Peterpiper

This method is used by some Seahorse keepers in Australia. The reason why it is used? Some of the hitch hikers on live rock can harm / kill the seahorses and if fry are to be raised, then Hydroids are an issue.
This method can be used for both fresh and salt water.
Basically, you cycle your filter, not your whole tank.
Some of the benefit's of using this method.
1, If you are going to set up a new tank, you can start the filter cycling before you get your tank.
2, You can have a spare cycled filter ready if required, ie fry tank, hospital tank or quarantine tank.
3, Your tank will have clean water from day 1.
4, No harm to any fish as it is a fishless cycle.
5, It is a very fast and clean.
All credit for the following goes to Mairi from Syngnathid.org.
Just don't use salt if you are cycling for a fresh water tank!

You will need:
1 new bucket (heavy duty plastic, a nappy/diaper pail is perfect, around 20L)
1 new bucket (small, for cleaning)
Supply of bacteria (freeze dried or bottled, must be live! Don’t be fooled by your LFS)
Filter to be cycled
Heater
Aeration (bare airline and pump)
Salt water mix
Ammonia (no added anything except water – check with the manufacturer if necessary)
Glass dropper (to add the ammonia)
Ammonia, Nitrite & pH test kits
Hydrometer
Notepad & pen

Before you start
First, read the thread below this one, "The Nitrogen Cycle" by Tracy, to understand why we are doing this! Now, wash your buckets and all equipment with hot water and set out to dry in the sun. Include your filter and test equipment.

Day 1
Mix up your salt water into the large bucket as per instructions. Add your heater and set to 30C. Aerate overnight with a bare airline.

Day 2
Check your salinity. If all is well, you can add your filter. Switch it on. Now add your bacteria. If using the bottled stuff, just pour the whole lot in. Your LFS will give you fancy instructions. Ignore them.

Day 3
Check your ammonia levels. Due to natural dieoff, you will probably get some sort of reading. You want to achieve at least 1ppm, so if the levels are not there yet, add a drop of ammonia and test again. It only takes a minute amount of ammonia to get to 1ppm, so take it slowly, one drop at a time. Swish it round and test after every drop. Once you are at 1ppm, you can relax. Take a note of how many drops you added to get to 1ppm, as you will need this figure later. The bacteria will now start to go to work.

Day 4 onwards
Test your ammonia every day. The levels will drop over time. It may take up to a week or more to reach 0ppm, so be patient. When you have reached 0ppm, add ammonia again, to get back to 1ppm. If your ammonia levels on Day 3 were 0ppm, add the same number of drops you added initially. Otherwise, experiment. Don’t worry if you go over 1ppm, it just means it will take a day or so longer. Relax! Keep notes. Now, every time your levels drop to 0ppm, you will be adding ammonia to get back to 1ppm.

Once your bacteria are clearing 1ppm down to 0ppm in 24 hours, start checking the levels every 12 hours. Once they are clearing 1ppm in 12 hours, you can start testing for nitrites (what the bacteria are converting the ammonia to in the nitrogen cycle). You want your bacteria to be able to achieve 0ppm of ammonia and 0 nitrites in the same amount of time, so test 12 hourly. When your ammonia is 0.0 in 12 hours, start feeding it every 12, get a nice big colony of bacteria up and running. It will only take a day or so for the bacteria to come up to speed, bless them. At this stage, you can get your tank water ready. Mix up more than enough to fill your tank, and get your decorations ready. Clean the tank and all fake decorations as above. As soon as the ammonia and nitrites are clearing in 12 hours, you’re there!

Congratulations! You have now cycled your filter without smelly prawns, ugly diatom blooms or stressed fish, and all in less than a couple of weeks!

Setting up the tank

Now is the time to set up your tank. Only do this if you have the horses coming the same or next day. If you have to wait for your horses to be delivered, don’t set the tank up until you know they are coming within 24 hours. The same goes for your live rock. Don’t collect it until you are ready to set the tank up the same day. Your filter is better off staying in the bucket, being fed ammonia every day.

Put in the water first – about half fill the tank. Now put in your live rock carefully, minimising the time it is in the air. When you are happy with the arrangements, add your substrate. Keep it higher at the back than the front. Now you can slowly pour in the rest of the water. Add your decorations and plants. When you are happy with the setup, you can get the filter ready. Firstly, rinse the filter pads in a small bucket, using some clean salt water. Just swish them about slowly. Keep the filter pads submerged at all times. Pour some clean salt water through the whole filter. Put the filter back together and add it to the tank. Switch it on. Test the pH and make any adjustments needed. You can now add your livestock. Immediately.

