Quickest way to cycle tanks - all your suggestions will help

Ok

Heres the deal - my 2 (360L) new tanks need to be cycled really quickly
I got the pumps running on sunday - and then added microbe-lift special blend
4 full cups the water was added on saturday tho

today took some of my old tank water (from the small 60's)
cos I read on the post for microbe-lift that you need to add ammonia
or else it dies..

I only added like 1L of water to each tank.. is this enough?
to keep the bacts alive? or is the bacts dead already..
and whats the best way to know if the bacts are alive?
without testing the nitrite or nitrate? which ever is the first thing
that comes from breaking down ammonia..

I guess I will take a water sample on thursday before i collect my fishes

 

@BBQ,
Dude,I don't know where you are getting your info but it seems you are missing some vital parts.You can't rush the cycling process,it takes from 4 weeks to 6 weeks to cycle a tank and sometimes up to 6 months.
To fish less cycle your tank you can add some fish food(a pinch) to your tank.The food degrades(rot),releases ammonia(first step in the cycle).The ammonia is converted to nitrite(second step) and the nitrite is converted to nitrate(final step).For all this to happen ......4 to 6 weeks.
The only other way to speed up the introduction of fish to the new tank is to run two filters in your tank,one new filter and one mature filter from another tank.

 

I still believe GFCI and Special Blend is the perfect combination to cycle a filter in one week. Have your fish in the tank, so the bacteria can multiply. Monitor your levels of ammonia etc regularly and maintain safe levels with water changes. You have to keep up with this only for a week, two to be safe.

Read about my experiment here:
Microbe-Lift - Page 9

 

@TomK - All due respect given, I haven't read the article yet (and it might have the answer to my question), but don't regular water changes during the cycle extend the cycle period even further? Or is it very small water changes?

 

I am not going to comment on the microbe-lift. I have used Seachems stability and I have cycled a tank in 2 weeks using it. I would not suggest doing it if you dont have good set of test kits.

I have to add, I always believed it was snake oil. Just like many other people. Till I had a couple of bad power outages! This forced me to try something like this and I was suprized at how well it worked. Not really as well as the bottle promised but well enough. My advice would be to follow @Rudi 's advice and just be patient. Only use it if you have too.

 

correct. do no water changes for the first 2 weeks

@BBQ add a handful of mature gravel from your other tank, the one that is alreadyy cycled to the new gravel in your new tank and you should be able to put fish in your new tank by the end of the week, perhaps even sooner. i have cycled many many tanks in this way and have not ever experienced new tank syndrome or any fish losses because of it.

 

Water change just big enough to keep parameters within acceptable limits. The idea is to keep all your fish in the tank, producing ample ammonia, so the bacteria can populate quickly. So the first day you would probably not do any WC, but from the second day, everyday for a week, depending on what your test readings is.

The secret is to use GFCI liberally on all the sponges in your filters, in conjunction with the special blend. I have done it a few times again with my canisters since that post and it works. When you cycle your tank with fish, this is exactly what you do in any case. The only difference is the end is in sight much sooner and it cost a bit more. The only 'con' (argument against) it is that Henk makes a bit more money and his head gets a bit bigger... ;-)

 

thanks all for the advise
Just saying thanks now but havent read all yet.. gota finish off some stuff first before i have a quick read