Yarnallicious Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Hello everyone, I just started up a 125 gallon tank and gave it a dose of Stability on the initial day of filling(3/28), also threw in a fine pore sponge filter from an established 55 gallon. I wanted to know if I still have to continue dosing the Stability, is the bacteria from the sponge filter enough to cycle the 125? Any tips or advice would be a great help, thank you! -Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarnallicious Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Forgot to mention that I also have an FX6 and a 307 for filtration, I plan to swap the 307 for an FX4 as well. But both of the current canisters have been thoroughly cleaned, so there is no other bacteria than from the sponge filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Well, If I had spent the money on a bottle of Stability, which I never foresee doing ever again, I would be adding some daily until the bottle was empty, along with feeding the tank an ammonia source, whether that be livestock, ghost feeding, or ammonia drops. I have no confidence in the bacteria in a bottle products myself. I have tried multiple bottles of multiple brands and never saw anything to convince me of their worth. A well cycled sponge filter is a wonderful thing though.. I would be adding 6-12 fish under 2 inches in length and feed them daily. And testing the water every other day. Fish poo has all the bacteria present in it to seed the tank nicely, so bits of poo sucked up by the new canister filters will seed them nicely. After a week or two if you never see ammonia or nitrites I would double the stocking and continue in same vein… I am a fan of slow increases in livestock, monitoring for ammonia and nitrite and increasing bioload over time giving the tank time to accomodate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 This is the technique that a lot of big tank users (impatiently) use for a quick cycle. It’s still going to be a fish in cycle. Especially if it fails. So watch your ammonia. And dechlorinate with prime. It should work. But no guarantees. two canisters seems like an aggressive amount of filtration. One fx6 should be more than enough. Pair that with a large sponge. For surface agitation and increased airflow and you should be good. Or just an air stone would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 (edited) I'd just monitor it and see. What's important to understand is that the sponge filter you moved in doesn't know how big of a tank it's in. It just "knows" how much fish waste it normally processed and will be able to process that much now. The good news is that an established filter can increase in size pretty quickly. I've only added Stability when using some existing media if I'm trying to seed new filters and know that what I moved over is not sufficient enough to quickly bring everything up to "cycled". If I'm squeezing a cycled sponge or two into a new tank, I wouldn't bother with the Stability as it seems like the sponge squeezings really do a good job of cycling things. You can easily avoid cycling issues (high ammonia/nitrites) with water changes in the interim. In a big enough tank with reasonable stocking you can probably get away with a change every 2-3 days. You'd want to dose the Stability after a water change. I also avoid wiping down sides while cycling as I think a decent amount of bacteria covers those surfaces at least initially. Edited April 1 by jwcarlson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 you put in a seeded sponge filter so you now have an established bacteria colony. that is all "cycling" an aquarium is, nothing more than establishing a bacteria colony. slowly add fish, and monitor the water quality as you slowly stock up the tank. dont make it more complicated than it needs to be. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarnallicious Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 On 4/1/2024 at 6:24 AM, Pepere said: Well, If I had spent the money on a bottle of Stability, which I never foresee doing ever again, I would be adding some daily until the bottle was empty, along with feeding the tank an ammonia source, whether that be livestock, ghost feeding, or ammonia drops. I have no confidence in the bacteria in a bottle products myself. I have tried multiple bottles of multiple brands and never saw anything to convince me of their worth. A well cycled sponge filter is a wonderful thing though.. I would be adding 6-12 fish under 2 inches in length and feed them daily. And testing the water every other day. Fish poo has all the bacteria present in it to seed the tank nicely, so bits of poo sucked up by the new canister filters will seed them nicely. After a week or two if you never see ammonia or nitrites I would double the stocking and continue in same vein… I am a fan of slow increases in livestock, monitoring for ammonia and nitrite and increasing bioload over time giving the tank time to accomodate. On 4/1/2024 at 7:06 AM, Tony s said: This is the technique that a lot of big tank users (impatiently) use for a quick cycle. It’s still going to be a fish in cycle. Especially if it fails. So watch your ammonia. And dechlorinate with prime. It should work. But no guarantees. two canisters seems like an aggressive amount of filtration. One fx6 should be more than enough. Pair that with a large sponge. For surface agitation and increased airflow and you should be good. Or just an air stone would work. On 4/1/2024 at 10:26 AM, jwcarlson said: I'd just monitor it and see. What's important to understand is that the sponge filter you moved in doesn't know how big of a tank it's in. It just "knows" how much fish waste it normally processed and will be able to process that much now. The good news is that an established filter can increase in size pretty quickly. I've only added Stability when using some existing media if I'm trying to seed new filters and know that what I moved over is not sufficient enough to quickly bring everything up