Cycling a New Tank.

[Arrowana Boi]

Originally posted by Kawaii
Well, my jardini is not expensive so I don't know about it being a prized fish. But I have kept it for 6 months now so I suppose there is sentimental value to me. I didn't plan to use the jardini in the cycling process...thought the ammonia has dropped and nitrite & nitrate will be ok because I have used old filter media



Yeah! I agree to that - BB should do the work and not me splashing all the water on the floor during the water changes.

OK, I guess I have to be patient and not do water changes for at least one week. Thanks for the tip on nitrite/nitrate remover, but I am still very concerned for my fishies in the current environment even though they are still eating a lot



You mean having 2 filters may not be as effective "as one that achieve a filter config of 4x total tank volume through filter per hour at least"? By the way, what is that config? - I am just a girl and thus whatever you just said to me means absolutely nothing to me

Ok kawaii gal, regarding the filter issue, its indeed better to get one filter that good and powerful rather than get 2 that isnt.

The config that i said is actually very simple. Normally, filters will have indications of their flowrate when filled up with filter medium and a flowrate w/o the medium. Use the flowrate which is with filter medium to do the calculations since u will be more interested with a filter that has filter medium in it than one w/o.

For example :

A filter with a flowrate of 1200l/hr filtering a tank of 500L, will mean that in an hour's time the filter has filtered ur tank 1200/500 = 2.4 times. This is jus ok.

Another filter has a flowrate of 2000l/hr and that will filter ur tank 4 times in an hour. This is not bad already.

So if u have 2 units of filter and each filter can filter ur tank 4 times, ur total filtration will be 8 times per hour. Thats very good. But seldom do ppl go so high.

Hope the above means something to u this time

[Arrowana Boi]

Originally posted by xzied
hello this cycling water thing is really interesting, saw this post last nite, today i went to some lfs, some of them dun even know abt cycling of tank!

i saw some products that has bacteria which can be use, now instead of cultivating bacteria from cycling and wait for few weeks, u can just add the bacteria in. one of them the brand is "ocean free" cost like $30! and another one which look like some little clay balls that it says has inbuilt bacteria inside???

anybody has used such products? comments?

me going to get a 4ft tank tmrw~! yipee so need to check around really dun wan to post in "Arowana Loss" forum after one or two days getting my fish! hehe

Hi, indeed its true that many lfs employees dont really noe about tank cycling but of cos there are many who noes their stuff too. Its good that u read this thread before u begin ur aqaurium.

The "cycle" additive has been a very controversial issue. I have mentioned about it in this thread too if u have read thru it thoroughly. Im not sure how effective it is, as many have argued that BB are aerobic by nature and how could they survive in an airtight bottlle ?! Well some others argued that wats contained in the bottle isnt BB, but some additives that will boost or aid the BB's growth in a new aquarium and allow them to thrive and reach maturity faster. But pls dont expect a fully cycled tank in 2-3 days time. The fastest i noe of took about a week or so.

Try seeding method, its one of the fastest. If u arent sure wat that is, read the first post again. Its mentioned there.

As for ur cycling process, u wanna avoid going to the aro loss board, use cheaper fishes to cycle. Blood parrots are a good choice.

Good luck

Hi Bro Arowana Boi,

Just resetted my tank last thursday ...........
I've washed the overflow filter almost 100% with tap water so I guessed that most good BB would be destroyed.
But I did washed the bio-balls with old tank water & I do hope that some BB is still around.

For past few days ,I have been adding 'cycle' into tank.
Oh ! not to forget , I have also added pureliquid into tank prior
to adding 'cycle'.,
I've checked the water parameter alternate day & reading
this morrning..........
Ammonia 0.5 to 1.00 ppm
Nitrate 0.25 ppm
PH increased 6.9 to 7.3 after 3 days / I've added 1kg of
coral after resetting tank but have removed since this morning.

