seeding a tank

[Karen Garza]

Today I was given a 10 gallon tank. I happened to have a penguin filter
laying around, so I set it up and seeded the tank with 2 cups of gravel and
a half coconut shell from my 20 gallon tank. I added water and Aqua Safe and
turned the filter on. (I will add a heater and light when I can afford
them.) Will that be sufficient to cycle the tank quickly? I can add another
cup of gravel if needed.
thanks

Karen

[Jim Anderson]

In article >,
says...
> Today I was given a 10 gallon tank. I happened to have a penguin filter
> laying around, so I set it up and seeded the tank with 2 cups of gravel and
> a half coconut shell from my 20 gallon tank. I added water and Aqua Safe and
> turned the filter on. (I will add a heater and light when I can afford
> them.) Will that be sufficient to cycle the tank quickly? I can add another
> cup of gravel if needed.
> thanks
>
> Karen

The bacteria need food or they expire quickly. Add some fish food or
ammonia or urine or fish.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To eMail me, just pull "my_finger"

[js1]

On 2005-11-19, Karen Garza > wrote:
> Today I was given a 10 gallon tank. I happened to have a penguin filter
> laying around, so I set it up and seeded the tank with 2 cups of gravel and
> a half coconut shell from my 20 gallon tank. I added water and Aqua Safe and
> turned the filter on. (I will add a heater and light when I can afford
> them.) Will that be sufficient to cycle the tank quickly? I can add another
> cup of gravel if needed.
> thanks

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html#speed-cycling


--
"I have to decide between two equally frightening options.
If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman

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Hi,
I've been going through the same process lately, unfortunately with live
fish in tank. I've been noticing slow results, and have been looking for
some quick fixes. Here is what I've found. Please note that all of this is
information I've gotten from other people, and I cannot verify it
personally, so feel free to bounce this info off of those more experienced
than myself.
The bacteria you introduced from you other tank tend to multiply more
readily in warmer water from 80-90 degrees. As long as you don't have live
fish in the tank already, you can easily up the water temperature till the
bio filter gets up to speed.
The friendly bacteria also need a source of Amonia to feed on. It was
sugested for me to get Amonia from the pet store in the form of Amonia
Sulfate. There was another type also, but I forgot to write it down. By no
means use the Amonia for household use. It has other properties that will
mess up the ph of the water, and start a whole series of problems for you.
Most also contain detergents that kill the bacteria you want to promote. I
believe the process was to add a few drops at a time till either your
test, or an in tank indicator show between 1.5 and 2.0ppm. Then let the
tank cycle till it reads zero. As long as there are no fish in the tank,
the level of resulting Nitrate won't matter for now. At the end of two
weeks, and several cycles, do a few change outs 25% at a time till the
nitrate come back in line and you should be good to go.
I wish I had a separate tank to use while I get my 20 gallon up to speed.
I guess I just need to be patient so the little ones don't get too
stressed out. I'll just have to let it happen in due time.
Hope this helps.

--
With all due respect
Kevin