what's cracking youtube it's me the business business products with james so amateurs yep
get that professional look and i asked another question oh yeah oh yeah i asked
another question all right babe that's enough for the questions man you have too many questions
a very simple question one question and one question only for the all-star panel to answer
and that question was just don't do it don't
what's the easiest way to cycle your tank that's all i asked and i got some answers oh yeah oh yeah
i got some answers so without further ado let's get straight to the video
let's go
the best way to cycle an aquarium is to know people and what i mean by that is to have friends
that are in the hobby that you can get things from that already have that glorious bacteria in
it whether it's some substrate some filter media uh maybe he's got an extra sponge filter that he's
been running in the tank and you can bring that over and put that in there or something like that
or even i've gone as far as to have your friend squeeze the sponge filter out into a bag
of brown nasty disgusting water and bring that over and dump it into your new aquarium yeah
it'll make it dirty for a little bit but it'll all settle down and it'll help to plant that seed
if you will in your new aquarium another approach would be if this is your very first aquarium
you can't really do this that's when you would go to your friend but if you have an aquarium
already in your house and you know you're going to be getting another one in a couple of months
buy the filter for your new tank now and put it on your existing aquarium and you'll just be double
filtering the aquarium that you have right now but it'll be getting that seed in that new filter that
it'll be seeding it i don't know i don't usually like saying seeding but you know what i'm saying
it'll get all of that bacteria into that new filter then when you bring it over when you get
your new tank you bring it over put it onto there you've got that head start none of this guarantees
that your tank is going to be instantly cycled but this is a great way to kind
of boost the cycle and get it going what i would do is do that and then also add live
with a lot of products out there i don't want to do an advertisement for my website but there's a
lot of products out there that are live bacteria i would do that as an extra step uh just to add more
bacteria in there and really get that cycle going it pays to have friends that are fish keepers my
preferred way for cycling a tank is to use media from established filters from established tanks
you put that media into the filter of the new tank make sure the water is conditioned
if you don't condition the water it could kill the bacteria that you're bringing over
but if you use a little bit of substrate and a little bit of media from an established tank you
are going to be able to instantly instantly have a you know add fish you can also use products like
fruit zyme seven sea chem stability these products work you need to add fish right away because the
bacteria that's in the product needs the waste of the fish so don't add the product and then
wait weeks and weeks because you're afraid to add fish if you use those products add fish right away
because it's the fish waste and ammonia production that's going to feed that bacteria so uh i have
been successful using products like fruit zyme7 and also i've been very successful with instantly
cycling a tank with media from an established tank i keep filter media in the sump underneath
this tank i keep media that i can pull at any time put into a filter and i've got a tank ready for
and fish i usually have a filter somewhere in the fish room that's not really doing anything but
collecting bacteria for me so when i do set up a new tank i can just simply take that filter that's
been seating there for a while for me and just stick it in my new aquarium but in the beginning
i would set up my tank and i would gradually every few days just put a little tiny bit of
fish food in there and then when i would start to see a little bit of algae on the glass that's
when i would put new fish in there i would highly recommend you knowing the nitrogen cycle but now
personally i always have a sponge filter or a hang on the back but in the beginning i did use the
fish food method all right so if you're looking to cycle a new tank the best method is if you have
another tank so for example if you've got one tank set up already and you think you want to set up a
new one trust me if you've got one you'll probably start getting more and more because it's kind of
an addicting hobby a really good way of doing this is even before you buy the tank and everything
buy your new filter set up your filter on your existing tank and then run that filter for i like
to try and do it for three or four weeks because you're going to build up that beneficial bacteria
in all the biological media in that new filter and it's going to be easy to just then replicate that
over to the new tank when you get your new tank i'd also like to do a big water change like 50
on my existing tank and put that straight into the new tank as well that way you've got some of
that older water there the bacteria is going to be used to that water all you need to do is add
some more fresh water and then a heater and you're pretty much cycled ready to go very quickly the
best way for me to cycle this tank may not be the same as you because you may be a new fish keeper
and you've never cycled a tank before but the best way for me to cycle one would be getting a
sponge filter that is already in an existing tank that already has that beneficial bacteria on it
then i would take it and stick it in my new tank so that it will start establishing in the tank and
all that beneficial bacteria will be there and i would not add fish day one but i would let things
do what it's supposed to do you know for a little while for a couple days before i added fish then
um the other tank that i took the sponge filter out of i would put a new one in there because
it's sort of like cleaning your sponge filter but you're just sticking a brand new one in there and
