Cycling - start again or be patient?

[Rebecca999]

Hello, thanks for adding me.

A novice here trying to fishless cycle and have only just found the great guides on here.

Am 18 days in and have ammonia, nitrites and nitrates all reading 0, pH 8.0, have only just gotten my test kit today.
Initially added some liquid ammonia but half the amount recommended on the bottle as per the local aquarium guy, and Seachem Stability every day.
Have plants and some snails that have hitched a ride, and some algae.

Should I start from scratch or wait a little to see if the nitrites/nitrates come up?
If I add ammonia now will it kill the plants and snails?
Keep going with the Stability or wait?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[yzaylakeepsfish]

Hello, thanks for adding me.

A novice here trying to fishless cycle and have only just found the great guides on here.

Am 18 days in and have ammonia, nitrites and nitrates all reading 0, pH 8.0, have only just gotten my test kit today.
Initially added some liquid ammonia but half the amount recommended on the bottle as per the local aquarium guy, and Seachem Stability every day.
Have plants and some snails that have hitched a ride, and some algae.

Should I start from scratch or wait a little to see if the nitrites/nitrates come up?
If I add ammonia now will it kill the plants and snails?
Keep going with the Stability or wait?

Thanks for your advice.

Your ammonia, Nitrites and nitrates should not be zero after 18 days. Especially if you have snails, because they poop a lot.

I think it's because you didn't feed the snails. Snails don't really eat algae, they eat rotting matter. Surprised that you didn't realized your snails dying as well, as 18 days is too long to go without food even for snails.

Try adding some flake food and stir the water until the flake foods sink to the bottom of the tank. They will start eating it immediately, even if it did not rot.

 

[Fishfunn]

I find snails also like to eat sinking wafers that are designed for bottom feeders like Cory's, etc.

 

[AJ356]

How many plants are in there? Do you have a picture of your set up?

 

[Rebecca999]

Hi, Photo attached, 15 gallon Fluval Flex.
Think I’ve received bad advice from the aquarium shop, was told an initial Ammonium dose was enough, assume my plants used it up before nitrites established?
Have started again and seem to headed in the right direction I hope - Amm Day 1 1.5, now Day 3 1.0, nitrites day 1 0.25, now 1.
Do you think I could just jump on to the cycling instructions on this forum as if it were day 7, 10 etc.? Might need to bump up my ammonia dose a little?
Really appreciate any advice, thanks!

 

[AJ356]

With that many plants, you could probably just start adding fish now. How do you plan to stock the tank fish wise?

I think (not 100%) the fishless cycle guide on here is based on a non planted set up. Unless there are two guides.

 

[Rebecca999]

Hi, Photo attached, 15 gallon Fluval Flex.
Think I’ve received bad advice from the aquarium shop, was told an initial Ammonium dose was enough, assume my plants used it up before nitrites established?
Have started again and seem to headed in the right direction I hope - Amm Day 1 1.5, now Day 3 1.0, nitrites day 1 0.25, now 1.
Do you think I could just jump on to the cycling instructions on this forum as if it were day 7, 10 etc.? Might need to bump up my ammonia dose a little?
Really appreciate any advice, thanks!

Correction sorry, amm now 1, n

With that many plants, you could probably just start adding fish now. How do you plan to stock the tank fish wise?

I think (not 100%) the fishless cycle guide on here is based on a non planted set up. Unless there are tw

Ah okay, thanks. I was going to start with about 6 tetras to see what happens.

 

[yzaylakeepsfish]

Did feeding the snails increased the nitrites?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Welcome! Search up "silent cycle" on the forum. I agree that with that many plants, you could probably add your school of tetras now. What kind of tetras are you looking at? 15g is a little small for some kinds, but a nice school of embers would look lovely in there. Don't get just six. 10 is good; fifteen or 20 is better.

Anyway. Your plants are probably using up the ammonia. And bad advice from pet store employees is almost a cliche in the hobby. Ask around on here--we'll steer you the right direction.

 

[Rebecca999]

Did feeding the snails increased the nitrites?

I think so, hard to tell as my attempts at cycling have not been textbook!

 

[Rebecca999]

Welcome! Search up "silent cycle" on the forum. I agree that with that many plants, you could probably add your school of tetras now. What kind of tetras are you looking at? 15g is a little small for some kinds, but a nice school of embers would look lovely in there. Don't get just six. 10 is good; fifteen or 20 is better.

Anyway. Your plants are probably using up the ammonia. And bad advice from pet store employees is almost a cliche in the hobby. Ask around on here--we'll steer you the right direction.

Thanks for the great advice. I'll def get a few more then, the embers look nice. Have read the max no. of fish should be 1cm per 1L of water, does this hold true? Also looking at other beginner fish such as guppies and Pygmy gouramis down the track.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Thanks for the great advice. I'll def get a few more then, the embers look nice. Have read the max no. of fish should be 1cm per 1L of water, does this hold true? Also looking at other beginner fish such as guppies and Pygmy gouramis down the track.

Nah, that 1 cm per liter or 1 inch per gallon rule is complete nonsense. The trouble is that fish need to be measured by the amount of space they take up, their activity level, and the amount of food they consume/waste they produce. You could easily keep ten 1" microrasboras in a well-set-up 10 gallon tank. But a 10" goldfish or oscar would be a disaster. See the problem?

There's a site called aqadvisor.com. It isn't perfect, and their information is incomplete--you'd still need to research your individual species. But it does give you a good idea of what can work in your size of tank.

I'm not a huge guppy fan, but they can work. They tend to like harder water, and tetras and gouramis tend to like softer, so you might need to find out your water hardness.

 

[Rebecca999]

Will look it up, thanks again!

 

[Essjay]

The trouble with the 1 cm per litre or 1 inch per gallon rule is that it's never quoted fully. It should go on saying ".......of fish which are pencil shaped and never grow more than 3 inched/7.5 cm long"

The rule was never intended to apply to fish over 3 inches/7.5 cm or to fish with deep bodies - some smallish tetras have deep bodies so the rule does not apply to them.