redclay92

How long should it take my 75 gallon fish tank to cycle its been up for 2 days, I've got already cycled substrate in it from other aquariums, and i also have used filters. Also can any one please suggest a better filter? Also I have my Heater set as low as it can go but at 76 degrees it still is not shutting off. I also did a water test today and said that everything was ideal, I've added 2 of my black skirt tetras to help the process b/c they are hardy fish right?

Lucy

Hi redclay, it's much more humane to cycle using another source of ammonia like pure amminia or fish food. Being that you've seeded the tank, it may already be cycled in which case, your black skirts would be safe.

When you say ideal, what are your exact readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.

What kind of heater and what wattage are you using?

Laelanna

I would recommend a canister filter, fluvals are decent, renas are good, and eheim I've heard are some of the best. I personally really like the rena filters. They are good, and decently priced. We use a rena xp3 for our 55 gallon.

redclay92

The Heater says Aquairam Aquatic Heater and it is 150 watt.

My test kit does not include amomonia but
nitrate:0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Hardness 75ppm
chlorine 0ppm
alkalinity 120ppm
pH 7.2

Darlene

Since you have no nitrates, your not cycled yet and it will be hard on your fish and you should do daily water changes.

Lucy

You really need to get an ammonia kit, as your tank isn't cycled.

Then test daily, at the first sign of ammonia, start doing daily water changes (unless you go fish less) until you have readings of 0 for both ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing.

If your other tank is cycled and can handle it, size and compatibility wise, I'd put the black skirts in there and do a fishless cycle on your new tank.

What're you using to test? The strips aren't accurate, I use the API master kit, it's very reliable.

redclay92

Will do the other reason i moved them was it looked like the y had ICH and my other fish did not have any and they didn't have this morning but tonight. but it looked like when it came off it would float to the tp instead of go to bottom. The only thing i changed in the tank was a better pump.

Lucy

To treat ich, raise the temp in your tank to 83-84F (slowly) for a minimum of 2 weeks and vacuum the gravel to get all the spores up.
Increase the aeration because the higher the temp, the less oxygen in the water.

pepetj

Hi redclay92: If you have no idea about your Ammonia readings, then you should get your fish out of the tank. Yuor readings suggest that your tank is not cycled (stripe test are prone to false positives in nitrates, not false negatives, as far as I know).

Without fish in the tank, raise the heater to just below 86F, run the lights 24/7, provide strong water agitation; either use some fish food or ammonia solution (without additives/surfactants) to feed the tank and wait for nitrites to spike; keep feeding the tank with half the amount you were using (once the spike occurs) and in a week or so you should see the nitrites readings fading down; at that point nitrates will rise; when nitrites readings are zero and nitrates are present, your tank will be cycled. Do a water change (to lower nitrates levels) and add your fish.

With seeded media (one out of three filters and all the sand substrate), I cycled a 145gal tank in 11 days (I used ammonia solution for better control of how much goes in the water).

Pepe
Santo Domingo