Fish tank cycling

Question
QUESTION: This is going to sound like a stupid question coming from someone who has had a fish tank or two over the years, but every fish tank that I have ever had I have never cycled but the fish have never died or been sick so I do not know how long it takes. Could you please tell me? I am the guy that was asking about building the 250-gallon tank. I just bought a tank that used to be set up for saltwater, i now have it set up for freshwater. It is a 38-gallon tank with coral gravel several pieces of live rock and several fake plant as well as a bubble stone and a bubble strip. It is filtered with an Emperor 400 and has a Stealth heater 120V-60Hz 150W. It has three 1 - 1.5 inch rosy reds in it right now swimming around as happy as can be. When I set it up, I added Tetra Aqua brand Aqua Safe water balancer and Petco brand bacteria to the tank before I put the rosy reds in there. So with the bacteria added and the fish in the tank how long do you think it would take for the tank to cycle so I can put my cichlids into it. The cichlids are almost to big for the 10-gallon tank that they're in since there are four of them and they are all 2 inches long. They need to be moved into the big tank as soon as possible because they have just started acting funny today. Please get back to me as soon as possible. Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Thomas:  There are no stupid questions.  This is actually a difficult question because there is no answer that is exact.  Each and every tank cycles differently.  Some cycle in 24 hours and others in a month or more.  

With your new tank the best way to figure cycle time is to test the water for its chemical properties.  If the chemical levels are within normal range then you can add fish. If they are not and are elevated then you have to wait until the chemical levels come back to normal.  The cycling process usually involves several chemical spikes before it settles into its norm.  so depending on its chemical levels it may or may not be ok to add the chiclids.  dave

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QUESTION: Is there a way to tell the chemical levels without test strips because I have none and can't afford to buy any. I do, however, have a hydrometer. Could I use that? Also is it normal for the tank to go all foggy during the cycle process or could that be due to either the live rocks, the coral gravel, or maybe overfeeding of the rosy reds that are in the tank right now. Also is there a way to get the Emperor 400 to quiet down?

ANSWER: Hi Thomas:  You can take your water to most aquarium stores and they will test it for you. Most stores do this for free.  You do not need a hydrometer nor will one help you. A gray fog is a good sign the tank is cycling... when the gray cloud clears up then the tank is ready.  Tell me why you have live rocks again in a freshwater tank???? To quiet the filter fill the tank so that the water does not run out of the filter and drop... the higher the water level the quieter the filter... dave

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QUESTION: I have live rocks in the freshwater tank because I was told cichlids like a high pH and live rocks raise the pH. Is this true? When I say live rock I am not talking about live coral.

Answer
Hi Thomas:  to maintain the proper pH for cichlids and there are many arguments as to what exactly the proper pH should be, use one pound of coral sand for each ten gallons of tank water.  The thing cichlids and pH is that there are no fast and set rules.  Fish have an internal organ that helps them to adjust to changes in pH.  Since these fish come from lakes in Africa you can imagine that the volume of water over the seasons changes and during those changes the pH is never constant.  Therein lies the clutch... the pH is never constant.  In aquarium water you can maintain a rigid pH and many fish keepers focus too much on maintaining a rigid pH when the fish are use to a pH that is varied.  The same argument is played out with light...during the seasonal changes the amount of light a fish gets in a day is never constant because the sun shifts a fraction each day... Just make sure that the tanks pH is somewhat near what your fish like... but do not get bogged down in trying to maintain a perfect 7.5 pH