Fish-less Cycling My New Tank

[pandacichlid]

Noo im not planning on adding fish any time soon anyway!I read ur topic on your setting up, and with the Stability. After you added this, did you see the ammonia go down at all soon after?If it didnt go down straight away, how long did it take?(how bigs the tank??)It does indeed say you can add fish if the dosages are kept for a week, but I would have advised against that unless you checked your levels.Its not doing much for my ammonia levels atm, there still high!

I really want to put that media in the way of the water flow, but ther is just no space in that silly compartment!im gna try again tho, maybe squeeze the media really compact and bung it in.
I just checked the nitrite levels and there is still nothing so far ammonia's actually gone up to 3-4ppm, probably because of the decaying food. I also noticed something in the pipes going to the external filter..it looks like small round dots of bacteria or fungus..this is probably due to the fish food again. Is this going to harm the cycle to get going?? Im just tryna find out the cause of this slowness because my other tank cycled way quicker, with nitrates appearing after just 4 days, but then again this is a much bigger tank!!
Oh and the pH has also risen, its now around 7.6 on the checker card (thats all the card goes up to so maybe a bit higher),the ammonia does raise the pH tho dont it?

Anyone know what kinda bacteria/fungus cud be growin in there?and if its normal?i just dont want anything to mess up the cycling process

I wouldn't use stability like I did for anyone really, however it did probably speed things up. My ammonia got to zero about two weeks ago and nitrites to 0 about a week ago and it's been set up for about 6 weeks now. just let your filter get rid of your ammonia then it'll be the nitrites only to be cleared then.
It didn't go down too quickly no. My tank is three feet and a half. My filter is for a 4 foot tank so it's pretty decent. How many times do you test your water? I did mine once a week, maybe twice to see how the levels were.

 

[whatwonderfulfishrsoles]

Hi all. Im doing a fish less cycle, not using pure ammonia but fish food in a stocking which has been put into the tank, and a bit of seeded gravel from my previous established tank. Reason im using fish food is because couldnt find ammonia anywhere!Our local boots didnt have it, and I really wanted to get the cycle running this week.As well as this, Im using a bit of Seachem Stability as directed. Its supposed to be one of those biofilter speed-ups *everyone sighs lol* and it states like most others you can add fish within the week you start using it, not that im going to do this!Anyone had any experience with this one?With the filter im using, ive taken some of the new filter media, and placed it in the tank of my established tank, hoping to get it to build up with bacteria and get a jump start with it. My first question is when is it a good idea to move the filter media bak into my new tanks filter?Its been in there for about 5 days now. Secondly, ive tested the water parameters, and ive got an ammonia reading of 3-4ppm so far, but still no nitrites. The food has been in there since tuesday, and started to get a bit of ammonia reading on wednesday, and it reached this reading on thursday. Is that normal that theres no nitrite reading yet?? Also, i hope the seachem stuff isnt slowing the cycle down, which is why ive mentioned it. With the fishless cycle topics I was reading, most people get the ammonia up to about 5ppm, but you dont need to get to this level to start getting the bacteria starting to grow right, ie it will start growing for an ammonia level less than this? I also dont plan to stock my tank to full straight away, so dont want to get too much bacteria in there then having it all die off when I only put a few fish in. (tanks about 120litre/30gallons, temperature is at 31 degrees/88 fahrenheit, and air circulation is going like crazy)thanks guys!

Hi all. Im doing a fish less cycle, not using pure ammonia but fish food in a stocking which has been put into the tank, and a bit of seeded gravel from my previous established tank. Reason im using fish food is because couldnt find ammonia anywhere!Our local boots didnt have it, and I really wanted to get the cycle running this week.As well as this, Im using a bit of Seachem Stability as directed. Its supposed to be one of those biofilter speed-ups *everyone sighs lol* and it states like most others you can add fish within the week you start using it, not that im going to do this!Anyone had any experience with this one?With the filter im using, ive taken some of the new filter media, and placed it in the tank of my established tank, hoping to get it to build up with bacteria and get a jump start with it. My first question is when is it a good idea to move the filter media bak into my new tanks filter?Its been in there for about 5 days now. Secondly, ive tested the water parameters, and ive got an ammonia reading of 3-4ppm so far, but still no nitrites. The food has been in there since tuesday, and started to get a bit of ammonia reading on wednesday, and it reached this reading on thursday. Is that normal that theres no nitrite reading yet?? Also, i hope the seachem stuff isnt slowing the cycle down, which is why ive mentioned it. With the fishless cycle topics I was reading, most people get the ammonia up to about 5ppm, but you dont need to get to this level to start getting the bacteria starting to grow right, ie it will start growing for an ammonia level less than this? I also dont plan to stock my tank to full straight away, so dont want to get too much bacteria in there then having it all die off when I only put a few fish in. (tanks about 120litre/30gallons, temperature is at 31 degrees/88 fahrenheit, and air circulation is going like crazy)thanks guys!

