36 gallon tank

M

mrskills015

New Fish
#1
Dec 15, 2008
6
0
0
#1
I bought my girlfriend for Christmas a used 36 gallon tank. It's still in good shape, but what we were wondering is how long we have to let it cycle. The previous owner took it down the day before I picked it up. Everything is used to like the filter and what not. So if you could just let me know how long to cycle it that would be great.
 

Kissyboots

Kissyboots

Superstar Fish
#2
Dec 17, 2007
1,889
1
36
Arizona
cid-461aece5d238e494.spaces.live.com
#2
Did he happed to give you some filter media? Like used cartridges? If you use those, you'll have a quick cycle.

Did he super clean everything? Like there's no layer of gooey stuff in the filter or anything? I'm assuming everything is dried out so it probably won't have bacteria anymore...

If you don't have any used (and wet) gravel or decor or the cartridge, then I'd just do a normal cycle that could take up to a month or more. You could get BioSpira which would speed it up as well.

Welcome to the tank! :D
 

M

mrskills015

New Fish
#3
Dec 15, 2008
6
0
0
#3
yea she gave me everything. There's a little buildup on the light cover but my girlfriend is a neat freak so I'm sure it's already cleaned. I have gravel, filter, filter cartridges, heater everything you need. I told my girlfriend I would talk to you guys on here, but she's about to put water in it later tonight. So how long before she can add fish?
 

unwritten law

unwritten law

Superstar Fish
#4
Sep 2, 2008
1,471
0
0
36
DC
#4
Unless you want to do a fish in cycle, or have another cycled tank to steal bacteria from, it will take about a month. My fish in cycle took 6 weeks and it was stresful keeping them alive but a fishless cycle takes less (4 weeks) cause there is an abnormal amount of ammonia being added.
 

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