Fish In Cycle Report

[chimera_786]

Hey guys, for those of you who have been replying to my posts, i would like to present reports. As you guys can remember, i have been persuing a fish in cycle and it has been going good. I have been regularly getting ammonia readings and have been regularly doing water changes (25%). Its been over a week now and have been curious about the nitrite readings. Im not getting any reading for the nitrites. So the question is: How long will it take before the ammonia drops to zero and the nitrites go up? I guess im still stuck in stage 1 as the bacterias responsible to the break down the ammonia arent there as yet. Any tips that can help speed up the process. Now i know i have the option of adding matured media, but i think every tank has its own unique culture and i dont want a mix and match.
Also, my glass has apparently gotten dirty from the inside. I first thought it was dirty water *which was kind of surprising as ive been preforming water changes*. Then i looked through another side of the aqaurium and saw the water a bit cleaner and that is what got me to consider that the glass might have gotten dirty from the inside. I was thinking that maybe getting those magnetic cleaners to clean it. Well, do provide input as this is my first aquarium and i dont want to mess it up.

 

[Mr Bliss]

The stuff that forms on your glass is a mix of algae and (harmless) bacterial biofilm. You can clean it with a sponge or one of those magnet thingies; the water may become cloudy for a while after you do this.

If you use a sponge, buy one from the LFS, or be careful to read the package before buying a regular kitchen sponge. Kitchen sponges sometimes have antibacterial chemicals added that can cause a disaster in your tank.

Mature filter media would really be the only way to speed up the process, aside from ensuring that the pH is good for the bacteria (they prefer alkaline water around pH 8, but for the sake of your fish I wouldn't start artificially raising it unless it's in the low 6's). You're right that each tank will probably develop its unique population of bacteria depending on the water parameters, but every imaginable bacterial species of the nitrogen cycle is likely to be represented in any mature filter. In a new tank the proportions of the different bacteria would likely change to match their new living conditions, but this would still be much faster than waiting for the bacteria to develop on their own.

 

[millie1]

sorry to hi-jack (rather than making another thread )!!

whats 'mature flter media'

is this the tank water out of an establised tank??

 

[ally86ozzy]

sorry to hi-jack (rather than making another thread )!!

whats 'mature flter media'

is this the tank water out of an establised tank??

mature filter media is the stuff u put in ur filter that bacteria grows on (idk the wurd 4 it), like some sponge from a sponge filter, and filter media, like those charcoal rocks (at least thats wut i hav), hav bacteria on them from the filter, this helps 2 speed up or finish the proccess of cycling, much easier than waiting a month or 2 for the cycle 2 complete.

 

[waterdrop]

To chimera and millie:

Mature media is literally the spong material or other filtration stuff in your filter -after- it has run in a tank (a non-empty tank, one that either has had fish or added-ammonia for some time.) This sponge (etc.) has had time for sticky bacterial biofilms to build up on it and thus will also have a lot of debris and dirt stuck to it. (millie, hope that answers your question about what it is!)

chimera, to answer your question, every tank *does not* have its own unique culture to worry about. The cultures for freshwater are quite similar thoughout the world and *any* freshwater mature media (say from a goldfish tank even, as well as tropical fish tanks) will do as the starter for speeding up the culturing process in your own new tropical fish filter!

Adding mature media is the only sure-fire way to "speed up" a cycle, but, other than fishkeepers using their own filters from multiple tanks of their own of course, its relatively rare that a beginner is able to find another hobbyist willing to give them mature media and have all the details of getting it turn out to go smoothly. TFF tries to help, with a place members can post obout needing it or offering theirs to others.

