Didn't think I needed a chemistry degree to keep fish.

[Gromit]

Got a 54 litre fish tank at the week, filled it with water, added necessary dechlorinate, then put the filter on.

Planning to wait seven days before stocking with fish, then I joined a fish keeping forum and read about cycling the tank before stocking. It's not as easy as I thought it would be, likely to take 6 weeks and a load of water testing.

I'm glad I have been researching the set up as I would not like to find my newly bought fish poorly.

Has anyone had experience of cycling a freshwater tank?

 

[Arch]

We had a bowl, Fred and Maisie.

Fred died after a little while. We got Fred 2. He died in a year or so.

Maisie just kept on going, must have lived 8 or 9 years. Despite fungus getting her tail, so that she had to learn to swim level without it. She adapted though

That's the limit of my fishkeeping experience....

 

[Speicher]

I think you have to be very careful about the measuring scales you use.

 

[MossCommuter]

Got a 54 litre fish tank at the week, filled it with water, added necessary dechlorinate, then put the filter on.

Planning to wait seven days before stocking with fish, then I joined a fish keeping forum and read about cycling the tank before stocking. It's not as easy as I thought it would be, likely to take 6 weeks and a load of water testing.

I'm glad I have been researching the set up as I would not like to find my newly bought fish poorly.

Has anyone had experience of cycling a freshwater tank?

I have never done fishless cycling - preferring to stock a new tank with, say, two or three (in 54 litre) Platies and being fastidious with early water changes until there is zero nitrite in the water. Get a testing kit and learn about the "Nitrogen Cycle".

IMHO fishless cycling all falls to bits when you get your first livestock anyway, so cycle with fish.

YMMV

 

[Gromit]

I have never done fishless cycling - preferring to stock a new tank with, say, two or three (in 54 litre) Platies and being fastidious with early water changes until there is zero nitrite in the water. Get a testing kit and learn about the "Nitrogen Cycle".

IMHO fishless cycling all falls to bits when you get your first livestock anyway, so cycle with fish.

YMMV

I'm really worried now before I even get my fish.

 

[MossCommuter]

I'm really worried now before I even get my fish.

Don't be... tropical fish are really nice!

Nitrogen cycle is really easy:

1. Fish eat fish food
2. Fish shoot
3. shoot turns to ammonia... (bad)
4. Bacteria eat ammonia and make nitrites (v.v.v. bad)
5. Bacteria eat nitrites and make nitrates (not bad).

You intervene at stage 3/4 b doing a 20% water change (every day at 1st then every 3 days or so after a week) to dilute the nasties until there is a balance - the nitrite is being made at the same rate that it is being turned to nitrate.

Measure the nitrite with a kit from the shop - it will rise and then dramatically fall until it is zero (test before the 20% water change).

When it is zero - you're good to go.

 

[Gareth]

We have a 200 litre capacity tropical aquarium, and we do a 10% water change (20 litres) each week. I have a piece of tape marked in both litres and increments of 5% of capacity on the back of tank. I syphon out the water with a 1/2" bore length of garden hose, and I drawn water straight from one of our garden water butts into a small plastic barrel, and then syphon this into the tank through a 6mm bore plastic hose. Although I store the new water in the kitchen over night I never bother to adjust the temperature to suit that of the tank. The under gravel filters mix the water and the heater brings it back up to the correct temperature fro me: I have yet to loose a fish through temperature shock, and I've managed my tropical aquarium in this manner since 1983! In fact, I often draw off live bloodworm and daphinia with the water from the butts, and the fish actively feed on these as they enter the tank during the water change.

 

[Arch]

so cycle with fish.

Won't that be tricky? I'm thinking the water will slop out as you go round corners and stuff....

 

[MossCommuter]

Won't that be tricky? I'm thinking the water will slop out as you go round corners and stuff....

Easy

teach a fish to ride......

 

[Gromit]

Won't that be tricky? I'm thinking the water will slop out as you go round corners and stuff....

 

[Doseone]

I used THIS

It doesn't give the instant results it says it does, but it cut my initial cycle time in half. As others have said, get a testing kit, they're easy to use.

My tank is a similar capacity to yours. Don't put too many fish in, (think I started with 4 platies), keep testing regularly, and do regular water changes.

Don't make any changes too quickly, or introduce too many new fish at a time. The tank is a delicate environment and needs time to adapt to any changes.

