Cycling a New Tank - my test results for the first 13 days

[SilverB]

Hi Everyone

I started fishless cycling a 24 litre tank which I picked up for an emergency - its a plastic tank with basic light and a small fluval filter.

I've been running it now for 13 days and to cycle it I've been adding a pinch of fish flakes daily and dosing with API StressZyme - I threw in a couple of Evolution Aqua Pure Aquarium balls. I understand that the StressZyme and Pure balls have bacteria and enzyme in them which can help with cycling.

I haven't done any water changes and I've been running the light for 8 hours a day.

I've attached a little graph I've been logging my results on for Ammonia (Green) and Nitrites (Red). Its seems that my Ammonia stats have stayed level for the last 6 days while my nitrites and fluctuated. I understand that the expectation is for the ammonia to go down and the nitrites to go up in relation to this, until the nitrites eventually come down and Nitrates go up. I don't have a test kit for Nitrates but I've seen on the forum that these kits can be a bit hit and miss.

I was told in my aquatic store that the Ammonia ingesting bacteria take longer to reproduce compared to nitrates, so it might make sense that its taking longer for the readings to go down for ammonia.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on the readings? Are they as expected or do I need to do something to kick the ammonia down to get things progressing again?

You can see on day 4 I was finding it hard to tell if the Ammonia was at 0.2 or 0.5 (these test kit colours can be hard to judge if I'm honest - I have the API Ammonia, Nitrite and PH kit).

Would love any feedback - this is the first time I've fully tested and tracked a cycle (before I've filled it up and left it for 6 weeks without knowing that I should be adding some waste material - I think this is also why I've had unstable water parameters in my tank in the past).

 

[kwi]

Have you read the guide here on fishless cycling? It so you get a better understanding of what is going on, it also explains the whole Nitrogen cycle.
It's recomended to get ammonia to 3ppm.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

 

[SilverB]

Thanks both, much appreciated!

Not sure I have any pure form ammonia sources at home to dose the tank with, however. Wish I had jumped onto the forum two weeks ago now so I could have worked on this method I think I will have to stick with where I am, but not sure how I'm going to force it up to 3ppm, especially as I'm currently stuck down in 0.5ppm...

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ok, first of all, since this is a pretty small tank at 24 litres, going to call it a 5 gallon tank once there is substrate, plants and decor in there.

Now, the stocking options on a tank of this size is kind of limited to be entirely honest.

One, a Betta splenden, this sized tank is ideal for a Betta.

Two, shrimps and snails set up with live plants and wood except etc, can be pretty cool these little setups.

Three, a QT or treatment tank.

There are other limited choices but for me, that’s what I would do with that sized tank personally.

So once you let us know what you plan to stock in this tank, and what you plan to do if going with live plants or fake plants etc

Wecan then go to the next part of what the following steps we can recommend you to take going forwards.

 

[Retired Viking]

I agree with @Ch4rlie snails, shrimp and one betta is about it for a tank that size, most fish need a lot more room to swim so it would be like living in a closet for them. I use a 10 gallon for a QT tank. 10 gallon is even too small for many fish. A 24 litre is a nice tank to start with to see if your like having fish as pets. One thing to keep in mind is with so little water you need to be careful since it would not take much to mess up the chemistry of the water so make sure your hands are clean when you reach into the tank.

 

[Essjay]

make sure your hands are clean when you reach into the tank.

And that includes thoroughly rinsing soap off

 

[Shiverz]

Thanks both, much appreciated!

Not sure I have any pure form ammonia sources at home to dose the tank with, however. Wish I had jumped onto the forum two weeks ago now so I could have worked on this method I think I will have to stick with where I am, but not sure how I'm going to force it up to 3ppm, especially as I'm currently stuck down in 0.5ppm...

I struggled too when I cycled my tank using fish food method. Getting my ammonia levels to 1.5ppm seemed impossible let alone 3ppm, eventually though my tank cycled (yet I had the advantage of pre-used media to help give my cycle a boost). Keep doing what your doing and it will complete it's cycle in time.

All I can say is, be prepared for the mess. Once my tank had completed it's cycle, I did a full gravel vac, and went mental trying to get the smallest chunks of fish food out from nooks and cranny's, it seemed pointless because everytime I finished up my water change and gravel vac I'd see more crumbs of old food appear on the substrate. The mess actually caused an explosion of detritus worms in my tank, I found out my filter had got so much crap in it that the pull of water was almost non-existant and it made it a worm paradise. Though I cleaned the mess (not fully, I need my bacteria) and now the worms have subsided. Not that they're bad, I just found them unsightly.

So you say you have an emergency and thats why you got this tank? Is there anything we can help with? you also mentioned you normally wait 6 weeks when setting up new tanks, what fish do you have?

 

[SilverB]

Thanks everyone - super appreciate it.
The tank is for my betta - I set up the tank in a bit of an emergency as my prior tank was completely unstable and not a good place to live anymore. So really its just for him, I wouldn't be planning to stock anything else in there.

Thanks Shiverz as well, I toyed with the idea of doing a water change just to clean things up a bit, but worried that it might set me back on the cycling.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ok, since the tank is just for your betta, I would advise putting in 1ppm ammonia rather than 3ppm, the bio load from a single betta is not going to reach anywhere near 1ppm to be honest.

The fishless cycling method remains exactly the same, adjusting the dosages and ammonia / nitrite levels slightly for the process is all and will take roughly the same amount of time.

So if you want a source of ammonia, I would recommend going on website such as Amazon and getting a small bottle of Dr Tim’s ammonium chloride.

The method of using fish food to produce ammonia is not recommended because of several reasons, it’s difficult to predict exactly how much ammonia is going to be produced with fish food, it’s a messy method that makes bad water quality, then with bad water quality comes worms or mites that are unsightly and can be tricky to eradicate completely.

 

[SilverB]

Ok, since the tank is just for your betta, I would advise putting in 1ppm ammonia rather than 3ppm, the bio load from a single betta is not going to reach anywhere near 1ppm to be honest.

The fishless cycling method remains exactly the same, adjusting the dosages and ammonia / nitrite levels slightly for the process is all and will take roughly the same amount of time.

So if you want a source of ammonia, I would recommend going on website such as Amazon and getting a small bottle of Dr Tim’s ammonium chloride.

The method of using fish food to produce ammonia is not recommended because of several reasons, it’s difficult to predict exactly how much ammonia is going to be produced with fish food, it’s a messy method that makes bad water quality, then with bad water quality comes worms or mites that are unsightly and can be tricky to eradicate completely.

Thanks Ch4rlie - Dr Tim is already on his way!
I did a 50% water change this morning, stirring up the gravel so I could remove as much of the food debris as possible - I might do another one tomorrow to be on the safe side.

Thanks for your help everyone, I may repost here to update on progress. Excited to try the method with Dr Tim - I hadn't known about this before, the Aquatic centre just told me before to run the tank (not even to add waste!)

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yeah, have to say most LFS are not renowned for their knowledge or advice on fishkeeping despite catering to fishkeepers!!

This is what I call irony!