New Tank Cycling Question

[MatthewLaw]

Greetings All- My 30 gallon tank developed a deep scratch in it and i was afraid it would get a lot worse. i returned the tank to PetSmart and the contents (gravel, fish, plants) of the tank have been in an 18g Rubbermaid container. I tested the water yesterday and it is cycled.

My new tank comes in next Wednesday. I had a good experience with BioSpira with my 60g tank so am planning on using it for this tank as well. I was at my LFS yesterday and bought a packet, which is chilling (literally) in my fridge!

I plan on transferring the contents in the Rubbermaid container into this new tank. If I transfer all the contents (including water) into the new tank, will I even need the BioSpira? Will it hurt the fish to include the BioSpira into the new tank?

Finally, can a Betta fish be used to cycle a tank? Otherwise the tank would be inhabited by one (1) black Molly, two (2) neon tetra, MAYBE the Betta. Ultimately this tank will be used as a 'hospital' tank.

 

[Whiskers]

No, i don't think it would hurt to add the bio spira. i don't know how much it will help if you are using cycled tank water but it couldn't hurt IMO.

 

[Rayneuki]

Shouldn't hurt them. All it can do is cause a bacteria bloom (Which Cycle did to me.. and that's about ALL it did. >.>) and the bacteria won't hurt the fish, cause they are benificial bacteria. So, go ahead and add it unless you're just worried about wasting it.

The cycled water and media should be enough, but just in case of a random cycle start go ahead and do the biospira.


Oh yeah I just noticed you said it would be a hospital tank? A QT (aka hospital) tank doesn't need to be constantly running or have substrate or anything in it besides a filter and a heater. You don't want to have residents in a hospital tank, that exposes them to whatever your sick/new fish has. For a hospital tank you just need to add the water a couple days before (in buying a new fish) or add the water ASAP (in hospitalizing a critical fish.) Then turn everything on. You might want to set it up ahead of time if you think anything is wrong (to let the heater get to working) but otherwise you don't have to have it up. You'll end up just turning it into another fish tank.

 

[MatthewLaw]

you are correct Rayneuki. i think i will end up buying ANOTHER tank (boo hooo haahah) as a purely hospital tank/new fish acclimate tank.

The Betta and Neon Tetra wont be able to survive with teh TB and Rainbow Sharks so they have to be in this separate tank. Assuming I use the same water, can the Betta help this tank?