Is my tank cycled?
- Thread starter fishboy15
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I recently moved my fish tank to my new house 15 minutes away, same rock and sand. Had been up for 7 months before moving tank. Got the tank back up with rock and sand and old water. Now checking my parameters to see if I can add my fish, they are currently in a bucket with rock, airstone and heater
excellent detail! dont even need pics so far, the reason im asking these instead of going off the test kits is because api will and can show .25 ammonia in tanks that are fully cycled, dont ever trust it, trust the biology and we are tracing that.
in no way will moving placed cause a recycle, if the rocks were kept underwater during the xfer. minor temp and salinity changes wont do it, our benthic worms and bugs aren't that weak.
so we are close, you have 90% chance its cycled but we need to know how that rock was treated in the xfer process.
was any waste from the live sand moved into the new tank?
in no way will moving placed cause a recycle, if the rocks were kept underwater during the xfer. minor temp and salinity changes wont do it, our benthic worms and bugs aren't that weak.
so we are close, you have 90% chance its cycled but we need to know how that rock was treated in the xfer process.
was any waste from the live sand moved into the new tank?
I emptied the tank into 5 gallon buckets, I then got the live rock and placed them into those 5 gallon buckets filled with tank water. I then drained the other leftover water from the tank and threw it out. I left the sand in the tank while I moved the tank 15 minutes down the road, set the tank back up added the rock and poured the 5 gallon buckets filled with tank water into the tank. I then got 2 freshwater 5 gallon buckets and added that to the tank. Added my filter with sponges that have been in my tank previously for 8 months. Adding heater and powerhead.
ima call 100% cycled based on the fact i leave my whole reef drained 20 mins all the time, even 30 when forgotten about a time or two. I do this to purposefully toughen it, make the animals used to my giant water changes, and simply make my system behave like a tidal system with thor's hammer not some daisy hands off mini cycles if you look at it wrong 
i do my cycling work off biology inference not api, so i must call fully cycled for you. i just took my whole reef apart after 9 yrs, burnt the entire insides with vinegar for 28 hours with living material and rocks in a stilled cold bucket of sw, put it all back together days later and had no cycle, this is easy to command. the right way to be sure is to score a non api ammonia test kit or use prime as a default safety when adding your fish back.
Im expecting no cycle from them, but, with api we are simply blind to the real free ammonia readings, its a generalized test reading which above does kinda look like zero but we must leave error room for those cheapie kits. anytime a large tank keeper has over 300.00 in fish, we need salifert ammonia even if its an expensive test kit, or a hach, something primo.
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i do my cycling work off biology inference not api, so i must call fully cycled for you. i just took my whole reef apart after 9 yrs, burnt the entire insides with vinegar for 28 hours with living material and rocks in a stilled cold bucket of sw, put it all back together days later and had no cycle, this is easy to command. the right way to be sure is to score a non api ammonia test kit or use prime as a default safety when adding your fish back.
Im expecting no cycle from them, but, with api we are simply blind to the real free ammonia readings, its a generalized test reading which above does kinda look like zero but we must leave error room for those cheapie kits. anytime a large tank keeper has over 300.00 in fish, we need salifert ammonia even if its an expensive test kit, or a hach, something primo.
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madtownguy
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Where are your fish? It sounds like you pretty much kept everything submerged while you moved which would mean your tank is the same spot it was before the move.
Do an ammonia test on your tap water or distilled water and post it like above,those are known zero sources to verify your sample above. I'd put the fish in and just do a nice big water change soon.
The moving of everything and the old water is excellent for bacterial support and a guaranteed full xfer, but algae is a prediction soon because of the upwelling and circulation of settled nutrients into the water during takedown. Water change time using as much clean water as you can, and no amount of clean water changed will harm any bacteria.
The moving of everything and the old water is excellent for bacterial support and a guaranteed full xfer, but algae is a prediction soon because of the upwelling and circulation of settled nutrients into the water during takedown. Water change time using as much clean water as you can, and no amount of clean water changed will harm any bacteria.
madtownguy
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I wouldn't leave my fish in that set up, you are better off just putting everything in the tank. I put a clown in first day I set my tank up and he is doing great. I used live sand and live rock to kick start things. I think you are better off getting your fish where the water is filtered than in a bucket.