This method will suit 4 – 6 medium horses and their tank. If you want to have more horses straight away, then substitute the 1ppm of ammonia with 2ppm, or cycle two filters in separate buckets at 1ppm.

Continuing your good work

If you want to be able to have a filter ready any time, my advice is to add some new filter media to the bucket on Day 1. Crushed coral, ceramic noodles, anything will do. This will become seeded with bacteria. Once you have removed your cycled filter, keep feeding this bacteria with at least 1ppm of ammonia every day. You can then add a new filter to the bucket at any time, and within a few days of following the plan above, you will have another fully cycled filter, ready for use! So handy for nurseries, emergency tanks or that gorgeous horse at the LFS you just couldn’t resist…

This method of cycling is a great way to ensure you have a hydroid-free nursery or small horse tank, providing you don’t add any live sand, rock or plants, and fresh water dip your horses before adding them to the tank (not fry). I have also found the cycling bucket very handy for my in-tank brine shrimp hatchery, as it sits at 30ºC, perfect for hatching.


What I used

Note: all prices quoted are in $Australian and stores are based in NW Sydney)
I bought my buckets from “The Warehouse”, a discount chain store. A 19L nappy bucket was $7.95 and a smaller 5L all purpose bucket was 73c. I also bought my glass dropper there for under $1. I have sponge filters as well as Eheim Liberty 100 filters, which hang on nicely to the side of the bucket. These I bought from various LFSs. I bought live bottled bacteria from Strictly Aquariums (Aquasonic brand, one 50ml bottle each of Nitrococcus and Nitrosococcus) for $15 each. The test kits can be bought at any LFS, separately for about $20 or in a master test kit, price dependent on what you want. Make sure the test kit is suitable for salt water. The heaters, air pumps, crushed coral and so on I had lying around. I bought 2L of “Superior” brand ammonia (Power Ammonia, 40g/L active constituent) for under $5 at “Bunnings”, a hardware store. Considering the amount you need, if you can get a smaller bottle, do so! I have been using Aquasonic Ocean Nature brand salt mix ($21 for 4kg from Strictly Aquariums) and regular tap water, dechlorinated overnight by aeration.

This is the thread referred to by Mairi, It was written by Tracy, owner of South Australian Seahorse Farm, please note it was written with seahoreses in mind, but is the same in fresh water.

Biological Filtration - The Nitrogen Cycle

Like all fish, seahorses create ammonia as a waste product of digestion. It is also produced through the decay of plant matter and uneaten food from overfeeding. Ammonia is deadly to all fish.

Invisible toxins like ammonia and nitrite are transformed into the relatively harmless substance nitrate by the Nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter respectively) in a process known as the nitrogen cycle.

These aerobic bacteria (require oxygen to live) attach to surfaces such as gravel, glass, rocks, filter panels, sand and filter media. The more surface area you have the more bacteria can grow.

Nitrosomonas bacteria absorb ammonia and transform it into energy for themselves and produce the by-product nitrite. Although slightly less toxic in sea water than ammonia, high concentrations of nitrite (which do occur in the initial set up) can prove fatal to seahorses.

When the nitrite concentrations are increased thanks to the activity of the Nitrosomonas bacteria, the other beneficial bacteria Nitrobacter use the nitrites as their energy source. Nitrite is then transformed into nitrate. In high concentrations nitrate can also be harmful, but this form is more readily transferred from water to the air, or taken up by plants.

The Nitrogen cycle can take 3-6 weeks to be working efficiently. It is important to monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels during this cycle period.

You will need to test your aquarium every couple of days. Your ammonia levels will be the first to rise, as the first nitrifying bacteria starts acting, you will notice what is called a nitrite spike with high nitrite levels, followed by high nitrate levels.

You will notice these levels lessen and by the fourth or fifth week
you should be getting nil ammonia readings (0.0 ppm), nil nitrite levels (0.0 ppm) and readings of > 40 ppm of nitrates.

Once the above readings have been achieved, your bio-filter is active and you can introduce your seahorses to the tank.

Without the biological breakdown of toxins the seahorses will literally poison themselves. These beneficial bacteria will grow as your tank ages.

You can start a biological filter going by adding products containing these bacteria, but you should not use fish to start your bio filter.

Products like Bio-start or similar are available. Ensure you read all directions carefully. You will have to feed your stockless tank some form of ammonia every day for the cycling period.

sunstrip

Very interesting and informative post...thank you !!!