Ash's Fishless Cycle Diary

[Ashley1991]

Hey all i am setting up a second tank which i sabout 60 litres just waiting on the heater and ammonia to arrive (did not stock it in my local boots ) which should be monday or tuesday i hope

This tank will be to have female guppies in and maybe a bottom dweller not entirely decided on that yet and as i may breed them (again not fully decided ill decide while cycling) with my male guppies in my 190ish liter tank so say move one over to the 60 liter let him do his thing move him back would i need to lower my PH to give them the best chance??

Tap Water:
PH:7.4-7.8
Nitrate: 10 ppm

now for the other bits:
Filtatrion: DIY sponge filter (its a big sponge n all )
Lights: 1x 15" classica bulb cant remember the make it does not say it on the bulb and thinking of adding another
Heater: Aqua One 55 Watt

anything else you need to know??
This is my first fishless cycle so all help appreciated

Test Results:
day1: Ammonia: 5ppm added mature media to filter
day2: Ammonia: 5ppm
day3: Ammonia close to 4ppm
day4: missed testing
day5: tested early this morning was aorund 4 ppm going to test late on as well.
day5 night: between 2 and 4 ppm
day6: ammonia between 2 and 4 ppm
day7: added some anubias nana and java moss ammonia 4 ppm
day8: ammonia 4 ppm
day9: more mature media added and added water to top tank up so did not test
day 10: ammonia 4 ppm
day11: did not test
day12: ammonia 2 ppm nitrite is off the chart i must say its a very pretty pink lol topped ammonia up to 4-5ppm
day 13:Ammonia near 2 ppm nitrite off chart but closer to chart than yesterday nitrate 20 ppm
day 14: ammonia 2 ppm nitrite off chart nitrate 20 ppm
day 15: ammonia 2ppm nitrite off chart nitrate 20 ppm going to check ph tommorow
day 16: ammonia 2 ppm nitrite 0 nitrate 20 ppm ph under 6
day 17: afternoon did water change and does to around 3 or 4 ppm ammonia will check stats at usual time
day 18: night ph 7.2 (not as high as it hsould be will get baking soda) ammonia 4ppm nitrite .25 ppm nitrate 10ppm look slike its got going again
day 19: ammonia 2 ppm ntrite 1ppm nitrate 10ppm ph crashed again (think i added too much ammonia last night more than i thought i read lol) done a 50% water change and added no ammonia (should still be some in there)
day 20: ph crashed again no baking soda so left it
day 21: dosed 2 tespoons of bicaronate soda will check ph soon ph:8.2 ammonia .25ppm nitrite .25 ppm nitrate 20ppm dosing ammonia to around 4 ppm
day 22: ammonia 1 ppm nitrite off chart nitrate 40 ppm ph 8.0-8.2
day 23: ammonia dropped to 0 so added up to 4ppm (afternoon) night time test are as follows ammonia 2ppm nitrite off chart nitrate 40ppm ph between 8.2 and 8.4
day 24: afternoon ammonia 0 ppm nitrite off chart nitrate 40 ppm ph 8.2-8.4 adding ammonia up to 4ppm
day 25: ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0.50ppm nitrate 40 ppm ph 8.2 added ammonia up to 4 ppm
day 26: afternoon ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0.25 nitrate 40 ppm ph 8.0 ammonia up to 4 ppm
day 27: afternoon ammonia 0 ppm nitrite 0.50 (added a bit mroe ammonia than i should have last night) nitrate 80 ppm ammonia up to 4 ppm
day 28: afternoon ammonia 0 ppm nitrite 0 ppm nitrate 80 ppm ph 8.0 added ammonia up to 4ppm

 

[spectrum]

Sounds good
I would get another light because then you will be able to have far more varieties of plant (if you want plants). I would say don't meddle with the pH of your water because although they would prefer a slightly more acidic tank they would much rather have a stable pH than a fluctuating one that's closer to their ideal. Just out of interest how come you have such a small stocking level in your 195 liter?

 

[Ashley1991]

yeah im going to plant it a little bit so will definatly get another light

understood about the ph i did not want to mess with it if i did not have to

and im stocking my big tank very slowly i need to add my rummynose tetra to the list forgot to change it and my lfs only gets cockatoo cichlids in once every month/month and a half so im waiting on them im going to add to my rummynose tetra shoal next and add another 5 or so (have 5 now) just treating a ich problem at the minute its nearlly sorted now though

Ash

 

[Ashley1991]

Question

if i decide to breed the guppies and keep the fry in the 60 liter to grow up a bit would a group of pygmy cories be ok in there or will the just eat all the fry?

Ash

 

[Ashley1991]

anyone??

 

[Ashley1991]

and also should i add mature media at the start of the cycle or a couple of days after i started the cycle?

ash

 

[Ashley1991]

started today see top post for results

Ash

 

[spectrum]

Pygmy Cories will definitely not eat the fry The only problem they could cause is overstocking if you have too many guppy fry! Iw ould get about 6-10 of them.
Add the mature media at the start of your cycle.

 

[Ashley1991]

good point about the overstocking dont think i will get them maybe a few shrimp instead??

Ash

 

[spectrum]

Yeah, shrimp are great, 10 or so amano, cherry, bee shrimp etc... should be fine, their bioload is very small. (Tell me if I'm telling you stuff you already know)

 

[Ashley1991]

no no your helping me alot i have wanted shrimp for a while but not really read much into them i always like the look of them.

ill do some reading and see which is best to get

cheers

Ash

 

[Ashley1991]

sorry for the bump all but this kept getting further and further back and i could not find it xD was trying to avoid bumping if i could sorry

i know my testing has been a bit all over the place as well

ash

 

[OldMan47]

It looks like you are getting some good progress on your cycle. I would say the mature media has helped you quite a bit by the test results.

 

[Ashley1991]

the second lot of mature media was the filter floss from my tetratec 1200 which i replaced with carbon to remove some meds plus the filter floss was pretty clogged up so it needed replacing with something anyway im going to keep it in for a good while after my tank is cycled hiding behind my sponge filter because im guessing from how fast stuff started happening when i added that that it is the filter floss that is cycling my tank most lol

ash

 

[waterdrop]