For future reference if you are needing to jump start a tank.
Fill the tank, dechlor it and let it sit for 2 days with heat and filtration.
Get to a local pet shop that runs regular tanks (not the kind like petco, but one that has individual filtration) or a friends house.
Ask to rinse their filter media (sponges, cartridges etc) in a bucket of their fish water (helps to bring your own bucket), rinse as many as they will let you.
This makes "fish goop" the goopier, browner, nastier the better.
Dump the fish goop (the goopier the better, if you can wash 10 sponges in it even better then just 1) into your tank, the tank water will turn brown and nasty, after the goop settles into your gravel, and gets sucked up in your filter you are ready for fish.
The goop contains all the bacteria you need to get your tank started. you need to add fish ASAP as the bacteria will die if there are not fish in the tank to keep it going
I have done this with my last 5 set ups, and it worked perfectly. No spikes, no fish death, everything good to go.
I am currently running 4 tanks with a total of 5 filters so i actually have enough filter media to make my own fish goop here at home now.
Fish-less cycling does work but it takes a really long time.
I also advise against using any sort of chemicals in your tank other then the dechlor after you initially set up, you can't add live bacteria in that amount with dechlor in the water. I don't even dechlor when i change water anymore.
A pretty serious hobbyist/breeder/importer owner of 223 tanks told me she runs water right out of the tap and has no adverse effect on her fish. Chlorination in low levels actually helps with gill function.
In the last 12 months i have only had 1 fish die and he appeared to have been attacked.
Good luck, my only other parting advice is don't buy the cheap food, and don't buy a common pleco.
Fill the tank, dechlor it and let it sit for 2 days with heat and filtration.
Get to a local pet shop that runs regular tanks (not the kind like petco, but one that has individual filtration) or a friends house.
Ask to rinse their filter media (sponges, cartridges etc) in a bucket of their fish water (helps to bring your own bucket), rinse as many as they will let you.
This makes "fish goop" the goopier, browner, nastier the better.
Dump the fish goop (the goopier the better, if you can wash 10 sponges in it even better then just 1) into your tank, the tank water will turn brown and nasty, after the goop settles into your gravel, and gets sucked up in your filter you are ready for fish.
The goop contains all the bacteria you need to get your tank started. you need to add fish ASAP as the bacteria will die if there are not fish in the tank to keep it going
I have done this with my last 5 set ups, and it worked perfectly. No spikes, no fish death, everything good to go.
I am currently running 4 tanks with a total of 5 filters so i actually have enough filter media to make my own fish goop here at home now.
Fish-less cycling does work but it takes a really long time.
I also advise against using any sort of chemicals in your tank other then the dechlor after you initially set up, you can't add live bacteria in that amount with dechlor in the water. I don't even dechlor when i change water anymore.
A pretty serious hobbyist/breeder/importer owner of 223 tanks told me she runs water right out of the tap and has no adverse effect on her fish. Chlorination in low levels actually helps with gill function.
In the last 12 months i have only had 1 fish die and he appeared to have been attacked.
Good luck, my only other parting advice is don't buy the cheap food, and don't buy a common pleco.