cycling tank for octo

[brett]

would a 2-3 month cycled tank be too young for an octopus?

 

[joel_ang]

Nope, not at all, it should be ready by that time.

 

[Colin]

as long as the ammonia and nitrite readings are nil and that you have a similar bioload in the tank to the size of the octopus it will be fine

Keep doing tests daily for a few weeks after introduction though!

 

[brett]

ok now pne more question. do you think it would be ok to cycle my tank with a snowflake moray eel? would it be able to tolerate the 72 degree water?

 

[Colin]

its not so much the temp its the fact that when cycling the tank the water gets fairly toxic and potentially lethal... i certainly dont advise cycling with a moray which produces a lot of waste and even some people dont liek using live animals at all.

personally black mollies aclimatised to marine water work great

 

[brett]

the only reason i was thinking a moray would be because the waste output would be similiar to an octo as eels are dirtier than say a black molly or two. so the bacteria would get 'up to speed' just what i was thinking....

 

[Colin]

yeah but because its bigger than mollies the water would get toxic quick...

much better idea would be to start with two mollies and then add two more weekly to increase the bioload slowly until you have enoug of a bioload for your octo tank then leave it for approx 3 months.

As a rough guide an octo produces approx 3 times more ammonia than a fish of a similar mass

 

[brett]

al the rock and stuff is already cured/cycled from a previously established tank so i guess ill wait for th sand then pop a few molies in there then go wih the eel. thank you for your advice !! i love tonmo.com

 

[rcl]

What I do to make sure a tank can handle the appropriate bioload, is to add some pure ammonia to the tank every day. For instance I have a 60g hex that is cycling ATM and coming along nicely, but before I put anything in it I have been putting a small splash of ammonia in (maybe 5ml worth) every 2 or 3 days, after the levels reach 0 0 again. When you can add a fairly large amount and see it hit 0 0 the next day, then you can be completely confident that you can handle a bioload much greater than you will put in it.

I did a fishless cycle on my 120g freshwater this way adding 5mL of ammonia until I got readings of 0 0, and I added approximately 35 fish the first day and have never had the levels go above 0 0 still to this day. Very cool (whereas putting fish through ammonia is very uncool)

The ammonia must have no surfactants. If you shake the bottle it should not foam whatsoever. I got some from walmart if that helps, i could check exact ingredient list and brand when I get home if that helps you.