Can you advice ...........
1.how long for a resetted tank to be fully 'cycled'
2.are those water parameter / reading harmful to fishes
3.should I removed the coral since PH is rising during present
cycling period
4.I have altogether 5x5" redhook / 1x20' aro / 1x8"ST /1x8"FF &
1x8" RTC.Use to only keep aro & FF but has just increased
tankmates recently, will more fishes slow down tank 'cycled
time?

Pls help to advice, thanks............

hi to all the bros here,

got some questions to ask.... today's my 8th day of cycling my tank but the thing is the ammonia level still hasn't dropped to zero, maintaining at a level of 0.2 or so using my test kit. coz i read from most of the post that ammonia level should drop by the 1st week but mine's still rather realtively high in this case. been using 10 rosy barbs to cycle the tank and using a OHF, with 2 pumps @ each end. been told by the LFS owner that these 2 can cycle around 2000l per hour so i guess filtration in my tank is okie.. so can i ask is there any problems to my cycling of the water??

now using geoliquid in my new tank, dun think it affects right?! read in some posts here about no difference in adding during or after cycling. anyway i have to say it works pretty well for my aro in my other tank now, eating appetite increased.. tremendously i should say.. haha...

thanks for reading and hopefully can answer my doubts....

[Arrowana Boi]

Originally posted by aroworld
Hi Bro Arowana Boi,

Just resetted my tank last thursday ...........
I've washed the overflow filter almost 100% with tap water so I guessed that most good BB would be destroyed.
But I did washed the bio-balls with old tank water & I do hope that some BB is still around.

For past few days ,I have been adding 'cycle' into tank.
Oh ! not to forget , I have also added pureliquid into tank prior
to adding 'cycle'.,
I've checked the water parameter alternate day & reading
this morrning..........
Ammonia 0.5 to 1.00 ppm
Nitrate 0.25 ppm
PH increased 6.9 to 7.3 after 3 days / I've added 1kg of
coral after resetting tank but have removed since this morning.

Can you advice ...........
1.how long for a resetted tank to be fully 'cycled'
2.are those water parameter / reading harmful to fishes
3.should I removed the coral since PH is rising during present
cycling period
4.I have altogether 5x5" redhook / 1x20' aro / 1x8"ST /1x8"FF &
1x8" RTC.Use to only keep aro & FF but has just increased
tankmates recently, will more fishes slow down tank 'cycled
time?

Pls help to advice, thanks............

First of all sorry for the late reply. Exams up.

Ok, watever that have been washed by the tap water will have little or no BB left. As for the bioball thats washed by old tank water, as long as its not thoroughly washed, BB will still be present.

Ur readings are all at the high side i presume its due to the high bioload. If ur tank is small and ur filtration is inadequate, that reading is gonna fluctuate quite quickly. Right now u have quite a number of fishes and if u are not gonna lessen the load, the ammonia level is gonna get pretty bad. U have to decide which one to move out first. But if u have no other tanks and have to cycle the tank as it is, its not impossible, it will jus get a little tricky thats all. U will have to let the cycle process go for a long time and keep the ammonia levels at an acceptable level of at most 0.5ppm at all times. That is to say whenever ammonia level gets higher than that, u will have to do some water changes to bring it down. For a fully cycled tank, expect about 6 weeks at least bro.

But if u can transfer ur aro temporarily to another running and cycled tank and jus leave the rest of the fishes for a full force cycle, then i think at most 3 weeks will be done.

As for coral, it depends largely on water volume, nornmally a 6x2x2 tank will need about 3kg coral chips distributed in over a week. As for that pH jump u created, if ur fish isnt stressed out now, jus leave it. Dont anyhow change the pH level again. Will stress them out further.

Usually more fishes means bigger load, and full cycling will take jus slightly longer for the appropiate sized colony of BB to cultivate. Besides that, not much difference. Remember, high bioload tank, better have a filter that have alot of BB colonizing sites. Invest in good bio filtration medium. Sponges and all that is ok to only a certain extent. Go for sintered glass if u can. Bio-home , ehfi substrates etc.

