Cycle

[Ginge]

Once should be fine but you'll need to add ammonnia to keep the bacteria alive.

I dont htink i can get hold of it, if i cant then how long will the cycle take???

 

[seanc]

You could just pinely powder some flake food, as it will add some ammonia.
Without a source of a ammonia its pretty much impossible to cycle a tank.

 

[Ginge]

I will try my hardest to get some is there any other sourses of ammonia i can use?
Other than fish food

 

[seanc]

Pure ammonia is best.. B and Q Havant would be closest place to you for that I expect.

 

[Ginge]

Pure ammonia is best.. B and Q Havant would be closest place to you for that I expect.

Is there a special type i have to get.

 

[Ginge]

So i will do this:
"First add your ammonia to raise the level to 5 to 6 ppm. Now you simply wait on the ammonia to drop back to around 1 ppm. Spend the time researching the fish you like and see if they are compatible with each other, with your tap pH, tank size, etc.

Test daily to see what the ammonia reading is. There is no use to test for anything else. Nitrite and nitrate won’t be present until some ammonia has processed. Ammonia will raise your pH so no use to test it either. Once you see a drop in the ammonia, test for nitrite. There should be some present. When the ammonia drops back to about near zero (usually takes about a week), add enough to raise it back to about 3 to 4 ppm and begin testing the nitrite daily.

Every time the ammonia drops back to zero, raise it back up to 3 to 4 ppm and continue to check nitrites. The nitrite reading will go off the chart. Once the ammonia is dropping from around 4 ppm back to zero in 12 hours or less you have sufficient bacteria to handle the ammonia your fish load produces. Continue to add ammonia daily as you must feed the bacteria that have formed or they will begin to die off."

In this last sentence how long will i have to add it for??? After i have added this can i add fish as soon as the ammonia is 0 and nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 10 ph is 7.5-8.5

 

[piper]

Ginge Homebase sell ammonia for a few pies. Its in a white bottle down with the kitchen cleaners (isle 4 ). The bacteria feeds off amomonia so if you dont have any it cant live. As a last resort you could wee into your tank .

Your looking at another two weeks + to cycle once you start adding ammonia, as really you haven't started a real cycle yet

 

[Ginge]

Ginge Homebase sell ammonia for a few pies. Its in a white bottle down with the kitchen cleaners (isle 4 ). The bacteria feeds off amomonia so if you dont have any it cant live. As a last resort you could wee into your tank .

Your looking at another two weeks + to cycle once you start adding ammonia, as really you haven't started a real cycle yet

I try to look on the brite side more time to save up for cichlids.

 

[seanc]

At the end of the cycle you'll need to do one big water change (80-80%) to lower the ammonia before adding fish, and this has to be done very soon before adding fish to prevent losing bacteria.

 

[karlp]

Let me explain

Bio-Spira good

Nutrafin cycle bad



Nitrifying bacteria will die fast at room temperature without adequate oxygen and a source of ammonia. The first tank I set up I use Stress Zyme to help cycle the tank and it made virtually no difference to the large nitrite spike I got or the amount of time to cycle.

Bio-Spria is the only product that I know of that is sold refrigerated with a short sell-by date and actually meets it's claims.

If you want to shortcut your cycle without Bio-Spira, the only way I know that works is to get mature filter media from a friend or the LFS who sold you the tank and put it in your filter with a couple of small fish only.
The mature filter media will have the live bacteria on it, providing you get it into your setup quickly (de-chlorinated water) and get the fish in at the same time, so that there's ammonia for the bacteria to consume. Check the water and if you get an ammonia and nitrite spike, do water changes on each day until the nitrite goes back down to zero. The spikes should be very small and much less stressful than traditional fish cycling. I did this with my last tank and it took a week to cycle the tank. Incidentally you could also use this method to do a fishless 1 week cycle, by adding ammonia to the tank with the mature filter media instead of fish. Perhaps the best option.

Good luck!

 

[rdd1952]

Continue to add ammonia daily as you must feed the bacteria that have formed or they will begin to die off."

In this last sentence how long will i have to add it for??? After i have added this can i add fish as soon as the ammonia is 0 and nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 10 ph is 7.5-8.5

You will need to continue adding ammonia (or flakes if that's the way you end up going) until the nitrite spikes and then drops back to 0. Since you will be seeding the tank from your established tank, it shouldn't take too terribly long to cycle.

The problem with cycling a tank is getting the bacteria started at all. That was the topic of another thread in the Chit Chat recently on where the 1st bacteria comes from. Since you are adding bacteria via your sponge, you will have immediate bacteria to begin multiplying. I will say that you might need to squeeze the sponge into the new tank a second time once you start seeing nitrite present just to get a seed of the bacteria that process nitrite too.

 

[Ginge]

The ammonia i am getting in a minute as my parents got it when they went shopping i will add it to the tank to 5-6 ppm when that drops to around 1 i will add it to 3-4 ppm then keep doing this until the nitrite goes up loads then drops to 0 then i am ready to add fish??? Am i right??? If so how long doyou think it will take as i can add bacteria from my old filter spounges and the tank has been set up a week???

 

[Ginge]

OMG my mum is such a newb i asked her to get the ammonia from hombase(next to sainsburys) instead she goes in sainsburys fish store and gets ammoinia remover or some kind of c**p that looks cheap and unreliable so i cant even use that and comes home to tell me you cant even buy pure ammonia.

 

[rdd1952]

Technically, pure ammonia is a misnomer as "pure ammonia" is actually a gas. The better term is "clear ammonia", which is a mixture of ammonia and water with possibly some cheleating agents (they keep the the ammonia and water mixed) but no fragrances, surfactants or detergents. You won't find it at a fish store lthough I have often wondered why not. Definitely don't add teh ammonia remover as that is the opposite of what you want to do to cycle a tank. You can use those products and add fish right away but the tank will never cycle and you will be forced to use them from now on. If you ever stopped, your tank would start cycling and the levels would rise quickly putting all your fish at risk.

 

[Ginge]

Technically, pure ammonia is a misnomer as "pure ammonia" is actually a gas. The better term is "clear ammonia", which is a mixture of ammonia and water with possibly some cheleating agents (they keep the the ammonia and water mixed) but no fragrances, surfactants or detergents. You won't find it at a fish store lthough I have often wondered why not. Definitely don't add teh ammonia remover as that is the opposite of what you want to do to cycle a tank. You can use those products and add fish right away but the tank will never cycle and you will be forced to use them from now on. If you ever stopped, your tank would start cycling and the levels would rise quickly putting all your fish at risk.

What does this bit mean use what from now on???
ever stopped what???

P.s Couldn't i do a cylce with fish to get it ready for the cichlids??? Just turn the heater off???