Got a question on fishless-cycling a new 20-gal FW tank..

[OceanGirl]

Hi there everyone!

Well, I snuck another tank into the house. While I'm putting together my 150-gallon future reef, I decided to set up a 20 gallon freshwater tank so I could move some of the fish from my 10-gallon (my female platy has had 5 babies--and I need to separate the boys from the girls). I decided on this tank to try fishless cycling with ammonium chloride. I turned the temp up to 82 and started the ammonia dosing. Before I started I used Prime dechlorinator, which is also supposed to remove ammonia. I tested with a Salifert ammonia test kit and got a reading of 1.5 mg/l. I had read somewhere that if you use a dechlorinator that removes ammonia, you can get false readings on your tests, and that you should use an ammonia test kit that is salicylate based. Just for the heck of it I tested again with an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit-supposed to be salicylate based- and got a reading of 6 ppm ammonia. I was wondering what you guys thought about this. Should I use the Salifert kit of the AP kit?

[naperenterprise]

I vote for the Salifert kit.
What kind of filtration are you using on your new fresh water tank? Are you shutting down the 10?

You might want to transfer most of the water, and your biological filter from the 10 to the 20, and if you do this I think your bioload will kick in real quick!

Have fun...

[OceanGirl]

Thanks for the reply! No, I'm still keeping the 10 gallon up and running, I'm just moving some fish over to the new 20 gallon, since it's getting a bit crowded. The new tank is using an Aqueon 20 power filter, and the 10 is using a Penguin power filter, so I don't think the cartridge from the Penguin will fit in the Aqueon.
Thanks for the advice, I'll stick with the Salifert test kit!

[lcstorc]

I'm not really up on freshwater but what are you using as a biological filter? I would think you need something.

[naperenterprise]

I'm a fan of under gravel filters when it comes to fresh water.
Holds a great bio load... IMO

The penguin has a bio wheel, not too bad but unstable if something happens to it.

I'd put some porous rock in the tank, that will also hold a bio load just like live rock in Salt tanks.

[OceanGirl]

The Aqueon filter has a "Bio-Holster" grid in it which is supposed to be for biological filtration--I'm curious to see how it works. So far I've had good luck with the Penguin on my 10 gallon; ammonia and nitrites are always zero and nitrates have been less than 10ppm. Thanks for all the advice, guys! You're all a great help!