to "cycled". If I'm squeezing a cycled sponge or two into a new tank, I wouldn't bother with the Stability as it seems like the sponge squeezings really do a good job of cycling things. You can easily avoid cycling issues (high ammonia/nitrites) with water changes in the interim. In a big enough tank with reasonable stocking you can probably get away with a change every 2-3 days. You'd want to dose the Stability after a water change. I also avoid wiping down sides while cycling as I think a decent amount of bacteria covers those surfaces at least initially. On 4/1/2024 at 12:05 PM, lefty o said: you put in a seeded sponge filter so you now have an established bacteria colony. that is all "cycling" an aquarium is, nothing more than establishing a bacteria colony. slowly add fish, and monitor the water quality as you slowly stock up the tank. dont make it more complicated than it needs to be. Thank you so much for all of your inputs! I do have some fish in there already, a few clown loaches, some buenos aires tetras and tiger barbs who I've been feeding daily. My water today was at 0 Ammonia, 2-5ppm Nitrite, with 10-20ppm Nitrate. Went ahead and did a 70-75% water change. After doing so, I gave the established sponge a good couple squeezes, and dosed the tank with Stability. As for the filtration, I'm convinced that the FX6 alone definitely has the capability to turnover the water, but is not sufficient enough to provide flow throughout the whole tank, based on where the outlet is placed(on the end). I appreciate all of you who took the time to provide your suggestions, I tried looking around online for anyone who had similar experiences but maybe I just didn't use proper keywords. I admit I was conflicted from the start, beginning a Stability cycle when a means of bacteria was already present. Would it be safe to not continue the Stability's 7-day cycle as listed on the bottle, if at this point the sponge's bacteria has already propagated throughout the tank? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 4/1/2024 at 8:24 PM, Yarnallicious said: Would it be safe to not continue the Stability's 7-day cycle as listed on the bottle i think so, as long as you're changing water when nitrites rise. and i would still dechlorinate with prime. you've no ammonia, so that's an excellent start 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 4/1/2024 at 8:24 PM, Yarnallicious said: Would it be safe to not continue the Stability's 7-day cycle as listed on the bottle, if at this point the sponge's bacteria has already propagated throughout the tank? Well, who knows…. But, you bought the stability. Might as well use it up…. I am not convinced it does much of anything myself, but it sure isnt doing anything still in the bottle…. Now if the question instead, is should I go buy more to continue the 7 day cycle, I know I wouldnt be… I would probably reduce feeding and monitor daily and water change as needed. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 4/1/2024 at 8:49 PM, Pepere said: Might as well use it up absolutely. @Yarnallicious just depends if you want to mess with it our not. or..... you could use it as an excuse to get another tank. just sayin. You'd really hate to not use up that bottle... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarnallicious Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 @Pepere @Tony s Sounds good. I think I'll hold off, would much rather conserve it for water changes or another tank. Thank you again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dacotua Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Just a word of advice. Many many many people will say throw a established sponge filter into a tank and its instant cycled. My experience with this, this is not the case. It will speed up your cycle, but will not instant cycle your tank. I ended up putting a sponge filter into a new tank (The sponge filter was from an established tank of more than 3 years.). I added drops of ammonia to the tank, Ammonia would go to 0 fairly quickly but Nitrite was thru the roof and I barely had any Nitrate. It took the tank over two weeks to cycle. When I decided to make my shrimp tank, I tried again using an established sponge filter. After two weeks of having high nitrite, I decided to throw in a bunch of floating plants and start dosing ferts. After a week of doing this, the tank cycled. Frog Bit works works wonders in zapping all the Nitrite in a tank. Not sure if the tank cycled officially or the frog bit simple removed the toxins from the tank. Didn't matter to me, I put my shrimp colony in it and its been running ever since. What I'm saying is be very careful when you start cycling your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 (edited) A single sponge filter in a 125g tank wouldnt be enough to keep it cycled I believe due to the big size of the tank, but would surely has a positive effect. I would squeeze the sponge in the tank and keep dosing stability as requested, while I have my main filter running.I would also keep the sponge in the tank Also, make sure you have enough ammonia present to cycle the tank. Throwing in stability without ammonia means no cycle start. Then, it is all about testing for ammonia nitrite and nitrate Edited April 2 by Lennie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 4/1/2024 at 9:41 PM, Dacotua said: What I'm saying is be very careful when you start cycling your tank On 4/1/2024 at 9:48 PM, Lennie said: Then, it is all about testing for ammonia nitrite and nitrate All good and correct, water testing and water changes are the key. Honestly the key to any of the three cycling methods. But, if they say no ammonia now, maybe a week or two will work. As long as there is an ammonia source. @Yarnallicious you could actually add a few of the fish you want. But you must be diligent about checking your water and doing water changes when needed. And dechlorinating with prime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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