Hi all. Im doing a fish less cycle, not using pure ammonia but fish food in a stocking which has been put into the tank, and a bit of seeded gravel from my previous established tank. Reason im using fish food is because couldnt find ammonia anywhere!Our local boots didnt have it, and I really wanted to get the cycle running this week.As well as this, Im using a bit of Seachem Stability as directed. Its supposed to be one of those biofilter speed-ups *everyone sighs lol* and it states like most others you can add fish within the week you start using it, not that im going to do this!Anyone had any experience with this one?With the filter im using, ive taken some of the new filter media, and placed it in the tank of my established tank, hoping to get it to build up with bacteria and get a jump start with it. My first question is when is it a good idea to move the filter media bak into my new tanks filter?Its been in there for about 5 days now. Secondly, ive tested the water parameters, and ive got an ammonia reading of 3-4ppm so far, but still no nitrites. The food has been in there since tuesday, and started to get a bit of ammonia reading on wednesday, and it reached this reading on thursday. Is that normal that theres no nitrite reading yet?? Also, i hope the seachem stuff isnt slowing the cycle down, which is why ive mentioned it. With the fishless cycle topics I was reading, most people get the ammonia up to about 5ppm, but you dont need to get to this level to start getting the bacteria starting to grow right, ie it will start growing for an ammonia level less than this? I also dont plan to stock my tank to full straight away, so dont want to get too much bacteria in there then having it all die off when I only put a few fish in. (tanks about 120litre/30gallons, temperature is at 31 degrees/88 fahrenheit, and air circulation is going like crazy)thanks guys!

Hi all. Im doing a fish less cycle, not using pure ammonia but fish food in a stocking which has been put into the tank, and a bit of seeded gravel from my previous established tank. Reason im using fish food is because couldnt find ammonia anywhere!Our local boots didnt have it, and I really wanted to get the cycle running this week.As well as this, Im using a bit of Seachem Stability as directed. Its supposed to be one of those biofilter speed-ups *everyone sighs lol* and it states like most others you can add fish within the week you start using it, not that im going to do this!Anyone had any experience with this one?With the filter im using, ive taken some of the new filter media, and placed it in the tank of my established tank, hoping to get it to build up with bacteria and get a jump start with it. My first question is when is it a good idea to move the filter media bak into my new tanks filter?Its been in there for about 5 days now. Secondly, ive tested the water parameters, and ive got an ammonia reading of 3-4ppm so far, but still no nitrites. The food has been in there since tuesday, and started to get a bit of ammonia reading on wednesday, and it reached this reading on thursday. Is that normal that theres no nitrite reading yet?? Also, i hope the seachem stuff isnt slowing the cycle down, which is why ive mentioned it. With the fishless cycle topics I was reading, most people get the ammonia up to about 5ppm, but you dont need to get to this level to start getting the bacteria starting to grow right, ie it will start growing for an ammonia level less than this? I also dont plan to stock my tank to full straight away, so dont want to get too much bacteria in there then having it all die off when I only put a few fish in. (tanks about 120litre/30gallons, temperature is at 31 degrees/88 fahrenheit, and air circulation is going like crazy)thanks guys!

 

[Ravi007]

ok i hope im seeing this rite, but the last post by someone just quoted something I wrote 4 times!!lol. is this normal?

 

[backtotropical]

whatwonderfulfishrsoles seems to have posted that by mistake i think.

