Cycling With Fish Food

[VanillaShake112]

I searched EVERYWHERE! for pure ammonia but out of all of the stores I couldn't find any. So I decided to use fish food. Here is what I have, you do the exact same things that you would have done with ammonia. I started earlier and I'm waiting to test it.

1) set up the tank with clean, dechlorinated water.

2) add your fish food until the ammonia get to 4 to 5 ppm.

3) Test your water every day, and only add enough fish food *once* per day to keep it at around 4-5 ppm.

(this step is continued anywhere from 3-8 weeks)

4) Once the bacteria are able to go from4 or 5 ppm of ammonia back to zero ammonia and nitrite in about 10 to 12 hours. You are officially cycled. Continue to add ammonia daily as you must feed the bacteria that have formed or they will begin to die off.(until you have fish)

 

[VanillaShake112]

Anyone have any idea on how much to add? I added some last night but it wasn't nearly enough as today the ammonia is onl 0.25ppm. Should I just add it until it reaches 4-5ppm?

Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

You don't have to add fish food each day. Normally it breaks down over the course of a few days and it continues to release ammonia during that time. Fish pellets work well. You should syphon out the old food every couple of days so it doesn't encourage fungus to grow on the rotting food.

You only want to add a small amount of fish food and test a few hours later. The fish food will break down at different levels and can take a little while before the ammonia levels go up.

The rest of your info is fine

 

[AngelOfDeath]

http/www.waterlife.co.uk/seaquariums/biomature.htm

Try to get a bottle of this - I used it to cycle both my tanks, it adds nitrite straight into the tank, only takes around 2 -3 weeks to cycle with this bad boy

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah the difficulty with using fish food is that it doesn't mix into the water instantly to give an ammonia reading as pure ammonia would. it breaks down over a few days so you can't really tell how much to use.

what i would say is that it'll break down quicker if it's got a higher surface area, so crumble the food up into teeny pieces and that should disperse into the water quicker making it easier to control the amounts.

 

[geo7x]

I don't really think that having the ammonia dosings exactly consistent is that much of a big deal as when the fish are in the tank they don't produce a consistent amount of ammonia do they?

As long as you make sure that it does drop from 4-5ppm to 0 in the required amount of time (can't remember now) at the end of the cycle then it won't matter very much.

 

[pastabake]

You really don't need to add 5ppm ... you would have no problems if you added the same amount of food that you would give to the fish on a daily basis.

I had seen somewhere on this site that Wal-Mart sell an ammonia product that you can use for cycling ... have a search on the site ... there must be a Wal-Mart near you I thought they were every mile or so in the states

 

[VanillaShake112]

I added the crumbled fish food today, and flakes the night before and the ammonia is stil 0.25 ppm. So then I should just wait until it reads 4-5ppm and then count that as the starting point of the cycle?

~Thanks for the link angel.o.d.! But I already started with the fish food.

 

[geo7x]

Why do you need to determine the start of the cycle? It's the end of the cycle that's the important part

 

[Colin_T]

the cycle starts when water is added to the tank. Once the water is there and moving around bacteria start to develop in it regardless of what else happens.

 

[geo7x]

the cycle starts when water is added to the tank. Once the water is there and moving around bacteria start to develop in it regardless of what else happens.

How does nitrifying bacteria develop with 0 ammonia present?

 

[lil.guppy]

I used to use one golfish to cycle my new tanks. I have been doing it for years with no problems. You just have to find a home for the goldfish when your done. It usually took me 1-1.5 weeks.

 

[Colin_T]

How does nitrifying bacteria develop with 0 ammonia present?

little bits of dirt and dust from the atmosphere land on the water and break down. Also there is usually some dirt left on the gravel that doesn't get washed off. It isn't a lot but over time the different things fall in the water and the bacteria develop and break it down.
A better question is how does the bacteria get into a clean tank to start with, especially with chlorinated water

 

[waterdrop]

How does nitrifying bacteria develop with 0 ammonia present?

little bits of dirt and dust from the atmosphere land on the water and break down. Also there is usually some dirt left on the gravel that doesn't get washed off. It isn't a lot but over time the different things fall in the water and the bacteria develop and break it down.
A better question is how does the bacteria get into a clean tank to start with, especially with chlorinated water

That was one of fun things about my own long fishless cycling session - I used a bare tank, no gravel, no nothing except the new filter & equipment, chloraminated water. So, NO introductions of good bacteria via any bacteria starter products or from gravel or plants or anything.

Sure enough, from somewhere out there in the air or water, those two good bacterial species (whatever they are, since the species names remain probably unknown) got into my tank and multiplied. I'd love to know where they came from

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Colin_T]

the bacteria are called Nitrosomonas sp & Nitrobacteria sp. Originally it was thought there were only the two species involved. Now they believe there is up to 6 or more species of bacteria involved in the break down of ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.