# 120 cycle



## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

as alot of you may have known i lost all 8 of my piranhas probably from the trout that i fed them...everything lived except for my jack dempsey...well i took him out for a few min...took all the water out of the tank and cleaned the whole thing....i then added the sand i had in 2 55 gallons and converted my 55 back to gravel...the 55s were both cycled...then i put the filter i had on my 55 on my 120..i know this is not enough filteration but i am waiting to get my xp3 on ebay i have been bidding on a few...well i went on vacation (i cleaned tank and added cycled sand on thursday) its now sunday and i left over vacation with 5 convicts, a jack dempsey, 4 2" bass and 10 2" blue gill and 1 flower mouth in the tank...i come home and check water perimeters... the ammonia is a 0 the nitrate is at 0 and the ph is 7.0...i have some fish coming in sometime this week im not sure when...do u guys think my tank is cycled yet? it has been up for 4 days now and the levels are like that...is my tank cycled?


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## EMJAY (Feb 27, 2003)

did you use a 100% new water? if so then no, it hasn't even started yet. start by tossing some goldfish in to get the ammonia stage running. the rest is a time thing, usually 3-5 weeks.


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## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

nahh i used about 50 gallons of water from a cycled tank...and there already are 20 fish in there right now...i should add more fish than that too?


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## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

donh???


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

What kind of filter did you move from the 55 to the 120? Some are better in the biological filtration department than others. Also, you gave ammonia and nitrate (nitrates can never really be zero) readings, but what is your nitrite? If the nitrite also reads zero, then with the information that you gave, I would say that the tank is cycled with the bioload that you currently have in there.

Once you add the additional filter, I recommend that any new additions be made slowly so your current biological filtration system can catch up to the new demand.

The only way to be positive is to constantly monitor your water parameters and make sure they are consistently zero.


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## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

it is a ac500 the nitrates are yellow and on my little chart the color it says shows 0 i dont have a nitrite tester so im not sure what level that is at....i plan on throwing in some feeders tommorow to kinda help it get more of a load before my ps come in...how many do u think i should add?


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

You will need a nitrite test kit to make sure that everything is cycled. If ammonia AND nitrite are consistently zero, than the tank is cycled.

If the tank is cycled, it's not really necessary to add feeders to increase the bioload. The nitrifiers should be able to catch up without any problems if additions are made slowly.


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## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

thank you very much donh...







if my nitrites are not at 0 then what do u suggest? should i add feeders to help the cycle process then? 
thanks again!


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

If your nitrites are not zero, that means that your tank is not fully cycled. I suggest you add a tablespoon of salt (a little goes a long way) to relieve your current fish of nitrite poisoning and not add anymore fish until your tank is cycled. Feed sparingly for the time being.


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## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

thanks


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## GARGOYLE (Feb 12, 2003)

how many p's are you gonna get and what size?


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## mtx1 (May 21, 2003)

well i got 13 of em....there are 5 caribe from b scott...8 reds from ash...3 of the reds will be going into my friends indoor pond...he wants to watch them eat his big ass goldfish he has in there LOL but they will be in my tank for 3 weeks...the reds are 3-4" and the caribe are 5-6"....if there are problems then i will be putting 4 of the reds in my 55 for the time being...i just cant wait to watch the feeding frenzy on that!!!!! even though i lost all my other ps...thanks to the nice guys in the forum i got them back with the same price i paid for my 8 heh


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