How To Make Cycling Easier On A Goldfish? Options

[Hamad]

I was away from home for about a year and while I was away I had a tank set up there and before coming back I gave away all the fish except one that I brought with me. I didn't really calculate things when I decided to bring the poor oranda with me.

I have a 2 ft tank that I filled with water already and I'm going to add the heater and a filter soon [didn't decide yet, I have many filters around and not sure which one to pick...might end up using two sponge filters cause it's not a large set up and just one 5" fish].

Now I know that once I put everything together and have the fish released inside, the next step is waiting for ammonia to rise and the cycle process begin. I really love this fish and I don't want to loose it or have it stressed up because of cycling the tank. I don't know anyone that has a tank to keep the fish with him/her so it's stuck with me.

Is there anyway to make the tank's cycle go easy on the fish? Like perhaps changing 50% of the water daily? Or maybe anyone have other suggestions that would keep the fish comfortable till the aquarium cycles?

Thanks...

[HappyBuddha]

Sorry, I thot you already know how to cultivate green water. Unfortunately it's not easy to cultivate green water from scratch. Too many factors are involved and many bros here experienced failures but only suceeded after a few attempts. The easiest method is to get some (5% of your tank's volume should do) from someone and use it to seed your own tank.

I'd go with 50% daily water change. Can you get a SeaChem Ammonia Alert meter in UAE? It's a great little gadget that tells you the ammonia level round the clock... and it's pretty accurate. It beats going through the hassle of using a test kit to show the result.

Meanwhile maybe you can cycle another filter in a seperate tank using pellets to generate ammonia. The fish-less way to cycle a filter spares your prized oranda from going through the cycling process.