# Will This Restart The Cycle?



## Restricted- (Aug 21, 2008)

So my tank is currently cycling with an ammonia source and I'm making a diy background for it. When I put it into the tank I need to drain most of the water and stick the background on with silicone. The silicone says 30 minutes tack free, and cures in 24 hours. So does that mean I cant fill it back up with water until its cured? And will that kill all the bacteria in my filter if it is off with no circulation?


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## pirana666 (Aug 26, 2010)

Golden Pygo said:


> So my tank is currently cycling with an ammonia source and I'm making a diy background for it. When I put it into the tank I need to drain most of the water and stick the background on with silicone. The silicone says 30 minutes tack free, and cures in 24 hours. So does that mean I cant fill it back up with water until its cured? And will that kill all the bacteria in my filter if it is off with no circulation?


its better to let it dry for 24 ours 
and when you fill the tank again, you have to let it filter the sillicon remainings.... do you have special sillicon? so not-
i geus carbon or other mechanic filter.... let it filter for 1 week at least
but in the meantime if you wanna keep youre bacterie in your pomp ,let it cycle with the old water in a big box or better a second tank
so its better you have a second pomp to clean the tank of sillicon and the other pomp stays untouched with healty bactery running,
cuase bactery dies off when no water is streaming for a half our..i thuoght

if you do it in another way, youre tank starts a new cycle again... 
as far as i know....

sorry for my bad english writing im from holland....


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## Restricted- (Aug 21, 2008)

well I don't have another filter that I can use to filter out the silicone.. I will just drain water from my tank into a smaller tank, let the filter run on that tank for a little while while I have my background in the other tank drying for a day.

Thanks for the reply, dont worry about your english!


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## e46markus (Dec 9, 2010)

What size of tank is it and what filter are you using?

If you don't have another tank, another idea is picking up a larger rubbermaid bin, if your running a casiter filter you could easily set it up on the bin with the existing tank water...if your using a power filter it might be difficult to set it up hanging on the side of the bin.

As long as the media stays wet (with existing tank water) any beneficial bacteria accumulated should stay alive...for how long without water circulating through it I'm not sure.

Hopefully this helps, I'm sure some others will chime in.


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## Restricted- (Aug 21, 2008)

Its a 30gal with cascade 1500 filter. I've got an empty 20gal right beside it so i will just switch some water and the filter over while the background dries for a day.


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## e46markus (Dec 9, 2010)

Sorry, misread that you were going to transfer everything to a smaller tank. You should be fine then cycle wise.


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## Restricted- (Aug 21, 2008)

all good







my ammonia levels arn't very high, but nitrite is probly about 1.0 ppm.. nitrate isn't bad..about 20 ppm. not sure if those numbers make sense, its just what the test kit shows.


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## e46markus (Dec 9, 2010)

Sounds about right to me, sounds like your ammonia is dropping, just need to wait for your nitrites to peak, once its converted to nitrates and ammonia and nitrite is 0 then the cycle is done.


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## Restricted- (Aug 21, 2008)

Alright thanks, I will keep monitoring.. average cycle takes about 4-8 weeks? How long do you think my tanks has left, or is it hard to know?


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## e46markus (Dec 9, 2010)

My cycle took 3-4 weeks from what I can remember, everyones is different though. Just keep an eye on the test results and you should be good.


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## Restricted- (Aug 21, 2008)

Alright will do. Also do you know if the concrete will afftect the PH in my aquarium? On the videos they fill and drain the tank several times after installing the background.. why not just rinse it off a few times is what I wonder?


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