I know I've seen it somewhere on here before, but I can't remember where. Anyways, I'm starting over with my 30 gallon tank, all the water is new. I have a penguin 320 biowheel filter that has been running since may (only the 2 filter cartriges are new) I am wondering how I should get it to cycle without my fish being in there. He is currently in a 10 gallon "hospital" tank recovering from SERIOUS ammonia poisioning (it killed one fish, and nearly killed Gill too). So, anyways, I'd like to maybe cycle the tank before I put him back in, any advice?

Fishless cycle:

Fill your new tank with water, treated exactly as you would treat it for fish - dechlorinate, etc. Make sure the pH and all parameters are where you want them. Start the filter up - complete with all filter media, cartridges, etc. Add the gravel or decorations or anything you plan on using, except perhaps plastic or real plants. Add a heater. Bring the water temperature to 78-80 degree F.

Add pure ammonia. You can find pure ammonia very cheaply in places like a grocery store, nnnnnn, etc. Do not use sudsing ammonia - if you shake it it will foam - for this has added soap. I cannot tell you exactly how much ammonia to put in, for each ammonia is a different concentration, but put in 1-2 ccs and test the water. What you are trying to reach is a level of 2-3 ppm ammonia. This would be toxic to fish, but, since you have no fish, it is ideal. (If you go over, that is ok. Try not to go past 4-5ppm, though! )

Now, the hardest part comes. Do nothing. Do not add anything. Do not change anything. In a week or so, test for ammonia and nitrites. If your ammonia levels have dropped and nitrites have started to emerge, you know you are on the way. You can add a drop or two more of ammonia as needed to keep the ammonia level at about 2ppm.

The nitrogen cycle is: Bacteria process ammonia into nitrite. Different bacteria process nitrite into nitrate. You change the water and rid it of nitrate.

The first type of bacteria usually grow rather readily and are soon processing the ammonia into nitrite. Your nitrite levels will rise. Your ammonia levels will drop. The second type of bacteria that process the nitrites into nitrates are a little more touchy. They take a bit longer to get going. Once you are reading nitrites you can begin to test every day or two for nitrates. Your nitrites will spike very high long before you see the nitrates appear, most likely. When you see nitrates beginning to appear, you know that your tank is close to being cycled.

AS the first type of bacteria process the ammonia into nitrites, the ammonia levels will, of course, drop. But since you need to keep feeding these bacteria, you need to keep adding a small amount of ammonia every day or so. A 1/2 cc or so should keep the level at about 1 ppm for you. Test to make sure. Before long, you will find that the tank has zero ammonia and 5 nitrites and zero nitrates. Add a little ammonia to 1ppm. Then it will be zero ammonia, 2 nitrites, and 5 nitrates. Add a little ammonia. Then it will be zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and 160 nitrates.

At the end, if you can add ammonia in the morning to 1ppm and have it reach zero and the nitrite reach zero by the next morning, your tank is cycled. It is now time to do a large water change. Start with a 50% one. Test the nitrates. If they are not below 20ppm, change some more water. When the nitrates are below 20, the nitrites and ammonia are zero, you can add fish.

It is ideal that you are only adding the one fish. His waste will start to feed the bacteria colonies. You may get a bloom of bacteria when you first add the fish. This is the colony of bacteria responding to the new food - the more food, the more the bacteria reproduce and the extras can float around in the water giving it a whitish haze. This is normal and should clear in a few days. You should test the water of a newly cycled tank every day for a few days to make sure that the cycle is holding.

Fishless cycling is the easiest, for you have no daily water changes and no worries about your fish dying or being injured by poor water quality. Congratulations on deciding to use this wonderful way to get your tank going!

If you have questions, please ask! The hardest part of all is waiting - it can take a couple of weeks - sometimes only a few - sometimes longer......

cool, thanks for your help!
I am uneasy about adding pure ammonia to the tank though, that scares me! Do you think I could add some water from the tank he is already in when I am doing water changes on that one to help the new tank along?

