How to cycle tank with old filter media?

[sofiav]

Yesterday my betta passed away he was a good little fish and I'm sad that he won't be with me anymore, he was my little buddy. Anyways I had a question about cycling his old tank. I was using aquarium salt to treat his fin rot, and I was wondering if I should do a 100% water change then leave the filter running for a couple weeks before adding shrimp or a new fish? Or is there a better/easier way to do it?

 

[Freshfishguy]

Yesterday my betta passed away he was a good fish and I'm sad that he won't be with me anymore, he was my little buddy. Anyways I had a question about cycling his old tank. I was using aquarium salt to treat his fin rot, and I was wondering if I should do a 100% water change then leave the filter running for a couple weeks before adding shrimp or a new fish? Or is there a better/easier way to do it?

Sorry for your loss. Is the tank not already cycled? If he just passed yesterday then you should be totally fine with doing a 100 percent water change and then adding a few fish immediately. I would keep an eye on the ammonia and watch for a spike just in case, but as long as you don’t overload the tank with too many new fish at once, it should still be cycled from when your betta was living in it.

 

[sofiav]

Sorry for your loss. Is the tank not already cycled? If he just passed yesterday then you should be totally fine with doing a 100 percent water change and then adding a few fish immediately. I would keep an eye on the ammonia and watch for a spike just in case, but as long as you don’t overload the tank with too many new fish at once, it should still be cycled from when your betta was living in it.

Yeah the tank is cycled. I was just wondering if the aquarium salt and changing the substrate would affect it?

 

[mattgirl]

Yesterday my betta passed away he was a good fish and I'm sad that he won't be with me anymore, he was my little buddy. Anyways I had a question about cycling his old tank. I was using aquarium salt to treat his fin rot, and I was wondering if I should do a 100% water change then leave the filter running for a couple weeks before adding shrimp or a new fish? Or is there a better/easier way to do it?

I am sorry you lost your little guy. Instead of one huge water change just change out 50% of it 2 or 3 times. By doing so and keeping the filter running it should wash all the salt out. That should dilute the saltdown to perfectly safe levels. If you aren't going to add another fish or shrimp right away you may want to drop a tiny pinch of fish food in the tank every couple of days.

 

[Freshfishguy]

Yeah the tank is cycled. I was just wondering if the aquarium salt and changing the substrate would affect it?

If you change the substrate you will almost definitely affect the cycle. So if you want to change it, I would do what Mattgirl suggested and change the substrate in between one of the water changes while 50 percent of the water or a bit more is drained out. Then I would do a pinch of fish food every few days and keep an eye on the parameters to reestablish the cycle before adding any fish. It should re-cycle a lot quicker than normal since it was already established.

 

[Azedenkae]

Yeah the tank is cycled. I was just wondering if the aquarium salt and changing the substrate would affect it?

You can always just test your cycle by dosing ammonia and see how well it is handled. ^_^