# Cycling my tank



## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

I am trying to cycle my 55 gallon tank faster so I put a few handfuls of my gravel in a filter bag and put it into a cycled tank. How long will it take to seed my gravel so that I can use it to seed my tank? Also, about by how much time should that speed up my cycle?

- Thanks


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

Keep testing your water when your nitrites turn into nitrates you're ready.

Ammonia spike > Nitrite Spike > Nitrates... Go Fish!


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

klumsyninja said:


> Keep testing your water when your nitrites turn into nitrates you're ready.
> 
> Ammonia spike > Nitrite Spike > Nitrates... Go Fish!


Well I know that, I'm asking how long will it take to seed the gravel in the cycled tank so that I can put the gravel back in mine to seed my tank.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Normally I'd say 2-3 weeks to really seed media well, so may not speed things up that much by the time
you allow time for that. I think a better way to go would be to take something from the established tank 
and add it to the new. A piece of media from a filter in the established.tank to a filter on the new tank 
would be the best way to go. Barring that, anything like rocks, gravel, etc would help. It can cut down the 
total cycle time to about a week or so, if done properly. 8 days seems to be the magic number for me.


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

thanks for the great response! I get it now. What if I just take like 2-3 handfuls of gravel from the cycled tank and put them into my tank, would that work good?


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

I've had pretty good luck snagging gravel from an existing tank, and putting it in the bottom of the new tank.... and taking filter media from the existing tank and putting it in the filter of the new tank.

It'd be ideal if you had the same filter on each tank, and could simply swap the whole media cartridge or a biowheel.

Keep an eye on things, and have Amquel on hand if ammonia gets out of hand.

-Ryan


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

Well we both have the same type of filter (penn-plax cascade canister filters) so I could take some media from him. What kind of media should I take? Would floss or foam work?


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

Edit: Sorry double post


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Floss or foam would work great. Avoid anything that's really gunked up. The key is to take as much as 
you can while leaving plenty in the established tank. If there are two foam blocks, take one. Some of it 
depends on if there are other filters in the tank too. If this is the only filter, be careful not to take too much 
from it. You don't really need a lot.


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

kk thanks

I'll take one of those double sided floss pads from the cycled filter and put it into mine today


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

I put two seeded pads into my filter in the afternoon. So now I have 2-3 handfuls of seeded sand in my tank and 2 seeded floss pads in my filter. How long do you think my cycle should last (considering that the cycled tank had a pretty small bioload)?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Looking back through the thread and don't see if you're cycling with fish or fishless. What method are you using? If fishless, how much ammonia are you adding?


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

I have 4 juvenile cichlids in there


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

With that small of a fish load, you may see it 'cycled' immediately. But , be careful because it just means 
it can handle the bioload of 4 small fish. Only way to know for sure is to test ammonia/nitrite/nitrate daily 
for a while to see in which direction levels are going. If ammonia and nitrite stay at 0, and you see 
nitrate rising and some algae growth, you're cycled and ready to start adding fish, but slowly, not all at 
once.

To answer your question, I'd say if it doesn't cycle immediately, it shouldn't take very long at all. Days, not weeks.


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

oh, sorry i meant 2 juvenile cichlids and 2 4" sun catfish


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Ok, well that's a beefier bioload, but some of that depends on feeding. I'd feed once per day and monitor water parameters daily. I still think if it's not cycled, it'll be days, not weeks.


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

The 2 cichlids are:
a ~2.5" jack dempsey
and a ~3" Sveni pike cichlid


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

prov356 said:


> Ok, well that's a beefier bioload, but some of that depends on feeding. I'd feed once per day and monitor water parameters daily. I still think if it's not cycled, it'll be days, not weeks.


Thanks for the help! I'm gonna go check my parameters right now


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

Ph - 7.2
Ammonia - between 2 and 4
Nitrites - 0

Not so good.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

No, not so good. I'd do a water change to get ammonia down to 1 or less, if you can. Feed every other 
day, and use Prime or similar to detox the ammonia. You'll still find that you'll cycle quickly, but expect it 
to take a few days or so.


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

prov356 said:


> No, not so good. I'd do a water change to get ammonia down to 1 or less, if you can. Feed every other
> day, and use Prime or similar to detox the ammonia. You'll still find that you'll cycle quickly, but expect it
> to take a few days or so.


ok ill do that thanx


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

It's still not cycling. The ammonia is still 2-4 and there isn't any nitrite or nitrate. The fish act fine and eat normally. I even took part of the ceramic bio rings from the cycled filter and put them into mine. Still didn't help. I don't know what to do.

Please Help!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

The seeding with media usually speeds things up, but doesn't seem to be in this case. You should 
see ammonia drop any day. Make sure you don't clean filters during this time and do the partial water 
changes to get the ammonia down a bit. All you can do or should do is wait this out. It'll cycle.

Have you made any changes to the tank or filters in the last 10 days or so?


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

I did a water change and I added the biomedia. Thats about it. I guess I''ll just wait.

thanks


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## Gene0514 (Sep 28, 2008)

YEAHHHH!!!!!! I checked my nitrite and it was 5.0! The nitrite spike finally arrived!! I also just finished a 50% water change.


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