Cycle Q

[cheshirecatxx]

Yeah. I finally got my 10g for my fig8 puffer. Will upgrade as soon as I have the money. Friend of mine gave him to me after it shredded his angelfish.

Anyway. I have completely set up tanks, and everything. Was wondering if i took out the filter from one of those and let it run through the filter in the 10g... along with the gravel from the previous tank, how long do you suppose it would take to cycle? I've only ever started from scratch so I have no idea.

I'm trying to do it quick as possible, cause I know puffers need room.

Thankssss a bunch.

 

[unwritten law]

I would assume only a few days at the most.

 

[Lotus]

Yes, if you use filter media and gravel from an existing tank, you should have a very short cycle. You'll still need to monitor ammonia and nitrites. Puffers are very sensitive to both of these, so you'll probably have to do water changes more frequently.

 

[sombunya]

Yes, if you use filter media and gravel from an existing tank, you should have a very short cycle. You'll still need to monitor ammonia and nitrites. Puffers are very sensitive to both of these, so you'll probably have to do water changes more frequently.

Just to echo what Lotus said, my very lightly stocked, new 100 gallon tank was cycling slowly. Nitrites were moving towards .5 ppm and there was a small amount of Ammonia present. I have two Aquaclear 110's on it. I was doing 30-35% water changes almost daily. A big hassle.

I took the filter media from the AC 110 that was on my fully cycled 40 gallon unit and swapped it with the new media from my 100 gallon tank. (It looked like a funky, dirty filter but was loaded with the good stuff) The 100 gallon tank was done in two days. Zero Nitrites and Ammonia.

I did notice a small spike in Nitrites in the 40 because I took out used, biologically active media and put new, clean filter media in. It will need to catch up but I think it won't take long.

 

[cheshirecatxx]

Awesome, thanks a bunch. =]