40 gal cycle help

[dorn]

Hi i set up a 40 gal tank a week and a half ago and added some driftwood with plants from an established aquarium. I also added 5 small tiger barbs and 2 danios for ammonia but im still not getting a nitrate or nitrite reading is there anything i can do to speed this process up?

[BigPoppa]

You can look under freshwater beginners for cycling with or without fish.

Explains the process very well.

To bad I found it a day late and had already ordered fish lol

[Cliff]

Cycling with fish takes time. 1 to 2 months is not un-heard of.

The only way to speed it up is to get some already cycled bio-media from another tank and add it to yours.

[dorn]

Would it help if i cut the filter sponge in half from my other tank and added it to my 40 gal filter? Im using the penguin 200 rotating bio wheel filter.

[Cliff]

Yes it would

Just keep a close eye on the water parameters on your old tank just to make sure you don't cause a mini spike in that tank. You should be OK tho if you have other bio-media in the other tank's filter.

[dorn]

okay thats what i will do then thankyou for your input

[dorn]

One more thing i forgot to mention, is there such thing as too much bubbles? I have 2 long bubble stones alon the back of my tank and there are alot of tiny bubbles floating around my tank is this okay?

[Cliff]

Extra O2 is a good thing during a cycle. As long as the extra flow doesn't bother the fish you should be good.

[dorn]

Okay they seem pretty happy so ill keep them on thanks