When you are forced to do a "fish-in" cycle, there's really not a lot you can do about optimizing the bacterial culturing process, because your first priority is to optimize everything for the fish. Fish don't usually like the higher temperatures that young bacterial cultures like. Fish don't usually like the higher pH that young bacterial cultures like. Its just that simple, and it really makes your actions very simple too: you just concentrate on measuring ammonia and nitrite with your liquid-based test kits and adjusting the frequency and size of your water changes to keep those as close to "zero" readings as possible. You do this usually for about 4 weeks and somewhere about that time you'll notice one morning that the readings are still zero and you don't need to change the water that morning. If the filter can then keep the zero readings for two days in a row without you changing the water, you know you are probably cycled and can just keep a close watch for the next week or so to confirm.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[chimera_786]

hey WD!! Thanks for the input man! ur a great help always!!!! Well it has only been a week since i started off with the fish in cycle. the temperature is at 74F which i think is a mutual ground with the fish and the bacteria. My pH is near neutral. So im not too worried about the conditions in which the bacterias are trying to develop. So basically, i should just wait out the process huh? I don't think i would be able to grab hold of any matured media. I do very frequent water changes and that keeps the toxin levels in check. Im not trying to hurry up the whole process but im kinda impatient and i really want my cycle to enter stage 2: Nitrites!...lol...oh and one more thing, the dirty glass slides of the tank. So basically its just a mixture of bio film and algae? Why do i have algae as i have no nitrates and the bio film...how do i remove it as i cant really see clearly from one side of the tank due to all the "coating". I don't want the water to get cloudy. Thanks!!!

 

[Mr Bliss]

Why do i have algae as i have no nitrates and the bio film...how do i remove it as i cant really see clearly from one side of the tank due to all the "coating". I don't want the water to get cloudy. Thanks!!!

Algae can feed off ammonia as well (and so can plants), as well as on nitrite. Ammonia is in fact the most efficient form of nitrogen for them, because ammonia molecules are what plants use in synthesizing their proteins. If they use nitrate, they have to convert it back to ammonia first, which costs them energy.

edit: you could wipe the glass while doing a water change. Just keep the syphon hose close to where you're cleaning the tank; that way you'll instantly get rid of most of the stuff that comes off the glass.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, all tanks get biofilms and algae. (Both bacteria and algae are quite universal in the world!) Often when beginners are trying to get their filter cycled, we recommend that they just "put up with" the ugly biofilms that get on things, because those biofilms represent just a little teensy-tiny bit of the beneficial bacteria (mostly the biofilms out in the tank are films from different bacteria, the "heterotrophic" ones, that are the ones who break the waste down into ammonia) and in the early stages you'd rather just have as many of the good guys multiplying as possible.

Its not a big deal though by any means, and I'd certainly reach in there with my little sponge (I just reach in there with my arm and a very small rough old aquarium sponge that fell off one of those glass cleaning sticks years ago, lol) and clean myself a nice oval window where I could watch my fish!

After you are cycled then its a whole different story. Then I recommend that on the weekends when you are not rushed, you do a nice, lenghty, gentle (don't want to shlosh and break the tank!) wipe down of all the interior glass to get any stray algae/biofilms off and a nice gentle exterior glass cleaning with cloth or paper towels, whatever. Do your interior glass cleaning and your finger cleaning of plant leaves (if there's algae on them) and remove your ornaments and clean them with tap water in the sink. Do all this right before you do your gravel vac and water change for the week and you'll get a very good system going.

chimera, with "fish-in" cycling, you may never really "see" stage two because you will be doing the necessary water changes and keeping things so close to zero. Its the fishless cycling people that see the two stages so clearly, because its ok for them to have the buildups in their tank. If you're using the API tests, you'll just keep seeing those hints of green for the ammonia and hints of purple for the nitrite test and then after a few weeks one day you'll notice a very clear yellow and blue respectively and you'll realize you got that despite overnight or many hours having gone by and you'll know you're ready for your "2-day qualifying test" where you see if the filter can do it for you for two days with no water changes.

"Why do I have algae?"... Well, isn't that the 64K$ question, lol. If you are new to the hobby you have to get used to algae being a normal thing in the world of aquariums. Those stunning crystal clear aquariums you see in the members pictures are both the result of many of them being experts of many years and also the fact that they probably snapped the picture right after they cleaned away any traces of algae, lol! I think a good way for beginners to think of algae is as a "skill set" that one can work on mastering after one has mastered the other 3 skill sets of the aquatic gardening world, those being light, fertilization and CO2.

~~waterdrop~~