Fishless cycling, how long to complete the cycle!

[pupstur]

Hi there,

We started fislhless cycling our 40 gallon tank today! The water has been in the tank for four days. The filter and the "Start Zyme" went in the tank today also. How long will it take for the tank to cycle? We have been trying to read the articles on fishless cycling and are a bit confused! The back of the Start Zyme does not give us this needed information. Thank you for your help in advance!

1 dog, 1 goldfish, 2 hamsters

[mr gerbil]

Fishless cycling is completed when the test kit reads 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Keep adding the same amount of ammonia to the tank each day.

[TommyR]

Hi there,

We started fislhless cycling our 40 gallon tank today! The water has been in the tank for four days. The filter and the "Start Zyme" went in the tank today also. How long will it take for the tank to cycle? We have been trying to read the articles on fishless cycling and are a bit confused! The back of the Start Zyme does not give us this needed information. Thank you for your help in advance!

1 dog, 1 goldfish, 2 hamsters


Typically 1 to 1 1/2 months. If you can seed the tank with a sponge from an already established tank it'll cycle much faster.

Tom

[Sorathien]

what i've read is that you add enough ammonia to bring the tank to about 5ppm. then you wait and test (every other day works fine) when the ammonia starts dropping and the nitrites start going up, then start adding more ammonia to keep the level at about 2ppm.

when you can add ammonia and it reads 0ppm after 24 hours, and your nitrites are 0, just do a big water change to drop the nitrates down to about 20 and your good to go.

if you take a chunk of filter from an established tank and float it in your new tank, it will really help jump start the bacteria growth and will shorten the length of the cycle. it can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks.