Instant Cycle Question

[RyanR]

I am going to make my first attempt at instant cycling a new aquarium.  I have 4 other aquariums that I cycled the "old school" way...lol.  I have a sponge filter in a quarantine tank that I'm going to use in the new aquarium.  How do I know if the aquarium is instantly cycled or how long I need to wait to determine if it's cycled?  Will it crash if I wait too long to put fish in it?

[Sleepy]

In the interest of limiting cross contamination I would keep that filter dedicated to the quarantine tank if you've treated potentially sick fish in it. If you for example put a new sponge filter in it and squeezed out another sponge filter from an existing tank into that one its pretty much insta-cycled you just dont want to put a ton of fish into it right away just a couple if possible then slowly add more.

[RyanR]

Thanks,  I haven't had anything sick in the QT in a few months and the last sick fish in it had a mild case of ich.  I've had a couple of healthy fish in it for a month or so to help keep it cycled.  

Edited October 27, 2020 by RyanR

[Sleepy]

Sounds like you should be good to go then 🙂

[Alesha]

You'll want to add plants to your new tank right away. Then keep track of their growth and your parameters. You may see a rise in ammonia and/or nitrite and some increasing nitrates. However, if your plants grow a LOT, you may not see these numbers rise very much. I always add some fish food every other day or so, too. Just to give the cycle a little boost.

The trick is that as soon as you add fish, even just a few, you may see a spike in ammonia and nitrite/nitrate. That means that your cycle could handle the fish food, but it's going to have to grow more bacteria to handle the fish pee/pooh. Then as you add fish each time, or removed anything - plants, substrate, decor, etc, - you may see those spikes again, as you're disturbing the very delicately balanced cycle that you have started. 

Keep tabs on your parameters and watch to see how the plants grow. See how the snails do, if they are growing/multiplying. All these things are indicators of how your cycle is doing.

Hope that helps. 🙂

[FrostiesFishes]

I squeeze a sponge in the new tank to jump start the filter, add some rams horn or bladder snails. Give it a few days then test, feed the snails, water change,And keep the stocking light for a few weeks. Testing occasionally. Typically snails are sensitive to bad water , so they can be a first warning sign. you’ll see them at the top trying to escape or dead. 

[Fishkeeper125]

Thx for the info, I am also looking to set up a tank and planning on using sponge filters.

[Ben Ellison]

I personally think instant cycling is a bit of strange thing. I have tried it and found it really only made me take risks I wouldn't normally take and ended up with super bad water. I think it's a great idea to kick start things a bit shaving off a few days of time till it's cycled. I personally like to do the handful of fish till it cycles then slowly adding more approach. I do think adding a precycled filter can definitely give you a massive leg up and with monitoring could easily see you through a partially stocked load.