Sure - you can do that if you wish. Is the tank he is in cycled? If it is, you can take a little of the media from the filter in that tank and add it to the filter in the new tank. This will give you a little jump start, too. There is not a great deal of bacteria in the water itself, but every little bit helps.

Remember - you do not need to do any water changes or anything on the fishless tank. If you do, make sure to add enough ammonia back in to keep the ammonia level at about 2-4 ppm as it is cycling. Having sufficiant ammonia for the bacteria to process is crucial to the formation of the bacterial colonies.

The ammonia is just fine to use - ammonia is exactly what comes from the fish as waste. You are just adding "fish waste" to your water to feed the growing bacteria, except you do not have to have the fish to produce the waste.

thanks, I think I might try that. I ordered a test kit online, and i'm waiting for it to arrive, so i don't want to do much until it gets here. I only have the ammonia test strips right now, the one i ordered is a "master" test kit, so i think it will be better.
-do you think that the 2 biowheels on the filter will help since they were already running since may? i would imagine that they have some bacteria on them too...

in a fishless cycle, what happens if you add a bit too much ammonia and it is at like 8ppm?

It has been demonstrated through various tests that too much ammonia is not good for the developing bacteria - it will slow their growth. Too much, I assume, would make it so the tank might not cycle (maybe?)......They were not specific on that part.

I added a certain amount of ammonia to 10 gallons of water and tested it. I then figured what volume of ammonia was needed per 10 gallons to bring my 50 gallon tank to the 3 to 4 ppm reading for cycling. I have had it as high as 5 ppm in some tanks and they have cycled without problems.

I guess I would say if you manage to get so much ammonia in the tank that it is 8 ppm or more, do a water change to dilute it down to about 5ppm......

ok, thanks!
-I am trying to get my 10 gallon to cycle. It's been up since the first of this month, but still isn't cycling (of course, I took the fish out of it about a week ago) so now I just added some ammonia (apparently a bit too much) but I changed some water and got it down to about 4 or 5ppm.

-now, my question is, when this 10 gallon tank cycles, can I put the filter media (ir is just a piece of filter stuff with no carbon or anything) in the filter of my 30 gallon tank to help it start its cycle? Also, will adding the water from my cycled 10 gallon tank help the 30 gallon tank cycle faster?

There is so little bacteria in the water that it is really not worth too much to put the used water from a cycled tank into a new tank to cycle it.

Yes, you could use some of the filter material to "seed" the new tank. Just make sure that you do not replace all that material at one time, ever or you will bump your cycle.

The easiest way to jump start a new tank, when you have a cycing tank is to buy your filter for the 30 gallon tank early, and set it running on the 10 gallon tank. Leave it running on it for as long as you can. Seed it with a piece of the filter floss, and then move it. It should cycle out for you in very short order. You can set that cycle and test it with the fishless cycling process. Add about 1-2 ppm ammonia and see if it goes to zero and when. See when the nitrites go to zero, and you have a cycle.

I already have fish in the 30 gal, so i don't want to take the filter off.

-what if I put the whole filter from the cycled on my 30 gallon tank? I was thinking of adding a second filter anyways.

You are abandoning the 10 for the thirty? That is fine. Move the cycled filter over and hang it on the 30 along with the new filter. They will seed just fine. I am a huge fan of loads of filtration, too.

At one time, when a 30 gallon tank was the only guaranteed healthy tank I had, I had an Emperor 400, a Emperor 280 and a Penquin 170 all running on that tank to start the smaller filters cycling. It worked wonderfully.

well, i'm not abandoning it really......the 10 gallon was set up as my sick tank....but it wouldn't cycle either...so i just decided to try to cycle the 30 gallon tank (which my fish was already used to being in). But I kept the 10 gallon running thinking it would cycle and i could use the filter...but it wasn't cycling...so, i just added the pure ammonia the other day to help it along.......so, i figure as soon as that cycles, I can just add that filter to my 30 gallon since I won't be using the 10 gallon anymore.
-I already have a penguin biowheel 330 on the 30 gallon tank, the filter that is on the 10 gal now is a whisper 30.