Rocommisioning and re-"cycling"

[idris]

Having recently moved house I drained my tank, cleaned (almost) everything hard / inorganic and am starting again (mostly) from scratch.

The filtration is all new, so after replanting, the tank is getting "fishless cycled". So far the tank has been left entirely unsupervised while I was away for just over a week, exosed to normal daylight and with lighting for about 60W from T8s for 8hrs a day.

The substrate is Akadama and is the one thing that hasn't beed "cleaned". That was sat undisturbed in a covered bucket with enough old tank water to keep it wet for about 6 weeks. This was much longer than intended, but much to my surprise it obviously wasn't a totally unhealthy environment as, when I transfered the Akadama back into the tank I found 3 Amano Shrimp and several Assasin Sanils still alive that I hadn't managed to spot when I'd drained the tank.

Having replanted the tank (Crypt Wedti and Valis Spiralis from the old setup, and new Anubias Barteri, Eleocharis Acicularis and Taiwan Moss) I've filled it to about 150L of the 220 capacity. (I've struggled with Hair Grass before in such a deep, low tech tank, so wanted to get it started in shallower water so less light was absorped by water.)

Just over a week in, I've got round to buying NO2 and NO3 test solutions. The results are pleasing.
NO2 = 0ppm
NO3 = 10-15ppm
I didn't bother buying a NH4 test solution.
There has been some Crypt melt (IIRC this is to be expected when replanting Crypts) so there has been some decaying vegitation and the snails have been in the new setup, again contributing a tiny amount of waste. (The Shrimp have been housed in another smaller tank.)

So to the questions:
1) Is it more likely that there has been sufficient "friendly bacteria" alive in the Akadama to cycle the tank quickly, or insufficient NH4?
2) If I add some flake food, just to decay and provide NH4, how quickly could I hope to see meaningful results from the NO2 and NO3 tests, and what sort of quantity flake would be needed?

 

[rebel]

You will need to 'cycle' from scratch I think. The cycle is probably going to be shorter though.

If you remove all livestock from tank, then you can fishless cycle. Otherwise for this tank, I reckon plant it up and add those shrimp etc straight away and wait for 6 weeks before adding anymore livestock. This would be especially fine for a densely planted tank.

Hth.

 

[Chris Jackson]

I suspect that your tank will cycle v quickly due to the old Akadama but caution is good. A certain amount of plant melt is always to be expected as they adjust to a new envitonment. I suggest you let it run in with the shrimp as rebel says. You could gradually add a few fish each week rather than waiting and adding a lot at once..

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

That was sat undisturbed in a covered bucket with enough old tank water to keep it wet for about 6 weeks. This was much longer than intended, but much to my surprise it obviously wasn't a totally unhealthy environment as, when I transfered the Akadama back into the tank I found 3 Amano Shrimp and several Assasin Snails still alive that I hadn't managed to spot when I'd drained the tank.

That's a really promising sign. I agree with Chris and I think you should find that the substrate will still have its nitrifying micro organisms present.

Otherwise for this tank, I reckon plant it up and add those shrimp etc straight away and wait for 6 weeks before adding anymore livestock. This would be especially fine for a densely planted tank.

I'd would do this as well.

cheers Darrel