HOW TO Start an aquarium in 8 ways
Discus 6 years ago 190,287 views
Today i go over 8 different methods you can use to cycle your freshwater aquarium fish tank. While this is a focus on freshwater aquariums, many of these methods can be used for saltwater as well. JOIN MY TEAM: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9oZkV3tGJuUUhgZaiGZkQ/join Get the ultimate DIY book ► http://thekingofdiy.com LIMITED EDITION SHIRTS!! ► https://goo.gl/fvSh6Y Facebook ► http://facebook.com/uarujoey Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/uarujoey/ The king of DIY aquarium projects, education and inspiration! Check back daily as I make a video almost every day! MAIL TO: PO BOX 25054 Truro, NS B2N 7B8 Canada How to build aquariums: https://goo.gl/gu3CsK How to build aquarium filters: https://goo.gl/cw0Jl9 How to build aquarium stands: https://goo.gl/9JB9jo How to build aquarium equipment: https://goo.gl/BHkT2s How to build aquarium lighting: https://goo.gl/Wg4kt0 How to build aquarium decorations: https://goo.gl/crQkeT Varius aquarium tutorials: https://goo.gl/BKCb3a ALL Thursday videos: https://goo.gl/DPHjEM ALL Sunday videos: https://goo.gl/Rn0wmS My aquarium pumps, circulation and lights are by: http://ecotechmarine.com My aquarium racks and the aquariums within them were made by: http://customaquariums.com
But my aquariums for commet goldfish
10. comment for HOW TO Start an aquarium in 8 ways
20. comment for HOW TO Start an aquarium in 8 ways
Yea, basically. Filter cartridges are a marketing scheme. Rinse the foam in dirty tank water every so often.
30. comment for HOW TO Start an aquarium in 8 ways
It was a lot of dead fish and trial and mostly error in the beginning. Back then pet stores tended to be more interested in selling you something then actually helping you solve the issue.
The best suggestion that I have is most cities tend to have an active aquarium clubs or societies - these are one of the best places to get help, advice and etc. There is a large collection of knowledge available from these people and most are willing to help people new to the hobby. Most societies have monthly meetings - just introduce yourself and mention that you are new to the hobby and you will probably be inundated with members offering to help you with just about any question you have.
My question here is do I need to have a filter for this kind of set up or can I rely on the substrate and a circulation pump? I really don't understand how the bacteria and ammonia work, just that everyone is saying it's important
1: way of speeding the fishless cycle WITHOUT estabilished tank media; like rising the temperature, adding sugar, adding more then one filter to add surface for the bacteria, etc.
'cause, you know, old tank may probably have some killer bacteria, parasite, etc. and new tank may be needed before now!
2: it wold be worth speaking about "sterilizing" the good bacteria from the bad and parasite with salt, temperature or some % of ammonia, in order to use old tank media in a safe way.
3: the right amount of ammonia in the fishless cycle (i've heard from 1-2 ppm to 4)
4: keeping the bacteria alive (like in freezer fridge, or some staff like gel
5: how much time can bacteria stay alive without oxigen (like in a stopped external filter).
6: fish small enought to not produce enought ammonia to die from it, like newborn guppy... so the fish grow producing more ammonia at the some time the filter mature... my first acquarium I cycled putting some little food inside, but after like 10 days put one female guppy in there (60Lt) and she was fine.
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shorter girls are short
hahahahahahhahahaha
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50. comment for HOW TO Start an aquarium in 8 ways
so used 2 guppies instead and prior to that i added bacteria out of the bottle over 3 days (fluval cycle) + the aqua bombs and doing 2 weekly changes a week
They are assasian snail food now)
Would you be able to do a basic starter, how to video on starting a freshwater tank, like dealing with ick, fin rot, that stability is more important them chasing the perfect ph. Or how temperature when doing water changes, or using the right conditioner can help make a huge difference.
Thanks for the advice dude.
