help with cycling my fish tank?

Question

i recently bought a new 30 gallon tank for my tinfoil barbs who got to big for my ten (yes i knwo how big they get) and i started to cycle the new tank by taking gravel from the cycled ten adn putting in into the filter of the 30 and moved a few ornaments, i also added 4 black tetras and a pleco to the 30 to help it cycle, how long should it take to be fully cycled?

Answer 1

As you know, the 30 will only last a very short while before you need to upgrade again. You are going to want a very quick cycle so you can get your Tinfoils out of the 10 gallon ASAP... To do this, you should simply take all the gravel in the 10 gallon and put it in the 30 gallon. At the same time, take the filter from the 10 gallon tank and put it on the 30 gallon tank. At this point, you can transfer your Barbs in. Just add a filter that can actually handle your 30 and run both of them until some of the bacteria from the 10 gallon filter colonizes the 30 gallon filter. Also, take ALL the water in the 10 gallon and put it in the 30 (to minimize stress on the fish and transfer some extra waste for the bacteria). With this method, you may only see minute spikes in anything, which you can quickly remedy with a water change (I call this "almost fishless cycling").

Soop Nazi

Answer 2

Like soop said, and was the very point I was going to make, the answer is 0 time. You take that filter and substrate from the 10 gallon tank, just add more gravel to complete the bottom in a 30, but use the old stuff, and you will have no problems. The bacteria about 90% lives in the filter area, and the balance in the substrate area. The same bio load will be carried over, so you should not see any ammonia or nitrite, provided you finished your cycle the first time around. It would make no sense to start over when all you have to do is transfer the filter and substrate.

Adding 4 tetras and a pleco to HELP the cycle? I'm not sure who gave you that idea. If anything is going to happen, that would CAUSE ammonia and nitrite to appear. It would be in addition to the bioload then what the filter currently has. I don't think you need a pleco to be honest. Keep in mind that a pleco is not a true algea eater, but a large armored catfish. It will eat some algae, but that is not a primary food source for it. If you are asking if you add that how long....I don't know, probably just some trace readings of ammonia and nitrite for a week or 2...maybe. But clearly not as long as if you were starting from scratch. Adding these fish isn't going to help, but hinder. If you want to avoid any ammonia or nitrite, just add a couple tetra's, wait a week, add a couple more, then wait a week, and put a couple cory catfish to clean the bottom, instead of a pleco.

Answer 3

You can do some water changes on your small tank and add that old water to the new tank to help get the bacteria going. I'm not sure why you put the gravel into the filter. Just dump it in the tank. It may not be letting your filter work properly.

I've started 2 tanks by doing this method and had no problems with either one. I just let them run a couple days without fish with the old gravel, filter media and some old water and never had an ammonia spike at all.

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Answer 4

A normal cycle will last 4 to 8 weeks . You can speed it up by cuting a hunk off the filter pad from the tank thats been runing a while. This will seed your new filter and speed up your cycle.

Answer 5

Do you have a pets at domicile keep close to you? There are some distinctive issues you need to purchase and could aslo be waiting to locate them someplace else. one element you need to purchase is a organic and organic filtration booster that's a liquid rather containing good micro organism which you would be able to upload on your tank to offer that better micro organism to break down the fishes waste. you additionally can get a water purifier that helps wreck down ammonia and nitrites. yet another element you will get is clear out help it fairly is a liquid which you put in your tank for new filters that havn't outfitted up good micro organism yet. you additionally can get some thing referred to as rigidity coat or you need to get aquarium salt (for freshwater fish, API do a good one) which the two help to lessen rigidity stages interior the fish which may well be led to via the ammonia stages etc which would be interior the tank on the 2d (because it hasn't been cycled). this could purely lead them to much less probably to die from rigidity on my own although no longer from ammonia or nitrite poisoning itself. examine the labels although with the aid of fact i'm no longer one hundred% specific you need to use them without warning yet you're arranged to apply a mix of a few of them. i understand you could no longer use aquarium salt with tonics with the aid of fact tonics incorporate salt besides so which you would be including too plenty to the tank. besides i wish that helps! i could clarify on your sister that there is the probability that some or each and all the fish could die with the aid of fact the water hasn't had danger to cycle yet and in the event that they do then optimistically which will practice her for next time. Remind her that's not purely the fish yet her money too! good success!

Answer 6

1. why would you put gravel in the filter?
any way you don't have to cycle ecause your garvel is alraedy mature and the filter has already been established so your good to go because the goal of cycleing is to allow bacteria to build upo in the gravel and filter which in your case is complete.

Answer 7

you put the gravewl in because the good bacteria in on the gravel and plants, not in the water. Good job. Now here do this.

Answer 8

4-8 weeks normally