 

[ae.felstead]

Boots household amonia, (£1.75 500ml)

 

[Ravi007]

tried my local boots and they dont have it, they dont even have a households cleaning section!its a decent size too.is the food method im using causing those wierd lumps of bacteria/fungus things in my pipes?is it harmful for the cycle?

 

[rdd1952]

Does using seeded gravel and filter materials actually work in speeding up cycling? Wouldn't the change of H20 in the new tank kill or stunt the bacteria? I thought for the bacteria to thrive and live it would have become accustomed to the H20 that it is in. Does anyone actually have any proof for this method working?

Gravel from another tank won't do anything to help a tank cycle unless it comes from a tank with an under gravel filter. Otherwise there is such a minute amount of bacteria in the gravel, it wouldn't help. Filter media on the other hand definitely helps. You are moving part of the colony over so you have immediately bacteria rather than it having to slowly develop. It has definitely been proven as most of the members here that have numerous tanks set all their new tanks up that way. Thy simply clone them off another tank.

tried my local boots and they dont have it, they dont even have a households cleaning section!its a decent size too.is the food method im using causing those wierd lumps of bacteria/fungus things in my pipes?is it harmful for the cycle?

That is the biggest problem with usiing fish food. If you plan to continue with that, I would suggest putting it in a bag of something and hanging it in the tank, that way it won't be all over everything making a mess. If the Boots didn't have it, try other grocery and home improvement/hardware stores. It will be in the cleaning section near the bleach and washing detergents.

 

[Ravi007]

When ive been using fish food, it has been in stockings!there hasnt been much leakage of the fish food flakes into the actual tank, of course it has decomposed and therefore broken down to ammonia..but these bacteria or fungus growing in the pipes isnt going to starve the beneficial bacteria of anything (eg oxygen) is it?it just looks like small dots, about 2-3mm in size, white and growing everywhere on the pipes leading in and out of the filter!atm my ammonia is still high, with still no sign on nitrites

 

[rdd1952]

Never seen the fungus your talking about before. It would be hard to say what effect it would have.

 

[Ravi007]

anyone ever see growth of bacteria or fungus while doing a fishless cycle with food?

 

[pandacichlid]

how is everything going? Not too good from what I see? I had something happen to the food, but that's normal cus there's nothing in there to eat it. I also had a snail in my tank before I added anything from plants I bought haha he's getting pretty decent sized now, but my puffer should eat him

 

[Lorna]

Ravi, head down to your local MaidenHead Aquatic store and buy a product called Soll Bactinettes. It is a live bacteria which speeds the cycling up. My tank was cycled in 10 days, with fish in it. Costs about 5.99 pounds this dose will do a tank for 100 ltres. You put the bacteria capsuals in your filter media. You have to have fish in the tank to feed this bacteria. Totally recommend this stuff. It does work.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Ravi007,

Is it flake food you are using? I used frozen squid to cycle my filter and had no problems at all. It didn't smell either. I've heard a few reports that flakes start to smell. If the fungus is worrying you, maybe you could try squid? Just a thought.

 

[Ravi007]

Alright guys, thanks for the huge response ive been getting!Well the cycle is now on its way, I finally started to get nitrite readings, and today theyve shot up even more!So it looks like the fish flake food in stocking method does work, but just really slow!I also managed to get some boots household ammonia at last, just need to work out how much to put in, to keep the ammonia levels to a point where the bacteria wont die due to starvation. The whole cycling thing requires a lot of patience from what ive learnt so far!!Also, the pipes going to and back from the filter have got to a point where there really dirty and cloudy with whatevers growing in it. Water is crystal clear tho. Should I leave it as is or clean them a bit?

With the live bacteria idea, I was really close to buying it, but then thought ive got to a point where ive spent time on it, so might as well carry on this way now!Certainly would consider that in the future tho!

 

[backtotropical]

OK, your tank is 120 litres, and ammonia should be raised to approx 5ppm (parts per million), so

120 Litres = 120,000ml

120,000ml / 1,000,000 x 5 = 0.6ml (desired ammonia level)

I think boots ammonia is 9.5% ammonia, so

0.6ml / 9.5 x 100 = 6.3ml (amount of ammonia solution to add to tank)

Hope this helps you.