elvis

should any water changes be made while it doing a cycle, or should i let the tank "do its thing"

So far ive added, a few around 3-4 good handfuls of gravel from another well established 55g tank and some plants, ive got the heater around 28-30 degrees so far the
ammonia is 0.25
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
pH 6.6 - 6.8

cycling for around 1 week so far

ive been adding good pinches of flake to get the ball rolling.

cheers in advance..

Shawnie

when you add established media, you are suppose to add fish also as its suppose to be an instant cycle....at this point NO dont do water changes..keep adding fish food everyday or throw a piece of raw fresh shrimp in a nylon bag and let it sit.. put them temps up to 86 or so as higher temps cycle faster.....

elvis

cheers for fast reply !!

i failed to mention i have 2 Gold Gourami in there at the moment, should i be adding more at this point??
What other fish to you recommend to put in at his point?

Shawnie

oh that changes things.....no more fish at this point and you must do DAILY water changes with prime or amquel+ to keep them alive....especially labyrinth fish as gouamis are..they dont handle a cycle well feed them once a day to not overdue the ammonia and be very vigilant on water changes every day for a few weeks..or until you have 0 ammonia/nitrites and under 20 nitrates...

elvis

I'm going to remove the goldies and put them in my brother inlaws well established tank untill this tank is done!!
I think that mite be better...so no water change now

Shawnie

goldies or gouramis? LOL
either way good choice to cycle fishless! its much easier on you and your fish

elvis

sorry "gold gouramis" sir !

jdhef

You better make that ma'am if you know what's good for you!

jprime84

Difference of opinion here, but I kept the fish in for the cycle as long as you treat with Prime daily, but not water changes. Prime doesnt have to be administered with a water change, and it will still detox any toxic ammonia and nitrites. You would have to pour it in to overdose the stuff, so its pretty safe. I would expect the cycle to be relatively quick if there is media from an established tank though.

Water changes is probably the best thing for keeping fish, but my danios survived just fine in my 20g with only weekly water changes (but daily Prime treatments) during the cycle.

jdhef

Danio's are pretty hardy. My Danio's survived a cycle with absolutly no water changes and no Prime. (That was on the advice of PetSmart and before I discovered FishLore). In less that one year they all died though. I'm pretty sure the exposure to the toxins, while it didn't kill them, it shortened their lives dramatically.