Cycling a new 20 gallon tank

[Lilypad]

Hi,
I am new to fish and I have a 20 gallon tank. Petsmart tried to sell me fish right away, but I have been reading here for a few days and I see some things about cycling a tank without fish?

Can someone help? Is it hard to do?

Thanks,

June

[Cichlid_Man]

Hi,
I am new to fish and I have a 20 gallon tank. Petsmart tried to sell me fish right away, but I have been reading here for a few days and I see some things about cycling a tank without fish?

Can someone help? Is it hard to do?

Thanks,

June

Hi Lilypad, and welcome.
You are doing the right thing by waiting to add fish. Don’t let the LFS tell you anything different. If you add fish to a tank that is not yet cycled, they will be subject to high ammonia and nitrites, they will suffer and could die.

When I tried fishless cycling it wasn’t an easy task, but it proved to be a great move.

I used the peelings of raw shrimp that you would buy in a supermarket for consumption.
I put the shrimp skins in a media bag and hung it in the tank near the water flow.

After about 3 days, I had an ammonia reading of about 4 ppm.

This takes time and patience.

After about 2 more days the nitrites showed up. At that point I removed the shrimp skins and I actually started “feeding the tank” fish food as if there were already fish in there.
This keeps the ammonia going, and by doing this, you also increase the amount of fish you could add to your tank when you are ready.

Keep doing daily water tests. You will need a test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites, PH and Nitrates. Later on you can get into GH and KH….

My tank took 9 days to fully cycle. All tanks will vary depending on tap water quality.
Oh! Test your tap water too and record these readings. They may come in handy later.

When you finally get a zero ammonia and zero nitrite reading with about a 10 ppm nitrate reading. You are ready for fish…AFTER you do a 25% water change.

If you follow these steps you should be fine.
Let us know! Good luck!

[Lilypad]

Thanks for the fast post.
My brothers always had fish so I am familiar with all the nitrite and nitrate terms you speak of.
As a matter of fact, I have a lot of their aquarium equipment I am using since they went off to school.

I will do what you say. I don't want to put the fish through any stress.

This sounds like fun. It is a great forum!

BTW...
I tested the tap water and everything is zero except the PH which reads 7.4.
I think that's OK since I am going to be getting mostly live-bearing tropicals.

The tank water is 76 degrees.
OK gotta run and get all the stuff I need to get this going...

One more question...I noticed you post that you don't use carbon in your filter? Why is that? Is it bad?

[Cichlid_Man]

That's great you have been around fish a lot. It's good to have some insight. It's not so much like starting out without knowing anything.

About the carbon?
When I first set up my tank it came with carbon so I used it.
The thing with carbon is that it is only useful for about a week or so then it stops doing it's job.
It is OK in the beginning because it takes out a lot of toxins that may be present.
The fish have no need for it...really

I compare it to those water purifiers that you stick on your tap to "improve" your drinking water at home. Like Brita?

All it is is carbon. If you don't change it regularly, you are drinking more contaminated water than if you didn't use it at all.

Post back....keep me informed.

[jeffs99dime]

this link will help you out-- [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Lilypad]

Hi,
Thanks for the link but I removed adobe acrobat from my PC years ago.
That program blows my machine up every time...

I cannot view the post without adobe since it is in pdf.

I have what I need to get started out for now.
I think I'll be OK.

I know what to look for and I won't add fish till the numbers are what they are supposed to be.

You all are great!

[jeffs99dime]

that's too bad. the link was the "free aquarium e-book" in the menu at the left of your screen. boatloads of factual information in there.

[Lilypad]

Now you have me interested...
You can never have too much information.
I suppose I could download a free adobe acrobat, download the e-book and maybe save it as a word doc???

I really have had misery with adobe and I don't want to keep it on my PC...Let me try and see if I can retrieve it and save it as a word doc. then I can remove adobe later.
Thanks!

[kimmers318]

Sounds like you are well on your way to a happy healthy aquarium. Keep us posted and we will enjoy your success with you!