lived experiment. Seems my tank will be here today. Still, it's been good to make a start even though it was a false start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanke Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 if u want to get a jump start on your tank bring some filters or to my place and i can run them for u in my tank that been running for about 2 yrs now let me know if u want to or not 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dravyn Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 Hi Yankee, thanks for the offer everything is up and running now so I'll just do it the slow way. It will be a good learning experience :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanke Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 ok have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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