# Instant Cycle



## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

What is the best way for me to instand cycle my 55 g tank? Thanks for all the help guys!


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## fishy714 (Jul 12, 2008)

No such thing as instant cycle unless you already have a existing filter running from another tank that you can switch over.

You can give bio spira or tetra safe start a try. Those are supposely instant cycle in a bottle.


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

I have a Whisper 20 on my 20 g right now and that is already cycled. How should i use it on my 55.


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## cc_woman (Jan 31, 2008)

Just set up the 55 gallon, and place the filter on and turn it on. It might not be quite enough to hold a bunch of fish, but if you add a few fish at a time you should be fine with that. I would not let it run for more than a couple of days without fish, because then the bacteria will not have anything to feed off and will die, then causing a mini cycle to occur when you do add fish. If you can as well, add some of the decor from the 20 in the 55, because decor also holds onto some beneficial bacteria.


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

So run my 55 with my Aqua clear 110 and the Whisper. With only a few fish then add the rest. Also i have so texas wholey rock in my old tank, would that be good?


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## Cruiser (Aug 1, 2008)

Moving the rock will help it along too but isn't need if you take your time stocking the 55. Moving the whisper filter onto the 55 and tossing some cheap fish in to keep bacteria fed while they colonize the 55 will do the job just fine. I did the same thing with my 55 and it worked out great just using the filter and a few tetras to keep it cycled.


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## Zack2112 (Jul 11, 2008)

I would recommend that if you have the filter that you plan to use for your 55 to run it on your 20 with the other or have a friend put your filter on one of their established tanks for a couple weeks and then transferring it to yours.

it took me about 2 1/2 weeks to cycle my 60g. i took one of my filters(penguin 350) for my 60 and put it on an established 20g for about 3 weeks, then transferred that filter over, as well as another penguin 350 with my established media from the 20(running 2 whisper 20s) in the extra media slots into my new 60g I Then stirred the substrate up and transferred about 15 gallons of water over and transferred some driftwood. I finished filling the tank with decholorinated water, added a dose of Cycle, and I did a fishless cycle and it worked great. the tank was set up and cycled within 3 weeks. if you can wait i would strongly recommend you do that. I was more than happy with my results, if you have any questions about how i cycled my tank feel free to ask. Good Luck!


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

When I upgraded from a 20 to my 55 this is what I did:

Get 55 ready as can be and filled with clean dechlorinated water. Leave enough empty to add the majority of the water from the old tank - this way you're effectively doing a 60% WC which is quite reasonable for fish and filters.

Obviously to use the 20 gallon tanks water you'll need to put fish in buckets/boxes with airstones and a few gallons of water (just covering their backs is fine) to hold them whilst you sort everything out.

Now if you are upgrading the filter then what I recommend is to take 1/2 the mature filter sponge from the 20 and put it in the new filter _at the intial filtration stage_ - ie so the water passes through this established media first, then the new media - it means that if there's any loose junk it gets pushed through the new media and in essence helps to seed it.

Leave the other half (and add some more to fill back up) in the old filter. Get them both running on the 55 for 15 mins or so whilst you float the fish until the temperature is up, then add them.

I've done this numerous times and I'm a keen parameter checker, never had any problems at all - the amount of established media you have has a biocapacity for the stocking load of xx many fish in the 20 gallon, now those same fish are in the 55 the biocapacity of the existing media should be sufficient to avoid mini-cycles/spikes etc. It is vital that you continue to check parameters as a precaution in case something unforeseen occurs.

I've found in doing it this way that within a week I can add quite a few fish and it's as though the filters have been running for months.


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

First im gonna run my Aquaclear 110 on my 20 for a few days. Then im gonna take my 20 gallon and put the majority of the water in the 55. And fill the rest with tap water. Them im gonna add some of my odd rocks from my 20 into my 55. Next im gonna take my old filter bag and squeeze it inside the 55 and get the water nice and dirty. Then im gonna put my Whisper 20 and Aquaclear on my 55 for a week or two. Then gonna put my Whisper back on my 20. Finally im only gonna add my Yellow Lab and my Red Empress to the 55 since they are the biggest and hope this does the trick. How does this sound guys.


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

First im gonna run my Aquaclear 110 on my 20 for a few days. Then im gonna take my 20 gallon and put the majority of the water in the 55. And fill the rest with tap water. Them im gonna add some of my odd rocks from my 20 into my 55. Next im gonna take my old filter bag and squeeze it inside the 55 and get the water nice and dirty. Then im gonna put my Whisper 20 and Aquaclear on my 55 for a week or two. Then gonna put my Whisper back on my 20. Finally im only gonna add my Yellow Lab and my Red Empress to the 55 since they are the biggest and hope this does the trick. How does this sound guys.


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## bac3492 (Jul 25, 2008)

make sure you dechlorinate the tap water. Having cycled water and/or media and then adding tap water will make the process useless. The chlorines in the water will kill all of your beneficial bacteria. You should have been doing this on every water change.


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

my tap water has no chlorine


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## bac3492 (Jul 25, 2008)

yes it does. My sister is in cambridge. Pretty much all towns/cities chlorinate their water.


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

So what your saying is fill my 55 first with some tap water. Declorinate it, then add 15 gallons from my 20?


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## bac3492 (Jul 25, 2008)

sure. You still need some filters from cycled tanks though. The water should do something but im not sure how much


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## fishy714 (Jul 12, 2008)

I just like using water from different tanks just to supply some ammonia to the tank. The media from your 20 gallon tank is the key to cycling your tank faster.


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## Zack2112 (Jul 11, 2008)

the water itself wont do much at all. its all about the "crud" in your filters, substrate, and on rocks and driftwood. filter media is still the best. Also, instead of squeezing your dirty filter bag into the tank i woudl suggest just putting the dirty filter bag right into the new filter. i dont know how the aquaclear 110 works, but i just added my old filter cartrages into the extra slots on my penguin 350s, they didnt fit perfect but as long as they stay there it does the trick. Good Luck!


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## Bodega (Aug 16, 2008)

Yah so along with the water. I will just put my dirty filter bag on my Aquaclear and my new filter bag on my Whisper 20. And hopefully it will fit.


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Bodega said:


> Then im gonna put my Whisper 20 and Aquaclear on my 55 for a week or two. Then gonna put my Whisper back on my 20. Finally im only gonna add my Yellow Lab and my Red Empress to the 55 since they are the biggest and hope this does the trick. How does this sound guys.


You were doing fine up to this point. If you are running your filters on an aquarium without any fish, the beneficial bacteria in the filters won't last long. You need to have an ammonia source in the aquarium to "feed" the bacteria. By running filters on an empty tank, you're effectively starving the bacteria in the filter. You'll end up with two non-cycled filters this way.

The better way would be to move fish into the tank at the same time you move the filters over. Does that make sense?


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## Zack2112 (Jul 11, 2008)

as i have mentioned before, if you are not ready to move fish at the same time as your filters doing a fishless cycle works wonders. But mithesaint is right, if you dont have a source of ammonia when transferring filters you will have defeated the purpose of using established media. In a fishless cycle instead of using fish as your source of ammonia you use pure ammonia and add the correct amount to the water, you can build up a good colony of bacteria the same as with fish, but without the risk of loosing fish in the process. plus, you can add more at once :thumb:


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