Tank Cycling 101

[augu3tz]

Originally Posted by Sinubux

Tank Setup 3:
Dimension: Standard 2 feet tank
Filtration: Nothing
Stimulant: Nothing

This setup is quite commonly found in fish farms where instead of tanks, they may utilize concrete ponds or whatsoever. The key point for this setup to be successful lies in ones patience. Firstly setup a tank filled with tap water and then add some water conditioner to help get rid of all the harmful chlorine and chloramine. After 3 days or best 4 later (dont worry, no mosquitoes eggs will be laid), like what I mentioned in tank setup 1, you can introduce some daphnia or if not, put a tiny piece of non fat meat into the tank. The size of this meat can be like this [ ]. Let the tank matures further until you can slowly see that piece of meat begins to disintegrate. Once the meat is gone with takes a total of 4 days depending on the location of your tank. The warmer the tank is, the faster will be the bacteria colonization. I dont have scientific proof as to why but this is what I have been experiencing with my outdoor tanks versus my indoor ones. Now time to introduce fishes into your tank. Do take note that when you introduce your fishes into this tank, you must be very disciplined in terms of the amount to feed and the frequency. Start with small meals first. I know, you may feel heart pain that the fishes might not have enough but I am telling you, it pays to be the devil for about a week. Cause during this time, a slight overfeeding will foul the water quick and that you may have a hard time savaging the fishes once the tank parameters go haywire. This setup is very well used by seasoned guppy players. This is just an assumption on my part and I may be wrong. So do not take it as any form of offence.

then if we put daphnia inside how do we know whether its is ready for fishes?

Tank Setup 5:
Dimension: Standard 2 feet tank
Filtration: Sump Tank Filtration
Model: Some underwater pump for the outflow
Stimulant: Electricity

After I have decommissioned my 3ft marine tank that is equipped with a 2.5ft sump tank, I decided to start a Frankenstein project to see whether guppies under immense over-filtration conditions will thrive. Since my tank was previously used for marine tank, extra care was taken that the tanks used were free for salt and other residue deposits left behind by its preoccupants. So, shifted the tank to the garage and have a good hose down, even though much new water was wasted. Anyway my sump tank is being divided into 5 main compartments, with the filter compartments from the water flow in to the water flow out having this substrate; coral chips, Japanese filter mats, Bio Rio from ADA, kept this compartment empty so that water testing can be done and lastly a loosely packed filter bags. From the first 3 months since the commencement of this tank, I still stick to my strict regime of underfeeding my fishes so that I can let the bacteria in the sump tank multiply and colonize. That time I started out with 30 pairs of guppies in the same tank. These 30 pairs are my rejects from my swallow and since sticking to the theme of Frankenstein, I was like mixing all the strains together to see what the fishes can give to me. The tank was kept bare except for some awfully bundled raffia strings that I put into the tank for the purpose of letting the fries hide in such a hostile environment. God knows how many fries perished in the tank but at the end of the day when I decided to call off the whole thing, I got like close to 90 over plus pairs in the tank.
What I noticed from the whole setup is that once the filtration kicks in, overfeeding is possible in this case, though I strongly object to it. There are days when I feel that I am too lazy to care about this tank of fishes that I will pour in like ¼ milk can of Tubifex worms into the tank and let the fish feast to the worm, on a daily basis. I notice that the water was so good that the Tubifex worms don’t seems to be dying inside the tank. From my records, water condition was perfect, though nitrate level is very high. Hence decided to soak my air plant collections into the tank to let them absorb the much needed nitrate minerals via the tank. The substrates in the tank were not subjected to any flushing or maintenance on my part even though the tank managed to be operational and very much functional for a period of about 2 years. For those that may want to adopt this setup for your guppies, my suggestion is that you do this tank up for your culls. Save alot of trouble in terms of feeding and providing them to water changing regime. Last point to add, this setup only needs you to replenish water that is loss to the atmosphere via evaporation.

[mnoor]

Originally Posted by Sinubux

Tank Setup 3:
Dimension: Standard 2 feet tank
Filtration: Nothing
Stimulant: Nothing

This setup is quite commonly found in fish farms where instead of tanks, they may utilize concrete ponds or whatsoever. The key point for this setup to be successful lies in ones patience. Firstly setup a tank filled with tap water and then add some water conditioner to help get rid of all the harmful chlorine and chloramine. After 3 days or best 4 later (dont worry, no mosquitoes eggs will be laid), like what I mentioned in tank setup 1, you can introduce some daphnia or if not, put a tiny piece of non fat meat into the tank. The size of this meat can be like this [ ]. Let the tank matures further until you can slowly see that piece of meat begins to disintegrate. Once the meat is gone with takes a total of 4 days depending on the location of your tank. The warmer the tank is, the faster will be the bacteria colonization. I dont have scientific proof as to why but this is what I have been experiencing with my outdoor tanks versus my indoor ones. Now time to introduce fishes into your tank. Do take note that when you introduce your fishes into this tank, you must be very disciplined in terms of the amount to feed and the frequency. Start with small meals first. I know, you may feel heart pain that the fishes might not have enough but I am telling you, it pays to be the devil for about a week. Cause during this time, a slight overfeeding will foul the water quick and that you may have a hard time savaging the fishes once the tank parameters go haywire. This setup is very well used by seasoned guppy players. This is just an assumption on my part and I may be wrong. So do not take it as any form of offence.

