incomplete cycling, steps to take?

[nychairs]

Well I had an unexpected problem develop with my FOWLR tank and I had to do an emergency move of my clownfish to the second tank which has only been up for 3 weeks with LR only for 2 weeks so I know the nitrogen cycle is not complete.

Is there anything I should or can do to help make sure the fish survive until the cycling is complete? They have been in there for 48 hours and are happy and doing fine for now.

It is a 20 gallon tank, 10 gallon sump and I have 25 lbs of GARF recipe synthetic LR and 10 lbs of natural LR.

I could not salvage anything from the FOWLR tank since that had copper poisoning and I don't want to introduce that to the new tank.

Thanks.
-Rich

 

[kfisc]

Can you test the water? If after a couple of days the fish are doing well, you may be good to go, but testing and being ready to do water changes would be a good idea-

 

[stingythingy45]

Yes,always have some water mixed and ready to go.
At least test every other day for ammonia.It's not a bad idea to keep a bottle of Amequel+ handy for emergencies.
Time will tell if everything is good with the beni-bacteria.
Don't fret too much,I cycled a hospital tank with 5 fish in a 20L.
It can be done with lots of water changes if ammonia begins to spike.I was changing at least 30% every other day.

 

[jtma508]

I may get flamed but I used the bacterial supplement, 'Cycle' when I setup my tank. I could see the positive impact as I was testing my tank daily. It definitely dropped my ammonia and nitrites. It takes longer for the nitrates. But in your case it would get rid of the dangerous NH4 and NO2 quickly and get those bacterial flora kick-started.

 

[nychairs]

I have been doing every-other-day nitrite testing but need to pick up a new ammonia kit. That is what I figured and already have a batch of water ready for a change. I will get the kit today and keep an eye out for ammonia spikes.

The tank was set up for about 4 months while I cured the synthetic LR and then I did a 100% water change and added the substrate and real LR.

Thanks.
-Rich

 

[stingythingy45]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13331643#post13331643 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nychairs
I have been doing every-other-day nitrite testing but need to pick up a new ammonia kit. That is what I figured and already have a batch of water ready for a change. I will get the kit today and keep an eye out for ammonia spikes.

The tank was set up for about 4 months while I cured the synthetic LR and then I did a 100% water change and added the substrate and real LR.

Thanks.
-Rich

RIch,

Don't bother getting an expensive test kit for ammonia.Just a simple API test isn't really that expensive and will last for quite a while.