Fish-Less Cycling W/media

[Camillemj]

Greetings,

I'm back into the fish world, having upgraded from 10 gallon tanks a few years ago to a 30 gallon tank (16" deep by 36" long by 12" width). I got the tank second hand, it came with filter, light, and heater. The filter is a cheap walmart hang on the back that holds two of the flossy/sponge filters side by side. Someday I'll upgrade but for now it is what I've got.

When I went to get a old filter from a friend (yay established media) he also gave me a bunch of Java fern. So for the last 13 days I've been using an API master freshwater testing kit to monitor my tank. Below are my stats.

Fishless Cycle
Date NO2 NO3 NH3/NH4+ pH
7-Feb 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.8
8-Feb 0.00 0.00 0.00 8.2
9-Feb 0.00 0.00 4.00
10-Feb 0.00 0.00 4.00
11-Feb
12-Feb 0.00 0.00 4.00
13-Feb 0.00 0.00 2.00
14-Feb 0.00 0.00 2.00
15-Feb 0.00 0.00 2.00
16-Feb 0.00 0.00 1.00
17-Feb 0.25 > 0 0.50
18-Feb 0.25 > 0 0.25 <<-Spiked 4ml NH3, after test>
19-Feb 5.00 5.00 2.00
20-Feb 5.00 10.00 0.25

water temp 78-80 F


So I'm not a super patience person and previously used to use the add fish method. My husband (a chemist) insists that I can wait and he has been doing my water tests. The real plants help, tonight I arranged them mixing the real & plastic plants for a more spread out look. What do you think? And any ideas of when I might be able to get fishies? I would definitely like to have danios(5 or 6) and perhaps 3 or 4 cories, other than that the tank will be a community tank.



By the way, I love this forum. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hello Camillemj nice to have you with us.

From the looks of things the last three days are showing a big increase in NitrItes whilst the Ammonia is not being used as quickly.

Is this correct? Your list is a bit confusing.

If i am reading it right then you are entering phase 2 of the cycle so congratulations are in order.

Can I suggest you turn up the heater so the water is 29c or 84f ish? This will help your bacteria floursh.

As for your fish stocking, danios would be ideal but are very lively fish & that can bother some tankmates. Corys should realy be kept in groups of 6 same species or more as they will feel far more secure, also your substrate looks a bit big & rough for them, they prefere sand as they can dig without it hurting thier bristles.

In my humble opinion you cant beat live plants. Java Fern is a great start as it is pretty much unkillable. Another good very pretty plant is Anubis that is grown attached to rock or wood, again very hardy.

Well done on your patience & keep up the good work.


~Tom~

 

[Camillemj]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply. I have my data in a spread sheet, how can I organized it to be less confusing? (is below better?)
Yes I agree the last few days have been exciting, I don't have last nights data(it's on the white board next to the tank) I'll do an update after tonights test.

And I'll increase the temp, the heater is set at 80 but the temp seems to hover around 78-80.

I love the gravel look, so I guess Corys are out.


Date - NitrIte - NitrAte - Ammonia

Feb 8 -- 0 --- 0 --- 0
Feb 9 -- 0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 10 --0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 11--
Feb 12 -- 0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 13 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 14 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 15 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 16 -- 0 --- 0 --- 1
Feb 17 -- 0.25 -- >0 -- 0.50
Feb 18 -- 0.25 -- >0 -- 0.25 <--spiked tank w/4ml ammonia after test>
Feb 19 -- 5.00 -- 5.00 -- 2.00
Feb 20 -- 5.00 -- 10.00 -- 0.25

 

[Camillemj]

Fish less cycle log

Date - NitrIte - NitrAte - Ammonia

Feb 8 -- 0 --- 0 --- 0
Feb 9 -- 0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 10 --0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 11--
Feb 12 -- 0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 13 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 14 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 15 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 16 -- 0 --- 0 --- 1
Feb 17 -- 0.25 -- >0 -- 0.50
Feb 18 -- 0.25 -- >0 -- 0.25 <--spiked tank w/4ml ammonia after test>
Feb 19 -- 5.00 -- 5.00 -- 2.00
Feb 20 -- 5.00 -- 10.0 -- 0.25

Update
Feb 21 -- 5.0 -- 10.0 -- 0.25 (pH = 7.4- 7.6
Feb 22 -- 5.0 -- 5.0 -- 0 <---spiked tank w/4ml ammonia after test>

Should the NitrAte go down?

 

[waterdrop]

Don't worry too much about the nitrate(NO3) as it can just confuse you. Everything looks fine you're ammonia keeps slowing going down (it'll get faster) and your nitrite has appeared and spiked, that's what you want. Just keep going and keeping good records. Check pH and post every now and then.

It most often takes 70 days or so but sometimes you get lucky and the whole thing can be as fast as 4 or 6 weeks. The nitrite spike stage may last a long time. Then it can take another long time waiting for nitrites to go down to zero within 12 hours (for a long time it's somewhere between 12 and 24 hours for this to happen, which is not fast enough.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Camillemj]

Thanks for the encouragement I'll keep posting.

 

[Camillemj]

Thanks for the encouragement I'll keep posting.

Tonights Update

NitrIte= 5 (the test is at max)
NitrAte = 5
Ammonia = .5

 

[Camillemj]

Fish less cycle log

Date - NitrIte - NitrAte - Ammonia

Feb 8 -- 0 --- 0 --- 0
Feb 9 -- 0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 10 --0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 11--
Feb 12 -- 0 --- 0 --- 4
Feb 13 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 14 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 15 -- 0 --- 0 --- 2
Feb 16 -- 0 --- 0 --- 1
Feb 17 -- 0.25 -- >0 -- 0.50
Feb 18 -- 0.25 -- >0 -- 0.25 <--spiked tank w/4ml ammonia after test>
Feb 19 -- 5.00 -- 5.00 -- 2.00
Feb 20 -- 5.00 -- 10.0 -- 0.25
Feb 21 -- 5.0 -- 10.0 -- 0.25 (pH = 7.4- 7.6)
Feb 22 -- 5.0 -- 5.0 -- 0 <---spiked tank w/4ml ammonia after test>

Upate

Feb 23 -- 5.0 -- 5.0 -- 0.50
Feb 24 -- 10.0 --5.0 -- 0.25
Feb 25 -- 0 ---- 0 ---- 0.25 <--spiked tank w/4ml ammonia after test> The tests were acting weird, it was late I didn't retest.
Feb 26 -- 5.0 -- 2.0 -- 1.00


Could the plants be affecting the nitrites?