The waiting is the hardest part

[kaceyo]

Hi again, Well now what? I,m looking at my beautiful bubbling empty lonely tank and trying not to use up all my ammo. test kit pointlessly as my filter cycles.Day 3 and counting.I put an old nylon w/gravel from my African Knife/Marbled Hatchet tank,which has had no illnesses in aprox.6 months,right between the two sponges on my new filter.I decided(I think) to wait out the full cycling prosses rather than do as Danny suggested and run it for a week then add fish.I,ll let you know how that works out in due time.If I make it. Its gonna be hard not to take Dannys advice but I,m inexperienced so...I'm running out of questions to keep my Discus addiction fed,I think I know what I,m gonna do as far as water prep,holding,etc.but, what to do for 3 to 5 weeks? You,ve all been a great help, Thanx Kacey

[SmellsFishy0]

whenever i cycle a new tank all i do is rinse a filter pad out of another tank in the new tank.....let tank go a few days and im set.......just sayin what works for me :P

[kaceyo]

When I starded the tank I put ammo.in at 1ppm. I was told 5ppm but figured if a filter that can handle 5ppm ammonia in 24hrs will work on a well to over stocked tank,which it will,then 1ppm should be enough to handle 6 small Discus.And,I reasond,might cycle faster with the lower amount of ammo.I hope I,m right but its the only shorcut i,m willing to take right now,untill it hits 0 Nitrites & ammo.In the future I will try it the quicker way when its not my first order of Discus in 20yrs.Thanx,impatient but waiting, Kacey

[Anonapersona]

If your african tank is healthy, there is no need to take the long route. Take all the bacteria you need from there.

Sponge filters -- squeeze out the pads in the new tank.
Gravel filters -- do a gravel vac and dump the nasty water in the new tank.
Canister filters -- take the media out, rinse well and dump that dirty water in the new tank.

I cycled the new tank for the babies this way, dumping in canister squeezin's while the babies were floating in the bags fresh from the ride home. Siphoned off the bottom a few times before I released the babies. Enough bacteria got sucked into the sponge filters to keep the tank in great shape.

Plus, with 50%/day water changes and 3x/day cleaning of debris on the bottom, the water won't get very bad, even with 23 x 1" fish in a 20 gallon tank.

(I just love having the babies at the kitchen door, it is almost like having a dog -- they come running to greet me when I come in the house!)

[kaceyo]

Yes the Knifefish/hatchet tank(hey,thats the first time I noticed it is a Knife/Hatchet tank) has had no illnesses in aprox 6mo.Unfortunatly it has a Biowheel,but the filter cartridge w/carbon,to which I add x-tra carbon by slicing open the top,hasn,t been rinced in a week and is allways rinced in water from wc,s so may work.I,ll try it. Thanx, Kacey

[Carol_Roberts]

I keep two sponges running in each aqua clear filter. If I need to start a new tank I take one sponge from an established filter and put it in the new aqua clear/tank. The filter is instantly cycled and you can add fish right then and there.

However Kaceyo, fishless cycle with ammonia is the safest, cleanest way to cycle a new filter.

[kaceyo]

Thanks Carol,I think so too,but since I had allready put the nylon with gravel from the tank in question into new tank,to seed filter,would rinsing the carbon filter in new tank be any worse?I still plan on waiting for ammo/nitrites to rise and fall,then do near 100% wc with aged water before adding fish.I value your advise so pease let me know. Kacey

[Carol_Roberts]

You can do that, but the filter should be seeded already from the gravel filled nylon. Remember you have to keep adding ammonia from time to time to feed the new bacteria colony.

[Howie_W]

I'm running out of questions to keep my Discus addiction fed,I think I know what I,m gonna do as far as water prep,holding,etc.but, what to do for 3 to 5 weeks? You,ve all been a great help, Thanx Kacey


Have you purchased and read every book ever written about Discus yet? :P

You can also start planning ahead for your next Discus tank. Remember, there'll always be room for one more set-up in your home. ;)

Howie