'Late' water cycling

[galeoto]

Hey , as youve probably seen im a newbie with newts , ive had my newt for about 3-4 months and i never cycled my tank cause i was unaware of this . My newt seems to be healthy and well but i dont know if he'll have a full abundance of life cause i didnt do this . So would it be too late to cycle my tank now cause ive had him for about 4 months and if i were to , would i have to transfer him to another tank . Any info or suggestion will be appreciated . I change his water about like every 5 days by the way .

 

[jeff]

After 4 months I'd say it's already been established, unless you change out all the water every five days.

 

[galeoto]

Oh really it cycles itself over time ? Alrite thanks .

 

[ian]

Yes, it cycle by itself with that newt.
The old method of water cycling usually has to do with putting in an expensable fish in the fish tank. So that it will create enough waste to go through the nitrogen cycle. And you only risk a tiny little fish. (BTW, this is not very moral, the newest way is to dumb in ammonia in the water with no life it in.)

In your case, you used you newt to cycle the tank. You risked your newt life to do it. And it turned out it didnt' die. But I will suggest you to do cycle the next time you need to setup a new tank. Since I guess you will not want to risk you animal again.

 

[jeff]

I buy the liquid stuff at petstores that has all the starter bacteria in it. I set up a 30 gallon fishtank in one day useing that stuff. The current stuff I bought is just called "Cycle". So far no fish deaths or newt deaths in setting up new tanks, all though I have used whiteclouds in a tank for a while and then moving them out and mabye leaving one in. I also have snails which sort of help by breaking down missed food and waste into smaller little poopies.