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.