I used lava rock from a tank I took down to cycle my other tanks and i use the old filter water method also.
All where great methods you talked about but last one was best my choice.
( i already have some cycled media and its in the tank and its running)
best of luck to you
fighting with my other fish 2 died because of it pls help
but mine or just fine, I helped friends put up tanks there fish all well.
I've had a few of my setup for over two years no issues.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me god bless
I keep gold fish in most my mix community tanks. with all tanks having different temps.
There all health and well I can show proof with pictures of fish and temperatures.
If tank well balanced they do just find in high or low temps tanks.
god bless my friend
that can start a fight among them.
I'm going to do this on my next tank to try it out. I generally don't mind waiting and used to use the starter fish method cause I thought that was the only way. I recently set up my first fishless cycled tank and it was a success but did take a while of ghost feeding and adding in the aquarium start up liquid. Thanks for this, it was great even with a cloudy head. I would ❤ to see more beginner videos like this. Have fun in NY! Come to NC soon!
100. comment for HOW TO Start an aquarium in 8 ways
I have one question.
How to gender division of datnioides?
I do not know that.. please answer
Add some used media such as a sponge from your cycled tank and you'll be good to go in a few days with a filter running on the new tank with the old sponge
It will clean your 2000gallon tank man
If there is the reason for that u can say me so that I can also remove it
Edit to add/clarify: Fishless cycle just means cycling while fish aren't present. It still requires an ammonia source, it's just not from a live fish. Your shrimp example is a fishless cycle, for example, and so is your household ammonia example, as long as you haven't added any fish yet.
In my defence, this was in the 80's and I was 9 years old, and this was the info I got from the pet-store.
Add 2 fish every week until the aquarium is fully stocked.
Guess I was lucky, no fish died.
I would never do the same now, my latest aquariums have either been with pre-prepared filter media or adding filter gunk (I think you called it moalm?) straight into the filter and stock the aquarium low the first weeks or months, and watching water parameters.
But the particular store I frequented in the beginning of the 80's didn't mentioned it to me or my parents at that time.
I learned later, from another pet store, that the aquarium need the good bacteria for the fish to thrive.
But I was in my teens before I joined an aquarium club and actually learned anything at all about the nitrification cycle. And since then, technology have advanced and knowledge are both better and more easily available.
Including knowledge among pet store employees.
Lol
I have no extra media yet but I am delighted that gravel could work too since I am starting up another smaller tank soon.
Let sit over 24 hour period
Place gold fish in
1st time
Shrimp is my now recommended method when you have no cycled media to use.
That for both Fresh and Salt.
My Salt tanks get cycled rocks and water which is an instant cycle. Fresh the media sharing is awesome.
In reality tho, all I do is buy a bottle of bacteria, dose the bacteria following the dosage then phantom feed the tank. It should be ready in 3 days. But according to the company as long as you're dosing and have a source of ammonia be it a fish, fish food or straight up ammonia it should work fine. My first ever reef tank I started just by adding a capful off bacteria after the tank has been running for 2 days then added the fish in a few hours later and it worked fine. Well it may stress the fish but I was younger and just wanted to get fish in the tank.... My most recent reef setup I dosed bacteria and phantom fed for a month and it cycled in a week but just to be sure I waited extra 3 weeks
You have to use freshwater because salt doesn’t evaporate. You top off with freshwater because the salts still in the tank
Then after watching your channel, I started using cycled media from my canister filter. I found the cycled media was easier and faster. Watching your channel has made me a better fish keeper. Thanks Joey.
In my country you can't buy ammonia without added detergents, so I made up a solution of sulphate of ammonia (aka ammonium sulfate) and used that in conjunction with bacterial products to cycle my second tank fishless and that worked great too. I didn't find it hard to get the ammonia level right; just add no more than 2ppm and ensure it doesn't bottom out.
I started in the hobby a year ago and watch this channel religiously. I learnt a lot here!
Love from India.
