55 gallon tank help?

Question

yesturday i washed the sand ( pool filter sand and put it in m.y tank. i puttthe filter onover night but its still a little cloudy. Is it ok to put goldfish in now to start cycling or is there something else i should to before... and could i add plants while its cycling?

Answer 1

Pool filter sand requires a LOT of washing. It took me about 4 hours to wash 75 pounds of it, so you may have not rinsed it adequately. This would result in clouding. If it is still not settled, turn off your filter. Once the sand has all settled to the bottom, then you can turn on your filter. By having your filter on before all the sand settles, you risk having sand particles taken in through the intake, causing filter problems.

As far as cycling is concerned, I would suggest doing it fishlessly to avoid harming any fish. Throw in a couple pinches of fish food for a few weeks and test the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, and when they are all within healthy levels, you are ready to add your real fish. Email me if you have any questions.

Plants are generally okay during the cycle, but some can be sensitive to a buildup of nitrate, leading to "melting". Most plants are okay, but I would start with hardy plants like Java Moss, Anubias, and Java Fern.

Soop Nazi

Answer 2

It's safe to add fish, a bit of cloudiness form the sand won't harm them. Plants are fine in a cycling tank. Buying goldfish to cycle a tank is pretty old school, you can cycle the tank through the fishless method or with fish you actually plan to keep. The wisest keepers don't even need to cycle a tank.

Cycling with your fish is easy and can be harmless to them - the key is starting off with a very small number of fish and having patience to grow the tank over several months rather then simply assembling it all together at once.

Of course, cycling itself can be avoided entirely if you just get your hands on some live bacteria (filter media from an established tank) and placing this in your own filter (fish stores will usually help you out). The more bacteria you can get, the more fish you can stock all at once. Heck, I haven't cycled a tank in fifteen years because of this flawless method.

Answer 3

Hi, If you don't already have the fish I would recommend you do a fishless cycle on your tank. This is good in a couple of ways-not only is there no stress for the fish involved so no danger of deaths but it is almost always quicker & more controllable. The plants should be fine during the cycling process. The attached link takes you through each stage of the fishless cycle. I would add that even after the tank has cycled you should only introduce fish slowly at perhaps one or two a week up to your required stocking level so the filter has a chance to acclimatise itself to the bio-load. Adding all or many at once even in a cycled tank will overload the bio system & cause it to crash.

Answer 4

wait till the water clears up a little. then you can add fish and plants to cycle it