finished cycle

[Spercy123]

hey guys my 240 litre tank has just finished its cycle ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and nitrates are around 10 ppm...theres 10 rummy nose tetra in there at the minute which i am gona keep and have rams in my community tank that i want to put in there also...would my best bet be to put the rams in now and leave it for another while and let them settle in and keep checking the water parameters before i buy my 6 3 inch discus ?? been told of people putting there discus in as soon as the tank is cycled and then they have spikes because the tank still isnt really ready...im only a beginner so might not really have the best idea at all here but any help of what to do next and what way to go about it from some of your experience would be appreciated....

[DiscusLoverJeff]

How long has it been cycling?

[Spercy123]

Only 2 weeks jeff I added gravel from my established tank as well as bogwood etc which would of all had beneficial bacteria on them as well as one of the filters from my established community tank think this is why it happened so quick but I know that the tank is probably gona need a lot longer before adding discus that's why I posted this though because I've read people saying once you get the ammonia and nitrite to 0 and nitrates at healthy reading then your tank is cycled and you can add your discus...don't want to make a beginners mistake and just throw them in as soon as I can wana make sure it's definitely ready...adding some rams would give more of an indication of the readiness of the tank and also add a bit more fish waste etc to see how well the biological filter will cope ??

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Adding the rams would help for sure. I would give it another week after adding the rams and check your water again before adding the discus, especially if you are not going to QT the fish. Better to be safe than sorry.

Hope it works out. Show us some pics when done. Good luck!

[Spercy123]

Yea no probs thanks for your help :)

[trungnguyen]

the longer the better. There is no need to rush. Take time and keep checking water parameter...

[8ftbed]

Only 63 gallons. Are you doing water changes still?
I'm cycling my 3rd tank... with discus. All 3 ran a week before their respective discus arrived, with a few danios and initially doing water changes with water from an established tank. Once the discus showed up, water changes from the tap. Prime on each change. Daily water in the 60% range. The last stage of the cycle, the water goes cloudy and then clears up. After that I'm only doing 10-30% daily changes when removing detritus from the bb tank, depending on how much I'm still feeding them.

The thing is, and rarely if ever mentioned when people offer advice on the cycle, is that if you let a tank cycle completely before adding your discus or whatever, wonderful. The problem is that the tank is cycled according the existing bio load. The the two strains of nitro bacteria are only established to the amount of food available. Ammonia gets the nitrobacteria started which converts to nitrite. With nitrite present nitrosomonas starts which feeds on it and converts to nitrate. When your ammonia and nitrite are zero, then the two colonies are balanced for what's available. Add more fish and you'll see spikes from a mini cycle until the nitrobacter and nitrosomonas multiply in response to the increased bioload. Eventually you reach a balance again. Which is why it's generally advised not to add a bunch of fish at once... unless you're aware of what happens and ready to do daily water changes until there is a balance in the universe again.

I've cycled all my tanks like this. Get it up and running with a few dithers. Add your main players a week after and stay on your large water changes for 4-6 weeks, gradually backing off. Although the first pair of discus I ever had, the ex inadvertently bought at a auction/fish show I took her too. I did not have tank I could add them to. I stopped at Petco on the way home and bought a brand new set up. It was a 29gal and I put it together when I got home, added water, added fish and it worked just fine. By the time it was completely cycled they'd also gotten a couple of plecos and a few small angel tank buddies. Never had a problem.

There's a fork in the road... pick one and go for it. :)

/blaine

[Spercy123]

Thanks very much for the detailed reply Blaine I have my dithers in there and put 5 rams in last night and all are well this morning and feeding away never got a chance to test the water before work will do that when I get home this evening...seems that the water isn't gona be properly cycled until the larger bio load of the discus is added so ill get them ordered and just do the large daily water changes as the tank gets used to the extra load with the discus and finishes cycling properly...had been doing daily water changes with water from my community tank.

[8ftbed]

Yeah, it may not be the norm or generally prescribed but it's worked for me. That's cool doing initial water changes from the community tank. It made sense to me and saved a few dollars. Even if it's healthy though, I stop sharing tank water after I put the quality ($$) fish in. I see "cross contamination" mentioned alot since I wandered into SD. It's got me a tad nervous. :) Although the other side of my brain that questions everything when trying to understand the mechanics, it says "Hey, how could there be contamination if the tanks are healthy?". Although the way I understand it, Discus can be susceptible to pathogens carried by others that aren't affected by it. That makes sense too, so I'm not inclined to risk it. Good luck and I'll be interested in seeing the progress and results.


edit: I got my bacteria strains bassackwards in the previous post. I don't know why but I've been prone to doing that for 20 years. :) Nitrosomonas is the first and converts ammonium to nitrite. Then Nitrobacter fires up and converts nitrite to nitrate. You can google nitrification cycle for a mad chemist description.
And continuing to do water changes from your community tank is just loading up your new tank with nitrates which is one of the reasons you're doing regular water changes anyway.

[Spercy123]

Thanks again for all your help I will post some pictures along the way and let you know how everything is going :)