Cleaning a cycled tank

[fishyinpa]

Well if you read over on the care forum,I lost Fishy. He was in a 10 gallon cycled tank. So I am wondering what do I do with it now? Since its cycled,can I still tear it down. I dont want to lose the cycle. I always wanted to take out the yucky gravel,pain in the rear end lol. Guess I can now. I am deciding if I wanna try a sorority or just split it with two of my girls.

[ChristinaRoss]

first, sorry for your loss..........do you have a filter on this tank that has cartridges? they grow a bacteria colony in them thats what makes a cycled tank cycled. or the gravel has a colony as well. if i were you and i wanted to keep a tank cycled, id syphon the gravel and keep it in, do a water change as usual and then youd be able to add fish right away.

if you empty the tank and clean the gravel, youll be losing the beneficial bacteria, and the filter will be turned off, so id think the bacteria in it would die off as well. so, if you take the whole tank down, youll be starting over.

[ChristinaRoss]

you mentioned you dont like the gravel? so as an alternative, u can take out the gravel and do a quick water change but keep the filter cartridges, you can still have a cycled tank

[fishyinpa]

Yes it has an Aquaclear..something or other on it...has been running for well about 8 months now. Okie so just a water change and I can add my girls? I dont want to mess it up any lol. If I have to keep the gravel since it has beneficial bacteria as well,thats fine.

[ChristinaRoss]

as long as the other fish didnt die from an illness, your good to go, your cycled, its healthy and ready for some girls........woohoo

[fishyinpa]

Yeah he died mysteriously,but never showed signs of illness until this last week. But no idea what he had or why. I was thinking about a tank full of females,but scared....lol...Afraid Ill get a bunch and they wont get along,then gotta figure out what to do with them all! I dunno...plus dont really see many females around....

[ChristinaRoss]

well, you could always divide it and get 2 males?

[fishyinpa]

haha yeah....i could...but i could split it for my girls! My one girl is odd though,she is bigger than any other female I have seen. I just cant decide who to put in. Or I could split 3 ways....hmmm....be nice to have less tanks to worry bout.

[ChristinaRoss]

well if that means u have an extra tank leftover you can feel free to send it my way lol

[fishyinpa]

LOL! I have lots of extra tanks now. 2 glass ones and lots of the plastic ones. I know me though,Ill probably end up getting another male or female or heck both. Wish I could just keep them alive.