# What is the easiest way to cycle a 75 gallon aquarium



## FX (Dec 31, 2011)

Looking for some advice on cycling a 75 gallon aquarium. I want to do a "fishless" cycle. I'm a bit confused regarding all the products out there. How long does it take? Hagen has a product that you add to the water. Dr. Tim's product looks a bit tedious! Any suggestions would be great! Are there kits available to test the water? If so, what am I testing for prior to introducing fish to there new home. I will be housing approximately 24 MBUNA cichlids.

Thanks so much!   :fish:


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

Dr Tim's product is a one time addition... anything but tedious...

Adding the ammonia etc should be done no matter what 'product' you use if you want to do it right.

Read the articles in the library on cycling to get an idea what is involved. It works, and works well, I went from an empty tank full of water to a tank with 28 fish in it over a weekend and lost no fish to the new tank.
Just takes some patience to let the cycle complete, if you have an existing tank you can greatly reduce the time to cycle, mebbe cutting the time in half, otherwise, expect to spend 4+ weeks cycling.


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## FX (Dec 31, 2011)

Hey thanks for the reply...so Dr. Tim's is pretty easy to use? Glad to hear...this whole cycling thing sounds a little difficult regarding taking samples etc.


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## rich_t (Nov 26, 2009)

FX said:


> Looking for some advice on cycling a 75 gallon aquarium. I want to do a "fishless" cycle. I'm a bit confused regarding all the products out there. How long does it take? Hagen has a product that you add to the water. Dr. Tim's product looks a bit tedious! Any suggestions would be great! Are there kits available to test the water? If so, what am I testing for prior to introducing fish to there new home. I will be housing approximately 24 MBUNA cichlids.
> 
> Thanks so much!   :fish:


Ok... Where to start.

You will want to buy an API Freshwater Master test kit.

The base water parameters that you need to test for are pH, Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates.

You don't need to buy a product other than ammonia to perform a fishless cycle.

There is an excellent article here in the library for fishless cycling.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/f ... _cycle.php

It can take up to 6 weeks to fishless cycle.

There are bacteria products that you can buy that claim to reduce the cycle time. I used Dr. Tim's product and it still took about 6 weeks for my tank to cycle.


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## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

fastest would be to borrow an established filter from a clean disease free tank.


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## Nodalizer (Nov 7, 2011)

Even a handful of someone elses media would do the trick. Will speed up a cycle 10 fold without crippling your friends tank hehe


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## pdandy88 (Dec 27, 2010)

jd lover said:


> fastest would be to borrow an established filter from a clean disease free tank.


+1!!

Have a friend squeeze some gunk out of their filter, throw the sludge into yours and.....voila!! Good to go!!


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

pdandy88 said:


> jd lover said:
> 
> 
> > fastest would be to borrow an established filter from a clean disease free tank.
> ...


Not quite.
Seeding from media can still take a week or two, depending on a number of things.
You're still going to need to dose ammonia and test the water to be sure the nitrifying bacteria are in sufficient numbers before adding 24 fish to a 75g tank.
As stated in a previous post, purchase a freshwater testing kit and read the Fishless Cycling article posted earlier in this thread.


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

I've cycled 2 tanks since October, one from scratch and the other with media and gravel from the first. 2 weeks to cycle the 2nd tank, temp was set warm (82ish), I added a bacteria product (not Dr Tim's as customs was holding that up...) 
a filter media bag of gravel from my other tank, and 1/3 of the biomedia from the canister.
I also had an airstone in the tank.
I think I only dosed ammonia 2-3 times, but I tested the water at least every 2nd day.


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