Fishless Cycle.....opinions Needed

[latenightrob]

Hello to all, my name is Rob and I have been lurking for awhile and now I need some opinions. History—I have a 35g tank for about 10 years that I housed a few firebellied toads, firebellied newt and a single guppy (intended for food). I have wanted to make this tank into a fish tank for a long time, but the toad and newt haven’t made the journey into their next life. So, I got a 10g and relocated them to their new home 13 days ago. The 35g tank I emptied, cleaned out, and saved some gravel in a stocking and a water plant. I bought a heater, air stone, décor, and a fluvor 205 filter. I set the tank up and cranked on the filter.

Mistakes I made-
1. I didn’t de-chlorinate the water
2. I added way too much ammonia roughly ½ cup. Ammonia level was off the chart which capped off at 6ppm.

What I did was wait 5 days with no changes. No nitrite levels detected and ammonia didn’t appear to drop.
So, over the course of the next 4 days I did about a 90% water change using chlor-out and turning off filter during change. Ammonia level at the end of the 4 days was just slightly above 6ppm as the test strip was just a tad darker then the chart.
The next day (3 days ago) I took the filter media from my established 5g tank and washed it in the 35g tank water and then mounted the little filter (In a new filter housing) on the tank wall.
Two days ago I noticed the plant I left in was pretty much dead, so I went outside to my pond and grabbed a strain of anacaris and put that in.

Today (day 13) the ammonia level seemed to drop just slightly to maybe just below the 6ppm mark. Again I have a blank for nitrites.

So, I know I screwed up a bit and now have to wait even more time, but is there anything else I should do or not do? As I also make wine I already know about the torture of the wait game! I am just a little worried that I haven’t seen any activity on the nitrite front.

Thanks for listening and your opinions!!

Cheers

rob

 

[Amunet]

Well if the ammonia is going down, I'd take that as a good sign.
I'd just be pateint and you should see nitrites eventually.
Just gotta remember that it takes longer for some that others.
Right now I'm fishless cycling our 5gallon H/Q tank, and ammonia was almost maxed on the charts between 6-8ppm.
It took a week before I got any nitrite readings and now, the tank is moving along just fine with ammonia going to 0 within 24hrs from 6ppm

You could try turning the heat up some. From what I've heard people suggest, the bacteria grows more quickly in warmer water.
More aeration will also help the bacteria.

I would also check the pH as well. A very low pH (below 6.0) could possibly cause the bacteria to stall.

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I saw a couple things that you did that may have hindered the cycle from starting. When you raised the ammonia too high in the beginning, that would definitely be a problem. You need ammonia present but if there is too much, it seems to choke off what bacteria there may have been and nothing ever happens. You've fixed that problem though. Also, the gravel you saved wouldn't have mattered in the process as there would not be any significant amount of bacteria in it unless you had an under gravel filtr in the tank before.

Lowering the ammonia and moving the filter from the other tank should get things going. I would have thought you would see ammonia start dropping quicker though with the media transfer. The fact that ou don't have nitrite though could be because you moved media over and it's very possible that the bacteria on the filter you moved is processing nitrite as fast as it's being converted. Have you tested the nitrate to see if it is rising?

What temperature are do you have the tank set at? You need it in the upper 80s to low 90s. And as mentioned, check the pH. Nitrifying bacteria reproduce better at pH levels about 7.0. You will still get reproduction in the mid to upper 6s but you really don't want it getting down into the low 6s and below as reproduction seems to stop below about 6.0.

Last but not least, I would suggest getting a good liquid test it. Strips are so inaccurate and much more expensive too when you are testing as often as you do during a fishless cycle. You could easily go through 25 to 50 strips (actualy twice that many since you have to test for ammonia with one strip and nitrite, nitrate and the other stuff with a second 5-in-1 strip). That's close to $25 or $30 worth of strips and a API master kit around here only costs about $25 and will last you for a year or more.

 

[latenightrob]

I have the tank set at 84 degrees and I am not sure what the PH is exactly. I work in a hosptital and we use Nitrazine paper for urine ph, however, it says that all my tanks and tap water are about 6? The 5 gallon and indoor whiskey barrel pond that I have have been in use for years with out any problems.

My plan is to get the proper test kit with the droppers in the morning when I get off work. I will re-test with both and post 7.30.07.

thanks rob