 

[gbb]

Got a 54 litre fish tank at the week, filled it with water, added necessary dechlorinate, then put the filter on.

Planning to wait seven days before stocking with fish, then I joined a fish keeping forum and read about cycling the tank before stocking. It's not as easy as I thought it would be, likely to take 6 weeks and a load of water testing.

I'm glad I have been researching the set up as I would not like to find my newly bought fish poorly.

Has anyone had experience of cycling a freshwater tank?

I never bothered with all the testing faff Gromit, ive had 2, 3 and 6ft tanks over the years, just set it up, run the filter for a week and then add fish (all the usual suspects, Gouramis, Tiger Barbs, Angels, tetras, bottom feeders (look like bulldogs, can't remember the name), etc etc etc..never had problems.

I guess if you intend keeping something unusual then testing may be neccessary, but all the normal fish you buy at garden centres/aquarists are pretty hardy.

As others have said, a 20% water change weekly and i used to syphon the detritis off the floor of the tank with a length of hose into a bucket.

TBF, i did always try to get the best or biggest filter i could afford for the tank size...and made sure i cleaned that regularly.

 

[Panter]

I have never done fishless cycling - preferring to stock a new tank with, say, two or three (in 54 litre) Platies and being fastidious with early water changes until there is zero nitrite in the water. Get a testing kit and learn about the "Nitrogen Cycle".

IMHO fishless cycling all falls to bits when you get your first livestock anyway, so cycle with fish.

YMMV

This. You need something in there to generate the ammonia, you could use a piece of prawn and let it decay and some people even advocate weeing in the tank!
Personally, as above, I'd start with a couple of hardy fish.

I never bothered with all the testing faff Gromit, ive had 2, 3 and 6ft tanks over the years, just set it up, run the filter for a week and then add fish (all the usual suspects, Gouramis, Tiger Barbs, Angels, tetras, bottom feeders (look like bulldogs, can't remember the name), etc etc etc..never had problems.

I guess if you intend keeping something unusual then testing may be neccessary, but all the normal fish you buy at garden centres/aquarists are pretty hardy.

As others have said, a 20% water change weekly and i used to syphon the detritis off the floor of the tank with a length of hose into a bucket.

TBF, i did always try to get the best or biggest filter i could afford for the tank size...and made sure i cleaned that regularly.

This too.
It may give you the reassurance if you test the water, but the fact is that you need the ammonia then nitrite spike to kickstart the filter bacteria before they start to drop.
If you stock slowly, and carry out your water changes, they'll never be a problem so don't get too wrapped up in all the tech talk on forums, sometimes you just need to get on with it. Bit like here really, some threads go on for pages and pages when the real answer is just gt out and ride your bike

To save the faff and expense of buying test kits, most good LFS's will test the water for you either for free or for a minimal charge. Just don't get suckered into buying all the recommended treatments when something is slightly outside spec...

another quick point, and apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, always wash your filter media in old tank water (from the water change,) never tap water. The chlorine in tap water will kill off all the bacteria that have built up.

Good luck, and post pictures

 

[waggoner]

When i kept tropical fish (for 20 years), i just done the same as User. Never bothered with test kits,,just added chlorine killer to tap water and put it straight in. I kept fish from bog standard guppies to piranhas and they all been ok. Guess it's like most other things, you can make it as complicated as possible if you want to..

 

[pepecat]

I've done it - cycled a freshwater tank, I mean! Stuck some plants in, cos they're supposed to help the cycling process. I think it took about two weeks or so. The place i bought the fish from wouldn't let me buy fish unless I took a water sample in and they tested it to make sure it was ok.
You can use fish like White Cloud Mountain Minnows as a kinda of 'test' fish while your tank is cycling, as they're more tolerant of changes in ammonia / nitrate levels than other fish like Tetras. Seems a bit mean to the Minnows, but apparently that's what people do with them cos they're cheap. Personally I kept Minnows (was going to have tetras) cos they're quite cute little things! Get a decent test kit too to check the water if you want - I've got a neutrafin one (apparently liquid tests are better than paper slips) which i used a lot when I first set the tank up but now I hardly ever test the water.

When i do water changes now I just stick some chlorine killer in the tap water and shove it in. Fish are looking quite happy, so I guess it's ok! It helps if you have a gravel hoover as well - to get all the crap out from the gravel when you do a water change.