Fish-less cycling? Help

Question

Instead of using fishless cycling to cycle my new tank (as it takes a lot of time) Could I use seeded water, gravel and filter media from a friends old healthy fish-tank, and add fish after a few days?

Answer 1

yes you could-just make sure you check ammonia levels, once they reach zero, add fish-it's a much quicker way of doing things.

Answer 2

It will help to get the bacteria going but the tank still has to establish a bacterial colony and process the ammonia and nitrites.  A few days would be pretty optimistic and you'll still need to check your ammonia and nitrtite levels to know when it is ready.  There's no getting around cycling a tank and doing it right to start with is worth the time.

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Answer 3

It is possible to speed the cycle up, though a few days might be a little too optimistic.

You do need to add ammonia (whatever form you decide to use - fish or decayed food, etc) before adding the filter media, etc. If the bacteria in the filter media doesn't have anything to feed on (ammonia), it won't survive, which will negate the process of adding it to speed the cycle.

But it is feasible to cut the cycle back quite a bit by using that method.

Good luck. :)

Answer 4

You can do that but only testing will say if your tank is ready to house fish.  Just by adding a few pieces of gravel or an old filter media does not cycle a tank in a day.

It still takes roughly 5 days and even then, adding one or two fish only at first.

You need to test   Every tank is different.

Answer 5

yes u can

but why not just wait

Answer 6

You can use seeders..that fine...make very very sure that the fish are healthy and that the tank has been maintained really well with weekly water changes and cleaning etc....there is a very good chance of bringing in parasites or infections thru seeders....Like ich is very common...and NO even when you have seeders you cannot add fish in a few days..you have to give sometime to the bacteria to completely grow...and be able to handle the ammonia that will be produced by your stock...the best way is to add seeder from a trusted source...and then continue the fishless cycle...It might save you a couple of weeks..but not more..with fish you will always have to keep testing the water...ammonia will rise high very soon...so it would be a lot of work doing water changes almost daily..I would not recommend it...even with boosters like BioSpira...there always is a bump in the cycle...after adding the fish...so a natural procedure is the best..but still suit yourself..

Answer 7

using a product called Cycle shortens the time to days from a month or more.

regardless of which way you go, add fish gradually. a new bacteria population takes time to colonize the entire tank and can't deal with a heavy waste load until well established.