New Tank with corys

PhinsKid23434 · Post by **PhinsKid23434** » 12 Jul 2006, 19:52

Is it ok to cycle a tank with 3 cory catfish. I plan on keeping them,and getting some ifga quality guppies.

paulf · Post by **paulf** » 12 Jul 2006, 20:19

PhinsKid23434 wrote:Is it ok to cycle a tank with 3 cory catfish. I plan on keeping them,and getting some ifga quality guppies.

No, buy a bottle of ammonia and do a fishless cycle, much better for the fishies

PhinsKid23434 · Post by **PhinsKid23434** » 12 Jul 2006, 21:16

well since it is too late for that. How long do you think it will be before the cycle is complete

snowball · Post by **snowball** » 13 Jul 2006, 01:17

It will probably take one to two weeks from when you put the corys in. You will need to test for nitrite or take some water to a LFS that can test it for you, when the nitrite reading drops to 0 it is safe to add a few more fish, but don't over do it. Most problems with new tanks are caused by people being impatient and adding too many fish too soon.

paulf · Post by **paulf** » 13 Jul 2006, 01:49

snowball wrote:It will probably take one to two weeks from when you put the corys in. You will need to test for nitrite or take some water to a LFS that can test it for you, when the nitrite reading drops to 0 it is safe to add a few more fish, but don't over do it. Most problems with new tanks are caused by people being impatient and adding too many fish too soon.

If you already have them in a new tank, I personally would suggest you take them back or beg/borrow/steal for some filter media from some one with an established tank to avoid a cycle

Thats the kind of advice I would expect from most LFS or a large pet chain store i.e. crap, be a bit tragic if he tried to cycle with his favourite fish that could well be weitzmani or something equally rare......

have a read of this thread off another forum
[url]http://www.tropicalfish.site5.com/tfc/s ... =60022[url]

It is not good to use fish to cycle a tank, especially if there are alternatives, in the uk people are using the fishless way as it stops you giving the fish an early death which ccling will usually do, in the usa people use biospira - something you add to the filter to cycle it 'instantly'

PhinsKid23434 · Post by **PhinsKid23434** » 13 Jul 2006, 15:36

Well i have had them in there about 2 and half days and i checked the nitrite levels and its still at 0 is that bad does that mean theres not enough amonia to cycle it.

PhinsKid23434 · Post by **PhinsKid23434** » 13 Jul 2006, 16:00

O and is this safe too use with the fish in it since its only the bacteria not the ammonia
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... +cycle&N=2

snowball · Post by **snowball** » 14 Jul 2006, 02:49

Paulf, thanks for adding your thoughts. As the fish were/are already in the tank I feel the best option for PhinsKid is to continue on the path already set out.
While there is always a risk in using live fish to cycle a tank, it is a proven method that is safe when done sensibly, ie slowly and with due attention paid to water conditions.
Of course one would not recommend using rare fish such as weitzmani for this purpose, but I doubt very much that this is the case here ;)

Using filter material or gravel from an established tank is of course the best action to take from the start.
PhinsKid if you can add either now it will certainly assist the cycling process.

It would help to know the size of the tank and what sort of filtration is used on it.

Deb · Post by **Deb** » 14 Jul 2006, 13:46

And I'm going to add that I think it would be best if you changed a small amount of water each and every day, until it's cycled. Not a huge amount - that will only add more ammonia to the tank and disrupt the biological filter already in progress. And not a tiny amount, either, or top-up water only.

I mean a small amount, like 10-15% daily. You didn't say the number of gallons in your tank. Naturally, the more gallons with three corys the more successful you will be with this cycle.

Deborah

BTW, I can tell you in my part of Virginia the ammonia reading on tap water is 1.0.

PhinsKid23434 · Post by **PhinsKid23434** » 14 Jul 2006, 16:09

My tank is a 30 gallon, I over killed on the filter cause i like to be safe I have a 330 B i think its a penguin don't remember. But it has to cartridges and bio wheels. And i just ordered bio-spira cause I have heard many good reviews on this stuff. Look it up on google if u like.

mikeingeorgia · Post by **mikeingeorgia** » 30 Jul 2006, 18:12

Hi there, I have the same filter on my 29g. Whenever I set up my quarantine tank I take one of the filter elements out and put it into the q tank. If you lfs is a mom-pop style store you could ask if they use any of the same type of filters on their tanks. See if they'd let you have one that is used and just put in in a bag of tank water so it doesn't dry out and then put it into your filter. Also, a Penguin 170, and Regent 30-60 and 20-40 filters use the same filters so you have a couple more choices. Regent and Penguin are all made by Marineland and the only difference is the bio-wheel and the marketing name. Mine started out as a Regent and as I got more into this hobby decided to upgrade it to a bio-wheel so now it's a Penguin 330

If your lfs is a chain store you might be out of luck with that idea. Do you know anyone else that keeps tropical fish? Good luck, mike

New Tank with corys

New Tank with corys

Re: New Tank with corys

Cycling info.