it's just gonna keep doing its job just like the other one did so that's what i would do but if
you're new and you don't have any other tanks then you may need to use like um like fritzime
or quickstart by api or dr tims something like that will help you get through that that cycle
and help you to get where you need to be to add fish love this question best way to slice okay
there's so many different ways to do it my personal favorite way when it comes
to cycling a new tank now i'll give you one from scratch and one if you already have another tank
so if you're doing your first tank and your cyclic from scratch i'm old school i'm put the gravel in
put the water in hook the filter up sprinkle fish food in there set it
forget it once a week put another little bit of fish food in there take about six to eight weeks
bam your tank will be cycled it's a slow process but it's to me the most tried and food method
if you're doing your first tank ever if you want to do a fish in with that same method
get yourself something hearty like a betta cycle the tank with the one fish
because vedas eat so little food just make sure if you do decide to do a fish in with this method
and you're doing a beta you're gonna have to do like water changes every other day just to
make sure your ammonia and your nitrite levels stay low enough that it doesn't harm the fish
it'll take a little longer to cycle but it'll still get the same result for you
if you have another tank and you're setting up your second third your 24th that could be
the best way for you to do then would be to get use filter media from one of your tanks
take it out put it in the new filter run it still add a little fish food so that the bacteria has
something to feed on you could also take some substrate out of an established tank and add
that in as well it'll cycle so much faster for you probably cut the time down in half if not a third
i think the fastest i cycle the tank is maybe two weeks using use filter medium and that's
also fish in because i knew i had some of that beneficial bacteria cycle it take um i like doing
the all-natural way i use beneficial bacteria into it and allow it to go three to four weeks that'll
go through the nitrate cycle um then i test for uh the nitrates i'm gonna test for ammonia and as
soon as it's all gone i start adding my shrimp there uh everybody knows shrimp can't have no
ammonium the best way to cycle a tank is to already have a cyclo tank i know so helpful
so helpful but really if you do have an established tank transferring media from that
filter to your new filter is basically an instant cycle or at least squeezing out the filter media
into your new tank will introduce live bacteria more efficiently than adding bacteria in a bottle
but if you are starting from scratch and you don't have access to some cycled filter media
i had no issues following the classic method of using bacteria in a bottle
such as tetra safe start and just feeding the bacteria with an ammonia source either
pure ammonia such as the dr tim's ammonia or add fish food to the aquarium and let it break down
over time the bacteria will feed on the ammonia source and multiply and another set of bacteria
will develop to feed on the nitrites that result from the digestion of the ammonia
it is kind of a slow process when you don't have fish already in there but it does take away the
stress of trying to cycle a tank that already has fish in it another method that works with
fish already in the tank is to load up the tank with a bunch of live plants particularly the ones
that are fast-growing and crave fertilizer such as hornwort guppy grass duckweed some bacopa rotala
ludwigia water wisteria water sprite they'll pretty reliably absorb the ammonia created by fish
waste and you'll have a lush garden of live plants and you'll keep a clean environment for your fish
and your filter media eventually will develop the nitrifying bacteria over time and it'll work in
tandem with the plants to keep everything clean long-term and while all this is going on don't
forget to test your water for ammonia nitrite and nitrate once you don't see any ammonia or
nitrite on the test but you do see some nitrates then you'll be pretty certain the tank is cycled
is bartholomew from buffalo death row aquatics look so you want to know how to cycle the tank
there huh so look look look what you got to do over here all right you got your new tank with
your new water over there but then you go get an established tank filter and you take that
dirty filthy filter out of the established tank and you put it in the new tank water
and then you squash that filter until that water is milky dirty filthy nasty soupy brown right
and if you got another filter you go and squash that one into that new water too can't hurt can't
hurt baby it can't hurt all it is gonna do is just make it more filthy nasty and dirty i like that
then when you turn your filter on for the new tank
it's going to be running all that bacteria riddled dirty soupy water on through and
as it's running on through you might want to hit it with a little that fritz seven
bacteria infused liquid to add extra bacteria and now you got a nice bacteria soup tank flowing
toss your little water conditioner in there
you'll be ready for fish in no time talking about no time like now
taken from me your friend bartholomew from buffalo death row aquatics follow la
happy holiday hey chat next time we are in chat remind me to fire larry and
get rid of bartholomew look that guy's gotta go but listen hopefully you've learned something here
hopefully you know how to cycle your tank from this all-star panel at least give you some good
ideas so definitely go ahead and do it get your tank find your friend find an established tank
get an old filter and go ahead and get that tank cycled and ready for fish in no time you heard
it here first fishy biz aquatics professional aquatics with the amateur touch amateurs yep
get that professional look be sure to check me out on monday nights 9 p.m where i'm in the hot spot
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nothing else left to say but
the best stuff is the wet stuff and i'm out