Love from India ❤
Saltwater : grabbed live sand, live rock, dirty water and did a fishless cycle for 2 weeks then added hermits, crabs. Month later added my first clowns.
I used plants - lots of plants! Set up the tank and load it up with plants and simply leave it. The new plants start to melt a few leaves as they get acclimated and I just left them to rot, that created ammonia and my cycle was on its way. Left it for about 6 weeks without a water change and the cycle was complete. 75% water change and then started adding a few fish every week. By the time I added fish the plants were already established and thriving which is also better for the new fish. I also over-lit the tank for the 6 weeks to establish same algae on the rocks.
I had then started working for a huge tropical fish store, and learned so much in those two years. I'm 21 now, and have kept dozens of different tanks. I'd never have used fish alone (even feeders) to cycle a tank... it's just not necessary. Thankfully, I do still have the gold calvus in my mixed cichlid community :)
(Sory for the bad english I am from costa rica)
No the filter is ok but what l need to do in order to use just 1 big filter for 2+ acuariuns l'm a noob on this
No sé espanol pero si español y pregunto como conectar varias peseras a un solo filtro de gran tamaño
Nowadays, as I sometimes have random sponge filters in a hatchery tank, I use them if I need an immediate hospital or quarantine tank. Otherwise, grabbing media from established tanks worked quite well for me lol.
I would like to try the shrimp method instead now.
I have so many questions for you about my tank and how it's set up. I'm looking forward to these "beginner" videos as I'm always looking for a better way to maintain my tank.
Nitrites in low levels may harm your fish. Nitrates in low levels will not harm your fish, but will benefit your aquatic plants.
do beneficial bacteria grow on your fish?
I got a question about bio-filtration and media. I have a concrete pond outside with koi. Every spring I have an explosion of ammonia and I am guessing that during winter it accumulates waste and because of cold weather it does not discompose. Once it gets warmer all of it goes bad very fast and i have to drain the pond, clean and replace the water. Is it to say that cold temperature kills the bacteria and it takes months to develop again???
I started my 60 gallon (first one of 6 aquariums) with building your 5 gallon canister filter. While setting up the tank, I had 5 gallon bucket of lava rock cycling in my pond for months. Then just filled the canister filter, filled the tank, and started it running. It's a dirted tank, so had to wait little bit longer to add fish. But worked extremely well! I've used the cycled media from the canister to start 5 more tanks. No dead fish yet, doing it this way!
just kidding, please dont do this
do you think this will be enough?
One thing I really messed up on when I started was I was adding my decloranator at the same time as my bacteria in a bottle. After time I of course realised that was not a smart move and lost a couple fish because of it. Stuff happens and you learn from it I guess
As for my first aquarium I didn’t know what I was doing and immediately put fish in it the same day I put water.
I started my aquarium with ammonia a few years ago, then slowly added fish after the ammonia and nitrites went down, and nitrates showed up. I'm starting a new tank soon, and have picked up a lot from you - have been planning on using the malm/cycled media method.
But after all of this i started researching in the internet and i used the last method for all aquarium i have cylcled since then:D
Greetings from Germany
Still have those fish for you if you want.
It's free and is good for cycling a newly innoculated tank, also allows plants to get bacterial root colonies as they take up the phosphate.
Mainly though... it's free.
A topic for future videos I personally would like to see, caring for a tank with problems. I'm now going thru a fungal issue with my guppies. I've added medication for a second time, which I think I've finally fixed this issue, but I'm kinda worried my media is still infected. I was wondering the best way of knowing if I have gotten rid of the problem, or if this a on going battle that requires me to drain and sanitize the whole tank.
Love the videos helping loads xx
I was told, I had to have my tank running for a couple of weeks before I could stock it. So I filled it with water, put in a heater and internal filter, and just left it all running for a fortnight. Then stocked it and killed all my fish. No one told me about the nitrogen cycle, until I looked on youtube for reasons my fish died.
Good vid joey.