Btw, u can still top that up to ur current filter, dont worry, wont disturb the cycle very much as long as u dont leave the old filter medium out of water for too long.

Hope it helps

[Arrowana Boi]

Originally posted by nokia81
hi to all the bros here,

got some questions to ask.... today's my 8th day of cycling my tank but the thing is the ammonia level still hasn't dropped to zero, maintaining at a level of 0.2 or so using my test kit. coz i read from most of the post that ammonia level should drop by the 1st week but mine's still rather realtively high in this case. been using 10 rosy barbs to cycle the tank and using a OHF, with 2 pumps @ each end. been told by the LFS owner that these 2 can cycle around 2000l per hour so i guess filtration in my tank is okie.. so can i ask is there any problems to my cycling of the water??

now using geoliquid in my new tank, dun think it affects right?! read in some posts here about no difference in adding during or after cycling. anyway i have to say it works pretty well for my aro in my other tank now, eating appetite increased.. tremendously i should say.. haha...

thanks for reading and hopefully can answer my doubts....

Ok, geoliquid wont affect much when put in before or after cycle. As for the readings, its still not all that bad but can consider a little slow.
U have two pumps connected to how many OHF, if the water flow is too strong, and they jus rush through the filter w/o getting treated efficiently by the bio filtering medium in it is also no use.

Its jus like canister filters, why do u think they will have different flowrates for different sized canisters. If they install a high output pump w/o calculating whether the flow of water can get properly filtered before emerging from the canister its no use either right.

Normally a 1500l/hr pump is good for a 3-4foot OHF. So u might consider getting a large 4ft OHF thats stacked with more medium if u wanna use the 2x100l/hr pump. Or maybe have 2x3ft OHF with a 1000l/hr pump connected to each one. I used the latter config before using 2x1500l/hr pumps instead, its relatively good. Water must flow just right, too fast is no good, cos all rush out too fast before being treated properly. Too slow also no good, cos inefficient.

Good luck in ur cycling

Originally posted by Arrowana Boi
Ok, geoliquid wont affect much when put in before or after cycle. As for the readings, its still not all that bad but can consider a little slow.
U have two pumps connected to how many OHF, if the water flow is too strong, and they jus rush through the filter w/o getting treated efficiently by the bio filtering medium in it is also no use.

Its jus like canister filters, why do u think they will have different flowrates for different sized canisters. If they install a high output pump w/o calculating whether the flow of water can get properly filtered before emerging from the canister its no use either right.

Normally a 1500l/hr pump is good for a 3-4foot OHF. So u might consider getting a large 4ft OHF thats stacked with more medium if u wanna use the 2x100l/hr pump. Or maybe have 2x3ft OHF with a 1000l/hr pump connected to each one. I used the latter config before using 2x1500l/hr pumps instead, its relatively good. Water must flow just right, too fast is no good, cos all rush out too fast before being treated properly. Too slow also no good, cos inefficient.

Good luck in ur cycling

Hi bro Arowana Boi,,

I started cycling my tank 4ft x 2ft x 1.5ft with 15 Silver dollars..
After cleaning my tank n water was placed in for abt 1 week...
Then got my canister filter Resun Ae-808 1500L/hr ...started canister n placed in gravels n driftwoods in tank...

sorry to add b4 i run the canister ..i spray black paint on the rainbar n suction plastic pipe...(original green n looks weird in my black oyama pasted tank)...those pipes were soaked in water for half a day...then connected p to the canister.

SDs are then are throw in when cycling starts.
everything seems ok 1st day, SDs are active n already eating.

But 2nd day morning , all SDs dead!!!

Is it bcos of the painted pipes that causes paint toxic to be dissipated into water?? maybe needs more time for the new paint to cure??

Or is it SDs are not hardy enough to endure the sudden high ammonia spike??

