Questions about setting up a new tank

[sliemm]

I'm moving my two axies into a larger tank (125 gallons). It's been a while since I set up a tank and wondered if someone can give me a quick breakdown of the steps I need to cycle a tank and get it ready for them to move in.

For my first tank, I remember:

1. Filling it with water, ornaments and sand
2. Regularly dosing it with new tank solution, which contained bacteria to set up the biofilter
3. Replacing about 20% of the water every couple of days
4. Testing for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and when they were down to zero, moving the axies in.

Thing is, I've heard it's not necessary to keep replacing the water in a fishless tank. Are the above steps correct or do I just need to let the water sit in there and then just keep adding doses of new tank solution?

 

[keiko]

Just fill it with water, ornaments and sand. Add some pure ammonia and wait. Most of the bottled bacteria won't work as well as they should plus they can contain chemicals that are bad for axies. Since you already have an established tank (?) you could just get some of the filter media and put it in the new tank to help get the cycle started. Remember to test the water and add more ammonia so the bacteria will have "food". Keep the ammonia level at about 4 ppm. Once the bacteria can convert that to 0 ammonia & nitrite in 24 hours the cycle is ready. There's no need to do water changes during fishless cycling (unless the nitrates are already crazy high).

Edit. Once the cycle is ready it's ofcourse important to do a water change to bring the nitrates down.

 

[sliemm]

Right, cheers for the advice. Is pure ammonia available from pet stores? I don't think I've seen it in any of my local ones, but I could be mistaken.

 

[Doverish]

If you have a Tank up and running, you can cycle a tank pretty quickly and easily.

If you are going to be using a HOB filter or something other than a SUMP, drop your filter media in the running tank now. This way when the tank is setup in several days, your filter media is already covered in bacteria.

Alternatively, I've taken a cheap Lufa sponge and "seeded" it in the running tank, then tossed it in the new tank, while cutting a chunk off and tossing it in my filter.

You can also use filter "Squeezin's" from your running filter into the filter of the new tank. This is less effective, but as long as you don't heavily stock it with animals right away you shouldn't run into any issues.

If you are relocating plants that also helps, since my understanding is the bacteria live on surfaces not in the water. That means any objects going from one tank to another is beneficial. (Assuming that there are no BAD things in the first tank you'd be dropping into the new one.)

I've even heard of people who are setting up a heavily planted tank being able to do an instant cycle from just the amount of plants they plant. This is a **** shoot thought because unless you have been keeping the plants yourself, you can't be sure now long the plants have been in an established tank before you get them from the store. Also, the bacteria colonies die off pretty quickly when out of the water so this doesn't work with shipped plants. Plus if you are dropping enough money on plants from a local store to instantly cycle your tank, you are likely spending a lot in livestock as well... and personally I'm not brave enough for that kind of gamble.


In a pinch or if you don't have a running tank and if you have a local shop you trust, see if you can get one of their used filter medias.

 

[Cacique]

I believe you need to get the ammonia from a hardware store. Just have to make sure it's 100% pure ammonia with nothing else added to it.