B
brian
Guest
This has come up a number of times here, so I thought I'd start a thread about how to pre-cycle or quick-cycle a tank, and what it actually does. Before I go any further, I would only recommend this to someone who has a good grasp of an aquariums water chemistry and the nitrogen cycle, and who has cycled a tank the normal way before.
First step is to have a well established, stable aquarium to seed from. By stable and well established, I mean up and running for at least 6 months with no major water chemistry issues. Second, take the filter to be used in the new aquarium and start it running on the established one. Put all of your decorations and plants (or as many as possible) into the established tank. Run the established tank like this for at least 2 weeks. Once you've done this, put your substrate into the new tank and fill it with water. Move the filter and decorations from the established tank into the new one. Don't let any of it dry out! The bacteria in question die very quickly if they are left dry. After doing this, they new tank should be able to hold around 50% (but no more) of it's final bioload of animals.
Be aware that this method does not instantly cycle an aquarium. All it does is give the bacteria colony a large head start. What happens is that, in a mature system, the bacteria present will be able to colonize any available surface area within a week or 2. This is what you are waiting to happen when you are cycling a tank, it's just happening in an already stable environment. The tank will still take a further 2-4 weeks to cycle completely, and the bioload should only be incresed slowly during this time. You should still be doing all the normal cycling things during this time, like ammonia/nitite/nitrate tests, but your tank will already be half cycled, so you will be getting readings with various levels of all 3 compounds.
First step is to have a well established, stable aquarium to seed from. By stable and well established, I mean up and running for at least 6 months with no major water chemistry issues. Second, take the filter to be used in the new aquarium and start it running on the established one. Put all of your decorations and plants (or as many as possible) into the established tank. Run the established tank like this for at least 2 weeks. Once you've done this, put your substrate into the new tank and fill it with water. Move the filter and decorations from the established tank into the new one. Don't let any of it dry out! The bacteria in question die very quickly if they are left dry. After doing this, they new tank should be able to hold around 50% (but no more) of it's final bioload of animals.
Be aware that this method does not instantly cycle an aquarium. All it does is give the bacteria colony a large head start. What happens is that, in a mature system, the bacteria present will be able to colonize any available surface area within a week or 2. This is what you are waiting to happen when you are cycling a tank, it's just happening in an already stable environment. The tank will still take a further 2-4 weeks to cycle completely, and the bioload should only be incresed slowly during this time. You should still be doing all the normal cycling things during this time, like ammonia/nitite/nitrate tests, but your tank will already be half cycled, so you will be getting readings with various levels of all 3 compounds.
