Cycling Finished - How Quick To Add Fish?

[SUBARU WRX]

My wifes new setup seems to have cycled. Been monitoring the levels daily and nitrite now 0, nitrate 10, ammonia 0 for 2 days running. I said you need to now do your big water change, add fish and then continue monitoring. My wife says do it at the weekend, should she wait that long or get things done asap?

 

[thegnu]

hi
you have stated nitrate twice, do you mean nitrite 0. how have you been adding the ammonia

 

[SUBARU WRX]

sorry - edit now to show nitrite and nitrate. Added Nurafin Aqua Cycle and Aqua Plus in water and been running with plants no fish since.

 

[thegnu]

Nurafin Aqua Cycle i guess is bacteria to kickstart the cycle? what is Aqua Plus?

 

[Arimus]

Aqua plus is a tap water conditioner/dechlorinator (Atleast that's what it says on the one in my hand )

 

[SUBARU WRX]

Aqua Plus is tap water conditioner. Both came with the tank kit setup inc filter, heater, stand etc. Yes Cycle is kickstart

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I used cycle at first and it kick starts well but you really need to be adding amonia (9.5%). fishless cycling

Has the amonia droped to 0 in 12 hours, if so keep feeding it until the weekend.

 

[Arimus]

Just me or have alot of us newbie's got Elite starter aquariums recently? (The one with a heater, filter, cycle, aqua plus, one stupid little bit of decor)

 

[SUBARU WRX]

Yep thats the one. Not using that silly decor. Not got any ammonia just the cycle stuff which we should have added more after the initial lot. I'll stick some of that in?

 

[thegnu]

sorry i couldn't reply last night, my pc kept going off line. the bacteria you have been putting in your tank (Nurafin Aqua Cycle) needs to be fed. fish do this when they breathe and by the waste they produce (ammonia) in a fishless cycle you have to add some form off ammonia. one way is by feeding flake food and the bacteria rot this down and it turns into ammonia which the bacteria can eat. put 4 flakes of food into your tank each day. on the 3rd day you should see small traces of ammonia when you test for it. test again on the 10th day and it should be gone and now test for nitrite. this should now be showing slightly. up the feed at this stage to 6 flakes for a further 3 days then add 3 fish and now you must start doing water changes at about 20% every 2 days.
this is only a guide. some tanks will act differently than others but done right you will not lose any fish. this can NOT be done as quick without the help of some form of filter-start

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah if you've not added any ammonia there's nothing to feed the bacteia so it's probably not cycled, it's more than likely died and you'd find if you added fish now then it would start a cycle with fish.

try adding ammonia, if it drops to 0 within 12 hrs then i'm wrong and you are cycled, if not then i'd advise you to read the pinned topic on fishless cycling and follow that process fully.

 

[SUBARU WRX]

Where do you buy ammonia from? The chemist?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Where do you buy ammonia from? The chemist?

yeah boots sell it amongst other places. make sure it's pure ammonia

 

[SUBARU WRX]

Not off the shelf, have to ask for it?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's a pinned topic around somewhere with details of where you can get it, have a search


found it for you

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=38840

should tell you what you need to know