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Thread: Best way to cycle new tank,already have a community tank

  1. #1
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    Default Best way to cycle new tank,already have a community tank

    Hi all,
    Just about to start my discus journey.
    I already have a tropical community tank,My current fish are 4 dwarf gourami (2 red,2 blue), 6 Betta imbellis, 4 peacock goby, 6 Sterbai Cory, 6 galaxy rasbora, 6 dwarf emerald rasbora,1 bristlenosed catfish, 2 nerite snails.
    Coralbandit gave me advice that the Cory and the Betta will be ok in a discus tank with the higher temperature.
    What would be the best way to cycle a new discus tank?
    Put some media from my current tank? Once the cycle is complete,I was thinking of transferring the Cory and Betta in the tank and slowly raise the temp required for the discus,to acclimatise them?
    I was thinking of having 8 discus,what size tank you would recommend? I’ve read that you should get all the discus at the same time,would you recommend juveniles or fully grown?
    Sorry for so many questions but I want to get it right first time!

  2. #2
    Registered Member BrendanJ23's Avatar
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    Brendan

    Default Re: Best way to cycle new tank,already have a community tank

    Hi Mate and Welcome to SD!

    There's two options, use some existing bio media from your existing tank to seed the new filter, essentially giving you a cycled tank pretty much straight away. However because the colony would be small it would need to be fed and grow to take the bio load from the discus.

    The other option is to start from scratch, this way you eliminate any chance of cross contamination from the bio media to the new tank. Personally I would forget any other fish species or aquatic life for that matter.
    Size really depends on what you want. Personally I am impatient and I wanted big discus straight up, as they were going into a display tank and also didn't want to do multiple water changes daily. I would go for a minimum of 6 as recomended by others. Keeping in mind the 1 discus/10 Gal rule of thumb. Bigger is always better, and 75g seems to be a good starting point for most. I always say/think, discus are expensive, so why go cheap/small on tank and equipment?

    I hope that helps.

    EDIT: Also, work out the best and most effective way to do waterchanges regularly. If you're not going for an automated system, make things as easy as possible. Have dedicated drain and fill hoses from aging tank, big pumps to drain and fill tank quickly (but not too quick!). I can carry out a 300L waterchange in around 3-4mins.
    Last edited by BrendanJ23; 12-07-2019 at 12:08 AM.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Best way to cycle new tank,already have a community tank

    Thank you for your advice.
    Think I’ll start from scratch.

  4. #4
    Gold Member tonytheboss1's Avatar
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    TONY

    Default Re: Best way to cycle new tank,already have a community tank

    You'll probably get varying opinions on this subject but, I think starting a new fishless cycle from scratch is the way to go. "T"
    125g Tenecor - Cardinal, Serpae, Bloodfin, Redeye, Phantom & Pristella Tetra - Ghost Shrimp - Raphael Cats - Stendker Discus
    Rena XP4, Eheim 2075, 2 A/C500, 2(250w) Ebo-Jagers / Jehmco Controller, 29g AGA-sick
    "Knowledge Gained & Not Shared Is Knowledge Lost"

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