Bro Sinubux, so for this setup, filtration is not necessary, rite?

Can this setup be applied to fibreglass tank also?

So, is the tank size is still 2 feet?

Cement tanks are normally much bigger in size, is there an error abt the tank size for this setup? Or are you referring to the old cement tank that comes with a piece of glass at one side for people to see the fishes that was about 2 feet in size also? I remember owning this type of tank keeping gold fish while I was a school boy last time he he!

Tank Setup 6
Dimension: Standard 2 feet tank
Filtration: Sponge filter
Stimulant: Air pump

Basically this is one of the more popular setups recently and I decided to update this thread. While I don't confess to be a guru like many others here. I would like to attempt to provide whatever information I have learnt from everyone else here so that future hobbyists who pick up guppying will be able to do so without much trouble.

So the main filtration would be an air driven sponge filter that would provide aeration of water and provide mechanical filtration that would not be too strong at the same time. This is one of the safest form I filtration as you do not have to worry about fries or guppy fighting strong currents. At the same time, this form of filtration is cheap and easier to maintain. Although same as most other setups, you first fill the tank with tap water treated with ac that can remove both chlorine and chloramines while at the same time not release toxic ammonia into the tank. Note that some ac breaks up the ammonia from the chloramines but do not treat the ammonia at all, just leaving the ammonia in the tank. This ammonia would most likely have negative repercussions on your guppies. Choice to age the water is optional. Ensure that water change or top up is done with treated water and has the same ph as the water currently in your tank. If tank is not fully established, as mentioned above, feeding too much can possibly cause ph/ammonia spike which would also not be good for your guppies. There are many different water change routines and you might like to find one to your liking. Due to the economic nature of such a setup, it is one of the more common choices of hobbyists here as they can cater to more tanks.

That's about all. And I apologize if I share any inaccurate information. Hope if there's any mistake, don't persecute me for it. But rather correct them such that everyone can benefit. Cheers to all. Happy guppying.

Originally Posted by rnkw

Tank Setup 6
Dimension: Standard 2 feet tank
Filtration: Sponge filter
Stimulant: Air pump

Basically this is one of the more popular setups recently and I decided to update this thread. While I don't confess to be a guru like many others here. I would like to attempt to provide whatever information I have learnt from everyone else here so that future hobbyists who pick up guppying will be able to do so without much trouble.

So the main filtration would be an air driven sponge filter that would provide aeration of water and provide mechanical filtration that would not be too strong at the same time. This is one of the safest form I filtration as you do not have to worry about fries or guppy fighting strong currents. At the same time, this form of filtration is cheap and easier to maintain. Although same as most other setups, you first fill the tank with tap water treated with ac that can remove both chlorine and chloramines while at the same time not release toxic ammonia into the tank. Note that some ac breaks up the ammonia from the chloramines but do not treat the ammonia at all, just leaving the ammonia in the tank. This ammonia would most likely have negative repercussions on your guppies. Choice to age the water is optional. Ensure that water change or top up is done with treated water and has the same ph as the water currently in your tank. If tank is not fully established, as mentioned above, feeding too much can possibly cause ph/ammonia spike which would also not be good for your guppies. There are many different water change routines and you might like to find one to your liking. Due to the economic nature of such a setup, it is one of the more common choices of hobbyists here as they can cater to more tanks.

That's about all. And I apologize if I share any inaccurate information. Hope if there's any mistake, don't persecute me for it. But rather correct them such that everyone can benefit. Cheers to all. Happy guppying.

Bro, I use the same setup, one question is that when we dose salt when guppies have some illness, will the salt kill all the BB in the foam filter?
how about with medication like Melafix, Metafix etc.. TIA

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by Red203

Bro, I use the same setup, one question is that when we dose salt when guppies have some illness, will the salt kill all the BB in the foam filter?
how about with medication like Melafix, Metafix etc.. TIA

Sorry to resurrect this thread but from my experience, should there be a spread of disease in the tank, I would usually dose potassium permanganate solution and salt. During this time, no feeding.