Ran into a guy who runs a maintenance company near me. Long story short, he was telling me that he setup a new tank and he used water from his system in the new tank. He said he did not have to cycle it and within 24 hrs he had livestock in the tank. It was beat into my head that new tanks have to cycle and it takes a couple weeks, has anyone done this before?
-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Cycling a tank
- Thread starter Wfd138
- Start date
A lot of details are definitely missing on this.
In order for a tank to survive it must develop beneficial bacteria that will take toxic ammonia from Fish waste and convert to neutral nitrates. This requires various organisms that are born in stages when the need arises in the nitrogen cycle. The trigger being ammonia introduction.
IF. The guy used tankwater AND Biological media (live rock, sponges etc) from an existing established display then it is possible to skip the normal cycle even though you will still probable get a mini-cycle
But either way. You cannot skip a cycle. It must be done or rock from an established tank (which already went through the cycle) must be used
In order for a tank to survive it must develop beneficial bacteria that will take toxic ammonia from Fish waste and convert to neutral nitrates. This requires various organisms that are born in stages when the need arises in the nitrogen cycle. The trigger being ammonia introduction.
IF. The guy used tankwater AND Biological media (live rock, sponges etc) from an existing established display then it is possible to skip the normal cycle even though you will still probable get a mini-cycle
But either way. You cannot skip a cycle. It must be done or rock from an established tank (which already went through the cycle) must be used
The question is. Did he do it for his own personal use or a client.
There are always quick ways around things.
Biospira I’ve used personally to setup a qt tank in a fix. It works and the fish is alive but I believe that it binds the ammonia until the bacteria catches up.
Over the long run this is not sustainable and a system will crash if you overload the aquarium without proper filtration
If done for personal use. I can be 100% sure he cycled the tank.
If for commercial there is benefits in repeat customers and I will leave that at that
There are always quick ways around things.
Biospira I’ve used personally to setup a qt tank in a fix. It works and the fish is alive but I believe that it binds the ammonia until the bacteria catches up.
Over the long run this is not sustainable and a system will crash if you overload the aquarium without proper filtration
If done for personal use. I can be 100% sure he cycled the tank.
If for commercial there is benefits in repeat customers and I will leave that at that
If he just used water from his tank and tested the so called new system the next day, he will not see any ammonia or nitrite readings. They will show up in a week though.
The bacteria is minimal in the water. Unless he transferred live rock and/or live sand and maybe some sponges from his tank to client's tank it will be a disaster. He may think it cycled in 24 hours but the cycle has yet to begin.
As @ecambero said, bio-spira will cycle the tank in 24 - 48 hours and I have used it many times.
The bacteria is minimal in the water. Unless he transferred live rock and/or live sand and maybe some sponges from his tank to client's tank it will be a disaster. He may think it cycled in 24 hours but the cycle has yet to begin.
As @ecambero said, bio-spira will cycle the tank in 24 - 48 hours and I have used it many times.