Hi everyone
Can someone tell me if its ok to put my goldies into their new tank. I set up the tank 4 days ago(27US gallons) used declorinated tap water with 3 gallons of pre-cycled water from the fishs' tank that they are in now in. I also added some Dr Fish tank starter to help grow the good bacteria. I have an internal power filter (Clear Jet 3) suitable for a larger tank. The readings today are Ammonia 0, NitrIte 0, NitrAte 10 . These are the readings of a cycled tank, its just that its seems very quick to have 'cycled'

probably not cycled, unless the material inside your filter is used. You haven't added any ammonia, so no ammonia would show up - whether it was cycled or not.

Where can I buy ammonia from. I asked at the LFS and they didn't have any? Would I ask at a chemists?

If the tank that your fish are in right now is cycled, and you are planning on putting the old filter from this cycled tank onto your new tank, you are all set. If your new filter is not fully cycled yet, the old filter's bacterial colony will do the work and a new colony will grow within a week or two in the new filter.

I would probably guess that your new tank/filter is NOT cycled, though, for four days is not really enough time for anything to grow.

Are your fish fine where they are? Can you tranfer their old filter to the new tank? Or an alternative - can you run your new filter on their old tank for about 2 weeks? That, too, would cycle the filter in a very short time.

If you have a healthy, cycling tank at your disposal, it is not necessary to do a full cycle of the new tank. To "test" the cycle, as mkinga suggested, you can use a few drops of clear ammonia (a TINY amount of ammonia - remember you are mimicing fish "pee" and they really release a SMALL amount) into the tank and see if the cycling bacteria process it. You would add the ammonia until you see a trace on the test reading. Then tomorrow, you take readings. You should see a little more nitrate, but nothing else. If this is true - the tank is cycled!

Ammonia is a cleaning agent - it is available at a grocery or any discount store that sells window washing materials. It is very cheap. Just get one that does not smell like lemons and does not suds - the label should say, "clear" and not foam whenyou shake it.

Hi, yes my fish are fine where they are. Following your suggestion about the filter, I have put one of the cycled sponges in one of the sponge filter chambers in the new tank and put one of the new filter sponges in the old tank.

Thanks fot your help.

One more question, I am dying to see what me goldies look like in their new tank. I have made alot of effort making it look good. So would it be ok to put my goldies in there for a few hours a day whilst its cycling?

Realize that the bacteria on the sponge that you have placed in the "empty" tank will need to continue to "feed" on ammonia and the resulting nitrite to remain alive and growing. Because of this, you will need to make sure that they have a source of ammonia. You can do this with a few drops of pure ammonia, or you can do this with a fish. Since, supposedly your sponge contains nice colonies of BOTH types of bacteria, there is no reason to believe that that new filter is not capable of processing fish waste perfectly - just not in large quantities, yet.

Since you have seeded the filter well ( I am assuming that sponge comes from a well cycled filter), I think that it would be ideal to place a goldie into the new tank. He would feed the bacteria and promote the colonization of the new filter.

Try putting one of your strongest, healthiest little guys in the new tank for a day. Take readings before, and after a day and see where the ammonia and nitrite levels have gone. They may just remain at zero. That new colony of cycling bacteria may be fine to take care of one fishie's waste. Give it a few days and add another fish. Keep an eye on the parameters. My bet is that as soon as it settles with one fish for a few days, with the addition of the second fish, the bacteria will bloom, haze out your tank with new colonies and slam into a full cycle very quickly, all things being ideal.

Just test the tank - at least every day if not morning and night - for a bit until you see the cycle functioning with the single fish's waste.

Sounds like you are doing GREAT!!!!!! Congratulations on your new tank. It sounds pretty!

Thanks for that.