# how many..



## FishPimpin (May 26, 2008)

How many sucide fish would I have to put in a 90 gallon tank so that the cycle period would be suffencent for p's? whats the best kind of fish to use?


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Just a dozen feeder goldfish would be sufficient.

I also suggest you look into the 'fishless method' that is a pinned/saved topic here in the water chemistry forum. It is an easy, and usually faster method of cycling your tank by using pure ammonia.
~Taylor~


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## angeli697 (Jul 5, 2007)

what exacly is a suicide fish?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

a fish cycle adds ammonia and such fo bacteria to colonise so it doesnt really matter what fish you use.
Pure ammonia would probably be more effective.


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## PlayaM (May 26, 2008)

how long should u fish cycle a 55 g tank with everything new... totally new setup only 1 p will go in tank about 5 in ?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

PlayaM said:


> how long should u fish cycle a 55 g tank with everything new... totally new setup only 1 p will go in tank about 5 in ?


As long as it takes. You can estimate about a month however the cycle is not over untill the ammonia drops off and the bacteria has collonised. After a month it will be 99.9% safe. Best way is to test the water peramiters to see when it becomes safe to add fish (should wait at least 2 weeks). Adding somethign like previously established bacteria boughten or from another tank could help speed things along however but it is not nessisary.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

What if you use a bag of Bio media from another tank and water/substrate?

Has anyone done that and how much time does it knock off the cycle?

I jope you odnt mind me asking in yoru thread.
I just picked up a 55 tonight and was thinking of running its filters on my current tanks and putting the filters from my old tanks (after a week or so) on that tank assuming the bacteria will be there.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

notaverage said:


> What if you use a bag of Bio media from another tank and water/substrate?
> 
> Has anyone done that and how much time does it knock off the cycle?
> 
> ...


i would take the media from the established filter, and put it into the new filter, and put the media from the new filter into the established filter. then run them on an established tank for about ten days to establish the new media in the old tank. then put the new filter with the established media (from the old filter) into the new tank, as well as some water, then run everything for a few days until both are running and testing ok, then return all media to their respective tanks and add the fish you want to keep in the new tank.... thats what i would and have done in the past and it has worked fine.

what you thinkin of getting by the way?.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

depends how much media use use thats established. More= less time.
Only testing the waters perams will tell you


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

notaverage said:


> What if you use a bag of Bio media from another tank and water/substrate?
> 
> Has anyone done that and how much time does it knock off the cycle?


The first piece of equipment I bought when I upgraded from a 29 to a 120 was an XP4. I hooked it up on my 29, put the biomedia from my old XP2 in it (along with more bio-media) and let it run on the 29 for about a week. The night before the move I filled the 120, turned the heater on so it would warm up, then the next day moved the filter and fish. I added some Freshwater TLC just to be on the safe side, but I don't think I needed to. It worked great, I didn't get so much as a mini-cycle.


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## jsadlersos (Mar 11, 2008)

The first rule (trying not to sound like a pompus ass, but not succeeding) of fish keeping..........be patient. If you take things slow you will have success. Fishkeeping of any kind is riddled with curve balls, don't make things any harder on yourself than they have to be, just take your time with it and enjoy. Sorry for the "on high" rant but letting things occur naturally on its own time frame really helps

As for how many fish.......use one small fish for every inch of Piranha......however pure ammonia is a lot less cruel


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