Fishless Cycle Question

GoldLenny said:

You are already showing a nitrite reading. What is the highest nitrite reading you have had so far?

Increase your tesing to twice a day. 12 hours after adding your ammonia and 24 hours after adding your ammonia. You could be missing the spike.

What is the nitrate reading of your tap/source water? Have you done any PWC's (partial water changes) on the fishless cycle tank since starting?

Test the pH and KH in the tank. If the KH gets too low, it will cause a fishless cycle to stall.

If you are adding 4ppm of ammonia everyday and it is going down to .25ppm and then your nitrite reading is at 2ppm and you are getting a raising nitrate level, then your tank is partially cycled and it may just take a little while longer to grow the proper sized N-bacteria colonies to fully cycle the 4ppm ammonia to nitrates in 12 hours.

If you could post your daily test results or scan a copy to make an image which you could post, it would certainly be helpful.

Did you seed the filter media first? 3 weeks is a good time for the progress you are showing so far.

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GoldLenny said:

You could take a sample to your LFS or pet store and most will check things like this for free.

The new API FW Master Test Kit has the GH and KH tests. I'm sure there are still lots of the previous models out there. For goldfish, it's good to have KH test kit since KH is very important to goldfish.

It's harder to get a good read on what might be stalling your cycling since you added plants and then CO2.

If your tap/source water is moderately hard to hard, you could just do a 25% PWC which might add enough KH to your tank or you could add some baking soda to raise the KH. What size tank is your tank?

Since your nitrates are climbing, you certainly have at least a partial colony of the right bacteria growing. I would suspect a low KH as I've seen this as the culprit with fishless cycle stalls in the past but normally it's accompanied by a pH crash and you don't have that but ammonia has a very high pH so it's not always a true indicator.

What is your tap water baseline tests? Run your cold water for a minute. Then fill a gallon jug/bucket. Test for all of your tests. Post your numbers. Add your dechlor product. Wait 48 hours and test it again. Post your numbers.

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KiltedOne said:

GoldLenny said:

You could take a sample to your LFS or pet store and most will check things like this for free.

The new API FW Master Test Kit has the GH and KH tests. I'm sure there are still lots of the previous models out there. For goldfish, it's good to have KH test kit since KH is very important to goldfish.

It's harder to get a good read on what might be stalling your cycling since you added plants and then CO2.

If your tap/source water is moderately hard to hard, you could just do a 25% PWC which might add enough KH to your tank or you could add some baking soda to raise the KH. What size tank is your tank?

Since your nitrates are climbing, you certainly have at least a partial colony of the right bacteria growing. I would suspect a low KH as I've seen this as the culprit with fishless cycle stalls in the past but normally it's accompanied by a pH crash and you don't have that but ammonia has a very high pH so it's not always a true indicator.

What is your tap water baseline tests? Run your cold water for a minute. Then fill a gallon jug/bucket. Test for all of your tests. Post your numbers. Add your dechlor product. Wait 48 hours and test it again. Post your numbers.

Click to expand...

I will do,

My tapwater bseline test is the results at the top of my spreadsheet. it is only a 22ltr tank for my wee lass. How much Baking Soda do you recomend adding or should I wait till I get a GH & KH test kit first.

again thanks for the advice

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http/dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp

http/www.chelonia.org/Articles/waterchemistry.htm

GoldLenny said:

KiltedOne said:

GoldLenny said:

You could take a sample to your LFS or pet store and most will check things like this for free.

The new API FW Master Test Kit has the GH and KH tests. I'm sure there are still lots of the previous models out there. For goldfish, it's good to have KH test kit since KH is very important to goldfish.

It's harder to get a good read on what might be stalling your cycling since you added plants and then CO2.

If your tap/source water is moderately hard to hard, you could just do a 25% PWC which might add enough KH to your tank or you could add some baking soda to raise the KH. What size tank is your tank?

Since your nitrates are climbing, you certainly have at least a partial colony of the right bacteria growing. I would suspect a low KH as I've seen this as the culprit with fishless cycle stalls in the past but normally it's accompanied by a pH crash and you don't have that but ammonia has a very high pH so it's not always a true indicator.

What is your tap water baseline tests? Run your cold water for a minute. Then fill a gallon jug/bucket. Test for all of your tests. Post your numbers. Add your dechlor product. Wait 48 hours and test it again. Post your numbers.

Click to expand...

I will do,

My tapwater bseline test is the results at the top of my spreadsheet. it is only a 22ltr tank for my wee lass. How much Baking Soda do you recomend adding or should I wait till I get a GH & KH test kit first.

again thanks for the advice

Click to expand...

I would get the tank and tap tested for KH and GH first before dosing with Baking Soda. After you know your levels,... especially your tap water level, you can use this site to get proper dosing levels.
http/dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp

Here is more reading about ph, KH and GH to help you understand these important chemistry issues with your tank. http/www.chelonia.org/Articles/waterchemistry.htm

Don't go doing anything without checking things out here first but learning more about these water chemistry issues will help you in the long run.

As far as your baseline readings. Did you do this baseline as I explained? You have to run the cold water for a minute to get the stagnant water out of your home pipes. Then fill the jug, test, add dechlor, wait 48 hours and test again. Your tap may test with high pH right out the tap but then as the buffers (added by the utility) wear out, the pH can come down. If the pH is low out the tap, it could be high in CO2 and as the CO2 outgases, the pH goes up. You have to know these things to know what is happening to the water after you add it to your tank.

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GoldLenny said:

You need to dose the ammonia to 4-5ppm and then test the tank in 12 hours to make sure it is fully cycling the ammonia to nitrates in that time frame. At that point, you are fully cycled. You still have to dose the tank (feed the N-bacteria) every day until you are ready to add your fish. Then you would do your large 90% water change (dechlored first) and then acclimate your fish and add them to the tank. Do not let the N-bacteria go more than 4 hours without ammonia or they will begin to die off.

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