Do I still need to cycle?

[fishysmell]

Ya Ya I know this is stupid. I just picked up a ten gallon and I need it up and going ASAP because I want to use it as a qt tank for some cherry barbs. They aren't sick but everything else in the the 24 gallon is and I don't want them getting all diseased. Anyway, my plan is to fill it 75-90% with water from my established 60 gallon and use new water for the rest. Is this going to cut out/reduce the cycling time? Beleive it or not this is my first go at a tank this small so I have never tried the idea before. I'm a big tank kinda guy =).

I'm not throwing gravel in it for a while but I do have a DIY filter and a cheap heater.

 

[FroggyFox]

Yes you still need to cycle...if your fish are sick in the 24 gallon I wouldn't risk pulling water from it to fill the 10, I would just fill it with clean water and stuff. Just water from your established tank really doesn't speed up the cycle at all because your bacteria isnt free floating...its attached to things in your tank (mostly the filter).

So in answer to your question I would just fill the 10 with clean water, get the temp right and put the cherry barbs in it to get them away from the sickness. Aside from putting gravel/decorations or filter media from an established tank...you could try Bio-Spira or Cycle...or it looks like you're going the old fashioned cycle way

 

[fishysmell]

I'm not putting water in from the 24 in, that would defeat the point. I put (I just did while this was loading) water from the disease free, ultra-healthy 60 gallon. I'm also going to put filter media in from the 60 to speed things up even more. And yes I'm an old fashioned cycler so no chemicals or new fangled turbo cyclers in my tanks. I'm still going to treat the 10 with meds like the 24, just less agressively and for a shorter period of time. Now what do you say froggy? Do I still need to cycle and if so, for how long? I'm used to the month or two needed for big tanks and I don't have that kinda time. Thanks for the speedy response froggy, I appreciate it.

 

[Fishman_2000]

The best thing to do setting up a tank on the fly is to seed a new filter with filter media from an established filter Which you really can't do in this case since your 24 is sick. Or you can use Bio Spirra if you can find it. I'd reccomend just keeping the fish in the 24 gallon and treating them along with the rest of the other fish. They might not get the sickness for a while. Either way they would die faster in a new uncycled tank. What are they sick with?

 

[FroggyFox]

OH I'm sorry fishysmell I totally misunderstood where the water was coming from lol

Thats fine...the water still won't speed things up, but the filter media will definitely.

The tank will still have to go through its cycle, so watch the ammonia/nitrite levels...but hopefully faster than normal, and probably way faster than your bigger tanks. The Cherry Barbs are pretty hardy and I would say that if they're not sick at all I'd take them out and put them in the 10. Its possible that your 24 gallon fish will be healthy before the 10 finishes cycling so you can put the barbs back into it and finish the 10's cycle "fishless" My 10 gallon took exactly 30 days to cycle...and I didn't have any established filter media in it...just from scratch. Actually that is nearly exactly what happened to me...I started my 10 gallon with 3 danios...then about halfway through the cycle I moved them into a different tank and finished the 10's cycle with storebought ammonia.

Good luck

 

[fishysmell]

Is anyone picking up on the fact that I have a healthy 60 gallon? Beats the crap outta me what they're sick w/. I asked you guys about a week ago and no one knew/cared and I also looked at every disease I could find in a couple of website databases and they didn't have anything that matched it. I know I have a fungus problem in the 24 w/ my bleeding hearts so it could be a weird form of that. I thought fungus wasn't contageous though. The cherry barbs show no signs of sickness and are healthy as ever but I really really like them and so I'm determined to get them out of the 24. I plan to put them in the 60 as soon as I'm sure that they aren't carrying any diseases (after a couple months). Thanks for the help.

 

[FroggyFox]

fishysmell if people are having a hard time remembering all of your tanks maybe you should follow suit and put something about them in your signature so it can help us remember.

Don't take it personally...do you remember everyone's personal stats? Maybe try again to explain what is wrong with the fish in the 24 or point fishman and I to the thread where you tried to explain it?

 

[Fishman_2000]

Sorry fishy. I haven't really posted in a while and sometimes when I speed read stuff I miss things. Ok in your case use the water from the 60 and if you can use some of your filter media from the 60 in the 10 gallon filter. That's why I like canister filters because I take teh substrate out of them and throw them into new filters and it only takes a few days for the bacteria to do it's thing.

 

[fishysmell]

Gee sorry. I included the 60 in the intial question in this thread. I don't like listing tanks in my signiture because it takes up too much space. I don't mind other people doing it, I just don't wanna do it myself.

As for the disease in the 24, I have some fin rot and cloudy eye on my 4 bleeding hearts (they're in bad shape) but what I can't figure out is the little sphere on my white skirt's fin. It is dead centered on the fin if you look at the fish from the top or bottom. In other words, it looks like this:

-------o---

The lines are the fin looking from the top and the o is the weird thing. It started clear w/ a 1 mm thick wht strand inside but has since clouded over. I'm starting to think it is a fungus but I'm still not sure. I treated w/ rid ich right after I saw it but that did nothing.

Anyway, back to the cycling. If I do it for about a week w/ 75% est. water and some filter media from the 60 will that be enough?

Any more advise would be appreciated. I'm sorry if I came across wrong but I figured the 60 was a pretty important part of the plan.

 

[fishysmell]

No problem fishman. Thanks a lot. I sort of have a canister filter thing going with my DIY deal. It's a 16 oz pop bottle (small holes are poked in the bottom) w/ a sponge and carbon filter plus some lava rock in it. All of this I have in the 60's aquaclear at the moment. There is also a pump at the mouth to get water flow through the contraption. I'll throw some gravel in too if you say that works. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

 

[lizwinz]

i took a look in your profile and i found the threads about your sick fish...it seems everyone helped as much as they could based on your description and lack of pic...alot of people probably didnt respond because they didnt have anything helpful to add...thats why i didnt

anywhoo...using filter media should help to quickly cycle, also after you add the fish try squeezing out some media into a little cup and adding that water to the new filter daily

using the water from another tank (no matter how healthy) to fill it up really wont help, the only thing it will contribute to the new tank is nitrAtes

--liz

 

[Fishman_2000]

Were you the person talking about trimming the fins on the fish? Are you treating the fish diseases right now?Try taking part of the lava rocks and putting in the 10 gallons filter. Or cut off part of the sponge from the 60 filter and put in with the filter on the 10. The gravel in the bottom of the tank ( I think ) doesn't really have as much bacteria as the substrate in your filter will have. But it might not hurt to try adding it. That is a test I am planning to run when my test of cycle is completed! If the filter media your seeding with has enough bacteria your tank will cycle in 2 to 3 days upon the first sight of ammonia! I've done this before! Good luck and let me know how it goes!

 

[jcd]

i think what you ll be doing is a good idea but make sure you use some of the filter media from your established tank asweell .i d still let about three days for he tank to cycle a bit .



good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!1