ahardeay 826 Posted April 28, 2012 So I am trying t cycle an empty tank to have for my hospital/QT tank. It is 5.5 gal with an Aquaion 10 gal filter I have never done this and want to know if I'm on the right track, but I a having a hard time reading the colors... so here is a video and a pic, please help Oh my cat Smeagol was trying to help me too and my phone rang, quite comical. http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh545/alliH08/100_3531.jpg http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh545/alliH08/100_3532.jpg 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoldfishGraycee 16 Posted April 28, 2012 Hi! I am also cycling my tank right now and had some trouble figuring out the colors at some points as well. It has been suggested to stand the tubes upright on a piece of white paper and look down the tube from above to get the actual color, so maybe you could give that a try? As of right now, your colors look to me to be: Ammonia - .5ppm, Nitrates - 5ppm, Nitrites - hardest to tell for me, but between .5 & 1ppm? Hopefully some others will come along with some other suggestions soon. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kukana d 57 Posted April 28, 2012 How much ammonia are you adding at this point? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ninzah 377 Posted April 28, 2012 You want to cycle this filter to have on your hospital/qt tank, does this mean you already have a tank up and running? If so then you can simply put the filter on the tank to run alongside your main one and it'll pick up the bbs. You can then take it off when needed (but put fresh media in it when putting it back on the main tank each time to avoid contaminating the main tank) 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ahardeay 826 Posted April 28, 2012 I added old tank water to the 5.5 no ammonia drops. The levels have really changed in the 5.5 compared to my 55. I think I will run it along my regular filter, thanks for the suggestion. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ahardeay 826 Posted April 28, 2012 So I've run into a problem here it is: 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
koko 14,335 Posted April 28, 2012 On your tank. I would just use a Canister filter. It will be much easier than trying to hack away the rim of the tank 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ahardeay 826 Posted April 28, 2012 What is a good canister filter you would recommend for a 55 gallon thats not too expensive? And will that for sure be ok with the thick rim?Remember, college student budget LOL 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Smurfishy 26 Posted May 13, 2012 I think I replied to another post of yours with this vid in it of the rim. I had some problems with mine too. I used my snakes heat lamp to soften the plastic, then I easily cut off the excess plastic. My heat lamp consists of one of those bowl like clip on lamps $12 at walmart, and the bulb was $8 at walmart as well. Just a suggestion. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
