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What's the fastest you've cycled a tank?

Started by Guest_az9_* , Nov 19 2010 09:29 PM

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7 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_az9_*

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Posted 19 November 2010 - 09:29 PM

I'm setting up a second 500 gallon system. It's not an aquarium but it's the same principal. Rotating biodisk filter with 500 square feet of surface area in a 180 gallon tank filled to about 150 gallons, 300 gallon stock tank for the fish, and a 55 gallon drum for the sump clarifier.

I added some koi pond filter material (given to me never used) from another one of my systems that's already cycled and had been sitting in the sump clarifier for a few weeks). After only two days nitrites are already a 0.5 mg/l! I'm using ammonium chloride to feed the bacteria set at about 4 mg/l. With my first tank I had to wait weeks for the nitrosomanas to show up indicated by the presence of nitrites. But only two days this time!? I know seeding makes a difference but I'm pleasantly surprised it's proceeding this fast.

I haven't checked to see if there are any nitrates yet.

Edited by az9, 19 November 2010 - 09:30 PM.

#2 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 19 November 2010 - 09:38 PM

With relatively low fish loads, and transferring of some substrate, my experience had been... almost instantly.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#3 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 12:56 AM

With relatively low fish loads, and transferring of some substrate, my experience had been... almost instantly.

Ah, but Michael - we all now know that DOESN'T WORK! It's the carbon that does it!! Or he filter foam, or something...

#4 Guest_az9_*

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 08:02 AM

With relatively low fish loads, and transferring of some substrate, my experience had been... almost instantly.

But I'm talking having the system ready for a substantial fish load. :mrgreen:

#5 Guest_az9_*

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 08:03 AM

Ah, but Michael - we all now know that DOESN'T WORK! It's the carbon that does it!! Or he filter foam, or something...

Yeah I saw that thread. I decided to stay out of it. :biggrin:

#6 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 09:25 AM

Truthfully I haven't cycled a tank in years, because I've always had established tanks from which to seed new filters.
Even after my resent, um, disruption, I was able to keep filter media [fresh and salt, seprately] alive in aerated buckets of tank water, some for weeks.
All the new tanks I set up in my new digs got full fish loads with no cycling, just some new filter media over some seasoned media.
Although the "books" insist I needed 6 weeks, lots o' test kits, yadda yadda, I didn't lose a fish or even see a tiny bit of stress. I have no idea what the NH3, NO2, or NO3 was since I haven't owned a test kit in over a decade.

Over thinking plus [inaccurate] pet store test kits equals too much manipulation of H2O chemistry which translates to more stress to fish.
Learn to understand the bugs [which I know the OP does], and you can be free of pet store test kits and pet store advice forever.

#7 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 09:48 PM

I haven't purchased any test kits in a couple of years, either. I do think they were valuable in the beginning, as I learned about the nitrogen cycle. After a while, when I found a poor reading, I knew the cause right away. Now I know to take care of the cause before the water chemistry gets poor.

I can't remember the last time I cycled a tank, either. I just use an old filter.

#8 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 22 November 2010 - 12:03 PM

Whenever I have used a soil-based substrate (and bothered to measure nitrogen), it has been instantly cycled. Ammonia never registers; nitrite never registers. Even when I bury the soil under an inch of gravel. Soil is chock-full of good little bugs.