Doodleing Fishless Cycle

[doodleing]

260Ltr Jewel bow fronted 4Ft tank running a Fluval 305 external Filter.
Tank is completly empty.

Tap water Amm 0 / PH 7.4 / NI 0 / NA 20
Day 1 Amm 4/8, Temp 24, 13 ml of Ammonia added
Day 2 Amm 4/8, Temp 25
Day 3 Amm 4/8, Temp 26
Day 4 Amm 4/8, Temp 26
Day 5 Amm 4, Temp 27
Day 6 Amm 4, Temp 27, PH 7.4
Day 7 Amm 4, Temp 28
Day 8 Amm 4, Temp 28
Day 9 Amm 0, Temp 28, PH 7.4, NI Sky high, 11 ml of Ammonia added
Day 10 Amm 4, Temp 29, Ph 7.4
Day 11 Amm 0, Temp 28, NI Sky high, 11 ml of Ammonia added
Day 12 Amm 0.50, Temp 28, 9 ml of Ammonia added Tested 3 hours earlier
Day 13 Amm 0.50, Temp 28, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 14 Amm 0.50, Temp 28 , NI 0.50, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 15 Amm 0.50, Temp 28, Ph 7.4, NI Sky high, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 16 Amm 0, Temp 28, 9 ml of Ammonia added, Back to normal test times
Day 17 Amm 0, Temp 28, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 18 Amm 0.50, Temp 28 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 19 Amm 0.50, Temp 30, NI 0.50, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 20 Amm 0, Temp 30,Ph 7.4, NI 0.50, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0
Day 21 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 0.50, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 22 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 0.25, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 23 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 24 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 25 Amm 0, Temp 30, Ph 7.4 NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0
Day 26 Amm 0, Temp 29, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 27 Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4,NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0
Day 28 Amm .50, Temp 29, NI 0, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 29 Amm 2/4, Temp 29, Ph Crashed, NI 0, NA 20
Day 30 Amm 0, Temp 28, Ph 7.8, NI 0, 10 ml of Ammonia added
Day 31 Amm 0, Temp 28, Ph 7.4, NI 0.25, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 32 Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added, NA 40/80
Day 33 12 Hour test, Amm 1, NI 0.25, No Ammonia added
Day 33 Amm 0, Temp 28, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 34 Amm 0, Temp 28, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 35 Amm 0, Temp 28, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 36 12 Hour test, Amm 0.25, NI 0.25
Day 36 Amm 0, Temp 28, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 37 Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 38 12 Hour test, Amm 0.25, NI 0.25
Day 38 Amm 0, Temp 29, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 39 12 Hour test, Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4, NI 1, Added sand substrate with 10% water change
Day 39 Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 40 12 Hour test, Amm 0.25, NI 0.25
Day 40 Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4, NI 0, NA 40, 9 ml of Ammonia added
Day 41 12 Hour test Amm 0.25, NI 0.25
Day 41 Amm 0.25, Temp 29, Ph 7.4, NI 0, 8 ml of Ammonia added

 

[Gelt]

did you use any mature media and seed it to your 305?

I did and i saw significant drop in my Ammonia after 9 days.

G

 

[Skins]

Hello,
Thats fine, its on average 7-10days before you start to see your ammonia getting processed and it will take twice as long before you start to see your nitrItes getting processed.

Looking good , Keith.

 

[doodleing]

Hi, no I haven't used any mature media, everything is second hand (e-bay) and has been cleaned within an inch of it's life with a mild Milton solution and rinsed.

 

[doodleing]

Day 19 Edited first post with info.

Have had a second drop of NI to 0.50 guess I'll have to wait a little longer for it to reach 0.
Should i be checking my NA or doesn't it matter for now?

 

[doodleing]

Day 20 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 0.50, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0
Day 21 Amm 0, Temp 30, Ni 0.50, 7 ml of Ammonia added

How often does everyone else test for Nitrate and at what level do you recommend a water change?

 

[doodleing]

Day 22 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 0.25, 7 ml of Ammonia added

My lowest Nitrite reading yet.
How long to wait now hopefully not long !

 

[doodleing]

Day 23 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 24 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 25 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0

I hope'd my Nitrite was on it's way to 0, but it's changed it's mind and gone back up to 1 . Any thoughts about why this may be?

 

[mishka83]

Day 23 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 24 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 25 Amm 0, Temp 30, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0

I hope'd my Nitrite was on it's way to 0, but it's changed it's mind and gone back up to 1 . Any thoughts about why this may be?

What is your pH doing?

 

[doodleing]

PH holding steady at 7.4

 

[waterdrop]

Almost all fishless cycles seem to have some aspect that is slower for that individual case than it might seem for many others. Up until now your log seems to have gone more rapidly than most but now you've hit a slow point. Doesn't sound like you're doing anything particularly wrong. The usual things can be tried.. complete down to the gravel water change with conditioned and temp-matched refill and then a re-charge of the correct ammonia concentration, possibly an addition of bicarb from the grocery to get closer to pH 8.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[CrazyAirborne]

patience is the key!

 

[Lufbramatt]

on my cycle the nitite didnt do anything until day 36 then it pretty much went from 4ppm to 0ppm overnight. So wouldnt get disheartened yet!

 

[doodleing]

Day 26 Amm 0, Temp 29, NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added
Day 27 Amm 0, Temp 29, Ph 7.4,NI 1, 7 ml of Ammonia added, NA 5.0

Still a sit and wait game


At least it not getting worse

 

[waterdrop]

So every 24 hours it's taking several ppm of ammonia and processing the ammonia down to zero ppm and the nitrite down to 1ppm, right? That's good, at least it is doing something. You are reporting 5ppm of nitrate, which is not very high. I assume your nitrate test could go higher and that you are shaking the heck out of your nitrate testing reagents at the appropriate times during the test.

If your pH is holding steady at 7.4 and your nitrates are not very high then there is no reason to recommend a water change yet. The fishless cycle may be a bit slower at this low pH of 7.4 than it would be at 8 but I'm not sure it would make all that much difference, so I'd just keep testing and logging at this point.

~~waterdrop~~