Quick cycle

Thought I would just help everyone out by telling them how to cycle a tank very quickly.


To cycle a tank takes weeks or months but with this method you can cycle it in less than I week

Day 1. If you have an already established tank use a small amount of the filter media from that as some of the new filters media. And squeeze 50% of your established media into the new tanks water with the new filter running.
If you don't have a tank already you can use brands like dr. Tims one and only nitrifying bacteria and tetra aqua safe start. I have heard of people using these with success by adding the whole bottle.
Now add two caps (yes the cap of the bottle) of pure ammonia (found at the Lfs) to the tank.

Day 2. Check your ammonia levels if you want, I don't reccommend doing anything else

Day 3. Do.... You ready for it , wait for it ...... ...... ... NOTHING!

Day 4. Check your levels if you are seeing nitrates Do a 20% water change and then add 1 - 2 ppm of ammonia if your not seeing good old no3 then just keep waiting

Day 5. Check your levels. if you added ammonia yesterday some or all of that should be gone . If you didn't do you have nitrates yet.

From then on keep on checking every day until you get nitrates And then follow step 4 and once that ammonia is gone you can pretty much say I'm cycled. I highly reccommend adding plants at this point as they help keep levels down.

DISCLAMER I AM NOT SAYING THAT THIS WILL CYCLE YOUR TANK QUICKLY BUT THAT IT MAY IT CAN CYCLE QUICKLY ALWAYS CHECK LEVELS AND THIS MAY NOT WORK AT ALL IF YOUR BACTERIA DIES AND YOU SEE MORE AMMONIA THAN WHEN YOU STARTED DRAN THE TANK AND REFILL. I DO NOT RECCOMMEND OR SAY THAT YOU SHOULD USE THIS METHOD I AM JUST SHOWING YOU IT.

Ok let's say you have the tank there and the axolotls there in the tub bag you got them in or you are doing / going to do a axolotl in cycle do not add ammonia!!! While you are floating the bag squeeze some of your existing media from another tank into the new tank and it will help speed the cycle. Products like dr.tims 1 and only nitrifying bacteria may or may not works.this method does not apply to the disclaimers it it just something I always do when fish in cycling.

I just want to say 1 more time that I am not doing any thing than showing you the methods wether you use them or not is up to you and I do not reccommend the first as I know people that is has faild for and people that it has worked for

It is your own risk.



Thanks for reading and remember the actual nitrogen cycle can be found along with more care at Axolotls: The Fascinating Mexican Axolotl and the Tiger Salamander

Note: I have heard of nitrate appearing at day 4 and at 3 weeks so this is not always fast.

As a tropical fish keeper, I have some of my tanks set up with extra filters so I can set up a new tank quickly by putting one or two of these in. Its then just a monitoring exercise to make sure that the tanks with a filter taken out are still ok. The new tank gets bacteria in the substrate and surfaces as well, eventually, and I sometimes move lumps of wood and plants around too. Its really a division exercise. The tricky bit is making sure there are enough bacteria to process the waste from the animals, rotting food, dead leaves, and from organic matter in the substrate. Daily testing for ammonia and nitrite works for me, tailing off to weekly then monthly as the system settles. I like to use soil as substrate under gravel (fish) or sand (axies). This does affect the ammonia levels at the beginning, and needs to be monitored closely. I have successfully set up bare bottomed tanks with just the filter. My one concern in setting up the axies is that the bacteria will need to adjust to the lower temperature gradually, I presume. And lowering the temperature to slow the axolotl's metabolism will slow the bacteria down too?


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Silly question but i dont know about tank cycling, do you need to cycle pond water?
Do you reccomend pond water or treated tap water for axies?
can you mix pond water and tap water at first to get a faster cycle? :wacko:

layna said:

Silly question but i dont know about tank cycling, do you need to cycle pond water?
Do you reccomend pond water or treated tap water for axies?
can you mix pond water and tap water at first to get a faster cycle? :wacko:

Click to expand...

There is little or no bacteria in the water column so using the water will not speed up the cycle and yes cycle pond water oh... But don't use dechlorinator called prime or any other dechlorinator that says it binds ammonia while cycling it gets rid of your ammonia before your bacteria can eat it :lick::lick: so yes, use dechlorinated tap water I reccommend aquasafe but there are many good brands

If you don't know about the cycle google fishtank nitrogen cycle And there are many websites to tell you how to cycle

I

wandering said:

As a tropical fish keeper, I have some of my tanks set up with extra filters so I can set up a new tank quickly by putting one or two of these in. Its then just a monitoring exercise to make sure that the tanks with a filter taken out are still ok. The new tank gets bacteria in the substrate and surfaces as well, eventually, and I sometimes move lumps of wood and plants around too. Its really a division exercise. The tricky bit is making sure there are enough bacteria to process the waste from the animals, rotting food, dead leaves, and from organic matter in the substrate. Daily testing for ammonia and nitrite works for me, tailing off to weekly then monthly as the system settles. I like to use soil as substrate under gravel (fish) or sand (axies). This does affect the ammonia levels at the beginning, and needs to be monitored closely. I have successfully set up bare bottomed tanks with just the filter. My one concern in setting up the axies is that the bacteria will need to adjust to the lower temperature gradually, I presume. And lowering the temperature to slow the axolotl's metabolism will slow the bacteria down too?


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Click to expand...

I'm sooooooo glad someone else uses soil, soil provides a surface area so large to grow bacteria on that it makes a filter sooooo much more effective. And I think adding bacteria from your tropical tanks should be ok because the bacteria will not only colonise but if just a few bits of bacteria survive it will absolutely go wild with all the dead bacteria, I have even heard of people seeding sw live rock with fw bacteria (not sure if true) because dead bacteria causes more bacteria to grow. So yeah I think your trop. Bacteria will do fine in cold water.

Btw I used to keep a 150 gal fw tropical community tank so I wish you luck on your trop. Adventures.

I have read up on some of it haha it just confuses me.
Ive never had pets in a tank before and dont understand all this other stuff to do with nitrates and nitrites ect

Its really only about culturing the bacteria that convert the harmful waste products into safer compounds that can be diluted by water changes.

The bacteria live on surfaces and need oxygen. A sponge filter can house a large number within its matrix. And the flow of water through the sponge brings oxygen (and shi- err food).



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Oh okay well i have a large sponge filter in his tank at the moment but im waiting for the right time (when they have grown more) to move them to their bigger tank

thanks for the explanation