Quick Cycle

[tbui1178]

I'm getting ready to setup a 180g tank that will house my petros. I plan on running a 2260 with new media and an eheim 2028 that his been running for months. Is there a way to get the tank cycled quickly (i.e. a couple of days) and safely?

I was planning on buying a few bottles of Tetra QuickStart to cycle my tank along with the filters.

Is it better to buy the quick cycle and use the seeded filter or should I just wait 2 or 3 months before adding my fish in?

Oh, at the moment, I do not plan on adding substrate, but am willing to do it if that's better. I will eventually put pool filter sand and temporary holey rock until I decide on a better scape. Is it safe to put PFS after the tank has been running with fish?

Thanks for the advice in advance.

[newb]

yeah as long as you rinse the sand first it shouldnt cause too much of a dust cloud. I would turn your filters off when adding the sand in so that they dont suck alot of it up. Go to HAW or another store that uses them and see if you can purchase a used sponge filter and just use it for like a week to help promote the bacteria.

[mark razmandi]

everyone will shoot me for saying this but waiting weeks for cycling is completely unnecessary...i used to do that all the time until i got my most recent 90g....we had people coming over that night and i wanted fish in the tank so i drained it and added new water and poured in 100 gallons worth of tetra safe start and put fish in a couple hours later....its been 4 weeks and my parameters are perfect and all my fish are RIDICULOUSLY healthy and active....people can argue with me all they want but that S**T WORKS

[geoff_tropheus]

I like Kent Marine Ecco-Start, and Marineland's Bio Spira.

If you have populated filters than that also works really good too.

[cichlid1409]

+1 , never used that brand mark but those bacteria concoctions really work and i use them on all new setups.

[mark razmandi]

what other brands are available...the only place i know that carries these products are aquarium world and the only got tetra safe start

[cichlid1409]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-bacteria/ps/c/3578/3975

not sure whats all available locally, i would usually buy stress zyme by api locally at petsmart/petco . used microbacter7 by brightwell aquatic with good results too. i think fish gallery sells brightwell.

[geoff_tropheus]

Fish Ranch 2 Carries Bio-Spira or atleast used to when Charles worked there.

[newb]

HAW had some of it back in July. Last time I was there.

[tbui1178]

Should I throw some ammonia in the tank then put the Bacteria bottles in the tank? Assume when ammonia reads zero, it's safe for me to put fish in after a water change...

I don't want new tank syndrome to kill my petros!

[76dragon]

You shouldn't need to do all of this. I usually use seeded filters from my other tanks and use some of the old tank water. Wait about a week and your tank should be cycled. Throw some sand from your other tanks in there to help with the bacteria colony. After a week, put a tester fish to see if it lives past a day and you are good to go.

[Lawsman]

I originallly and continue to use "Stability" by SeaChem. Works great. Put a capful in or two after every water change.

I just get a bit nervous using old stuff becasue they do not have exp. date on the bottle? Does not seem reasonable that bacteria can stay alive forever? So, I guy from large on-line retailers

[imagirlgeek]

All you need is a filter with seeded media, and it sounds like you've got the seeded media. The seeded (used) media is going to contain the nitrosomas bacteria that eats up the ammonia and converts it. If you have any rocks or gravel from another established tank you can put in the tank, this will help speed up the bacteria growth inside the tank. You might see a 'bacteria bloom' or algae growth if you add a bunch of large fish all at one time, but using the old media will make it so you don't have a huge cycle. If anything, you might see some small mini-cycles which are easy to deal with by doing small water change. If you have some air pumps or powerheads to throw in the tank, that will also speed things up since nitrosomas bacteria thrives on oxygen.

[armthehomeless]

Increased temperature, added aeration, added water flow all help speed up the time of a cycle.

I've always used a filter that was running on another tank to set up new tanks and never had a problem. With that said, I only trust Bio-Spira (the stuff that need to be refridgerated).

[geoff_tropheus]

I too only relied on Bio-spira, but they quit making it or atleast the last time I went to buy it that's what they told me.

So I used Seachem's Stability last time, and it worked just fine.