andrewm

I am wondering how long it will take to cycle a new tank. I have input half of the water from the old 10 gallon tank but I do not want to kill the fish that are in it so I only changed that much. I do not have chlorine in my water. I added some chemicals that came with the tank that have beneficial bacteria. Hopefully someone can give me a rough idea because I do not want to put the fish in and have them die on me. Thank you.

COBettaCouple

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm - check this article out. Do you have a testing kit like: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113074 ?

genie

If you put in some gravel from your old tank-- that will speed up the cycle, but new tanks take about 6 weeks to cycle fully without any help. If you don't have a test kit-- get the API Master kit. And you have to have some form of ammonia in the new tank to feed the cycle, so either add pure ammonia or cycle with fish (risky). If you cycle with pure ammonia, don't add ANY fish until your levels are:
Ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: >20

OH and old tank water won't help. The bacteria lives in the gravel and filter, not free floating in the water.