I am possibly doing a fish in cycle for my 46 gallon tank and I have some questions....?

E

ERedSox

New member
So here are my questions...
1. Can 6 bleeding heart tetras be used to cycle a 46 gallon aquarium?
2. After the tank is set up how long do I have to wait before I put the fish in to cycle the tank?
3. Through out the weeks of cycling the tank what do I have to do? Example: What do I do to keep the fish that I am cycling my tank with from dying of ammonia poisoning?
4. Do bacterias that you buy at pet stores really cycle a tank? I am looking at 2 types- 1 is called 'Cycle' and the other is called 'Dr Tims Aquatics'.
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You're going to get lots of different answers and lots of disagreement, but this is based on my 20 years of fish keeping.

1. Yes you can. Despite the whole you MUST do a fishless cycle thing you find online, you can certainly still do it the old fashioned way. With only 6 little tetras in a 46 gallon tank the ammonia peaks will be so low It might not even register on your tests.

2. Let it heat to full temperature (74-78) and aerate the water (by running the filter) for about 12 hours after setting it up, and then it is ready for the fish. We can even say 24 hours to be safe. Waiting 3 days or a week does nothing new after this time.

3. If your ammonia starts to rise you do water changes with fresh water to bring it back down, so keep ammonia and nitrite tests handy. But if you are smart and add the fish in small amounts (adding no new fish beyond the tetras for the first 4 weeks), you won't have this problem.

4. Some bacterias work, some don't. Bio-spira is the only one that has really proven effective, cycling tanks in days when used properly. Cycle isn't worth the bottle it comes in and I've never heard of Dr Tim. What works better than these products, and is free, is to put established filter media from a mature aquarium into your own filter - that way you seed real, live, fresh bacteria of both types and it won't need to generate from scratch. It's what you might call a true instant cycle. Perhaps you know someone with a tank, or a good fish store would help you out.
 
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