55 Gallon Tank Analysis paralysis... fishless cycle or not..

[askelly50]

New to this forum but not so new to the hobby... 1st tank at age 12 (many, many years ago). Biggest mistake -> buying that cute 'little' Oscar... Had him for 7 years...an ugly critter that prompted my purchase of a 55g. Never looked back after getting that first 'biggish' tank - until it leaked when we were on vacation and my 75 year old Aunt who very nicely agreed to take care of the tank while we were gone.. said there was a little water leak... panic drive back from Florida... now a big leak... quick swap of everything down to a spare 30g I had...

And now I have a new 55g... and I'm trying to figure out the best method of getting it cycled... hence Analysis Paralysis...

I'm sure I'll find the answer here



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[GlennO]

Welcome. Do you still have the 30g set up and running or is the new 55 the only tank that you have?

 

[askelly50]

30g is well established - been running for over a year. Has two Eheim canister filters on it (yes, over kill but I had them from the previous leaking 55g)...

 

[GlennO]

30g is well established - been running for over a year. Has two Eheim canister filters on it (yes, over kill but I had them from the previous leaking 55g)...

Ok that's great. You can use some filter media from it to seed the new tank. That should speed up the cycling process significantly. You can choose to do fishless or fish-in cycling. If it was me I'd probably still start fishless. With sufficient old media it wouldn't be long before you could start adding fish.

Alternatively if you can scavenge enough media (or if you're transferring the old filters?) it would be safe to add fish from the start, on the proviso that you'll be monitoring parameters closely.

 

[Bwood22]

Why not move a whole canister over to the new 55g tank from the 30g?

I cant imagine that keeping 2 canisters on a 30 gallon is necessary.

 

[KingOscar]

Besides having 2 established canister filters in your 30, what about the filter(s) from the original 55? Surely they are well established, and you still have them. You're in a great position here as far as "Cycling" your new 55.

Edit: Oops, I see. One of the 2 canisters came from the leaking 55. Yes, use it on the new tank and you're pretty much good to go.

 

[Bwood22]

Yeah, don't even open the canister to pull anything out and stick it on the 55.

Then stock the tank slowly with at least 2 weeks between small additions of fish.

 

[Azedenkae]

New to this forum but not so new to the hobby... 1st tank at age 12 (many, many years ago). Biggest mistake -> buying that cute 'little' Oscar... Had him for 7 years...an ugly critter that prompted my purchase of a 55g. Never looked back after getting that first 'biggish' tank - until it leaked when we were on vacation and my 75 year old Aunt who very nicely agreed to take care of the tank while we were gone.. said there was a little water leak... panic drive back from Florida... now a big leak... quick swap of everything down to a spare 30g I had...

And now I have a new 55g... and I'm trying to figure out the best method of getting it cycled... hence Analysis Paralysis...

I'm sure I'll find the answer here



.

Fishless cycling by ammonia-dosing is objectively the best method for cycling. It is in fact the only method that comes close to being able to guarantee establishment of nitrifiers, the purpose of cycling.

 

[KingOscar]

New to this forum but not so new to the hobby... 1st tank at age 12 (many, many years ago). Biggest mistake -> buying that cute 'little' Oscar... Had him for 7 years...an ugly critter that prompted my purchase of a 55g.

Requesting a photo of this "ugly critter" please!

 

[askelly50]

Sadly no pics of my Oscar but he looked a lot like this one. Deformed when I bought him but I didn't know he wasn't supposed to look like that

Mod edit: image removed for copyright issues

55g was filled - used Prime to neutralize chlorine/chloramine.

Eheim Ecco from the existing 30g now on the new 55g. After 1 day, parameters are:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5ppm

No fish in at the moment - How long can I go without a source of Ammonia before bacterina die?

 

[Azedenkae]

No fish in at the moment - How long can I go without a source of Ammonia before bacterina die?

Weeks to months before they go dormant significantly, and much longer before they materially die off.