[Arrowana Boi]

Originally posted by jalan
Hi bro Arowana Boi,,

I started cycling my tank 4ft x 2ft x 1.5ft with 15 Silver dollars..
After cleaning my tank n water was placed in for abt 1 week...
Then got my canister filter Resun Ae-808 1500L/hr ...started canister n placed in gravels n driftwoods in tank...

sorry to add b4 i run the canister ..i spray black paint on the rainbar n suction plastic pipe...(original green n looks weird in my black oyama pasted tank)...those pipes were soaked in water for half a day...then connected p to the canister.

SDs are then are throw in when cycling starts.
everything seems ok 1st day, SDs are active n already eating.

But 2nd day morning , all SDs dead!!!

Is it bcos of the painted pipes that causes paint toxic to be dissipated into water?? maybe needs more time for the new paint to cure??

Or is it SDs are not hardy enough to endure the sudden high ammonia spike??

Hi jalan, first of all i will have to say that painting the pipes and suction cups with paints that is not designed for aquatic use is dangerous for ur fishes. Even things like sillicone sealants have being carefully chosen by tank makers so that its safe for the aquarium. Very often these normal paints will peel over time or due to bending of the pipes and suction cups. I would really suggest that u leave these pipes and suction cups alone. I dont think they really look so ugly lah. If painting is a must, pls choose those that is aquatic safe. Very often these paints are epoxy based and are used for ponds as sealants and colouring instead of sillicone. If u cannot find them then jus leave ur things alone. Luckily only SD are dead and not other more expensive fishes. I feel that its the paint leeching the poison thats killing the fishes. Normally, SD can tahan quite harsh environment. I really cannot believe that these SD could have caused such high ammonia level overnight and kill themselves.

2ndly:

I think leaving the water in the tank for a week serves no purpose at all. I would have used that period of time to clean my gravel and driftwood instead. Jus put everything in the filled up tank after the first thorough cleaning and place a powerhead to move the water. I bet the water will look murky after a while. During then u can just change the water twice over the week and ur gravel would have been properly cleansed and settled by then.
And also watever tannin ur driftwood might have leech during that period would have been removed by quite abit.

As for ur canister filter i thing it will be adequate if ur tank's livestock isnt going to be too high.

Right now i would suggest that u do a good and thorough water change in ur tank. Fill it up halfway, give ur gravel a good swirl and wait for it to settle down, then drain out all water again. Then this time fill it up again to the desired level.

Ur canister filter also need a good and thorough cleaning.
Last but not least, change all ur pipes and suction cup to new unpainted ones.

Hope these time ur cycling would be a success.

Good luck

Originally posted by Arrowana Boi
U have two pumps connected to how many OHF, if the water flow is too strong, and they jus rush through the filter w/o getting treated efficiently by the bio filtering medium in it is also no use.

Normally a 1500l/hr pump is good for a 3-4foot OHF. So u might consider getting a large 4ft OHF thats stacked with more medium if u wanna use the 2x100l/hr pump. Or maybe have 2x3ft OHF with a 1000l/hr pump connected to each one. I used the latter config before using 2x1500l/hr pumps instead, its relatively good. Water must flow just right, too fast is no good, cos all rush out too fast before being treated properly. Too slow also no good, cos inefficient.

Good luck in ur cycling [/B]

okie, roger that.. thanks a lot! however the tot of putting 2 OHF seems a bit unsightly, is it possible say if i use just one of the pump for now?? coz i'm thinking since the amount of waste from my aro confirm confirm will be lesser than the fishes i'm using to cycle now when i put it into the tank, lesser waste = lesser BB needed to treat the ammonia = efficiency of water being filtrated can be a bit more compromised... possible?? hope ya get what i'm trying to mean..

Wow there is a lot of things to monitor while cycling of tank. I'll try to follow as strictly as possible. I had just purchased a 5x2x2 tank to house my aro. I had posted earlier on the setting-up of a sump tank.

Arrowana Boi, could you shed some light of the following:

1) My sump tank is 2.5 ft with 4 compartments. What do I need to place in each compartment.

2) How much do I need to put in each compartment.

3) The power capacity for the pump.

4) When can I introduce the cycling fish.

Thanks in advance.