Fishless Cycle Starting Today

[ian]

When have i said i haven't cycled tanks with ammonia?? I said i now silent cycle my tanks, NOW being the operative word in that statement. Silent cycles work better for me. I still don't see any other evidence than your 35 tanks though...no scientific evidence yet, you have been asked by numerous people to provide evidence, but you just don't do it. I see a pattern developing here don't you?

BTW you don't have to cycle a tank to know HOW to cycle a tank

mmmm 35 tanks...why am i finding it hard to believe this statement?


Now, you retreat to name calling IE referring to me as a child...I strongly suggest you come back either on here or in PM with solid evidence other than the written word as that for me is more childish than anything else. The op doesn't want thier thread spamming. Thank you.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I silent cycle my tanks. I shouldn't even be in this section lol

OMG not another method!

IMO silent cycles are better for those with some experience under their belts. Also, I do not think that having many methods of cycling written up in the beginner's section would be a good idea.

Someone who shows up here as a beginner are usually here because they are already confused, losing fish, overwhelmed, etc. They are looking for answers and then when they are given endless opinions, and well meaning advice, it's easy to become MORE overwhelmed, and then if they are directed to 4 or 5 methods of cycling...how can they get a good start? My personal experience, I was wayyyy more confused after coming here,temporarily while I sorted through a lot of advice and information. One good thing...it was easy to find the beginner section and get a good foundation.

Maybe some updates could be made, if someone would take the time to scientifically go through the process, but the cycling articles helped me as they were.

 

[JDs4me]

many thanks...I'd never even heard of the concept of cycling before finding this site; to me its important that I learn the 'why' as well as the 'how'! Glad I arrived before any problems began; the beginners section enabled me to see the advantages of joining up

 

[JDs4me]

did 40% water change for nitrite reduction, brought it down to 0.5ppm (no pink) - did this because I want to keep below 5ppm so that I can measure any changes in it.

NH3 was zero at 7am; added 2ml at 6.45pm and thoroughly stirred tank up...now measuring at 1ppm 30mins later

Will read at 7am tomorrow...feel happier now that I have a little more sense of purpose and understanding (I think)

BTW bought an excellent test tube brush off ebay for a couple of quid - super-clean API tubes!

 

[JDs4me]

at 7am, NH3 zero, so fair to say that the NH3 to NO2 in 12 hours is working based on a 1ppm NH3 dose? (based on 3 drops in NH3 to zero, measured over the last 3 days, each in a 12 hour period)

nitrites are a little pink so 1-2ppm I am judging based on my 0.5ppm last night...thankfully I can at least see the difference between the 0.5, 1 and 2ppm on the API nitrite scale, its after that that the colour blindness sets in, so will keep NO2 low so that I can recognise the change! I know some say that the water change to reduce NO2 is probably not necessary, but because I want to be able to identify changes I assume it is OK to do the water changes each time, which I am more than happy to do? Looking forward to trying the Salifert NO2 test which is on its way acc. to Amazon!

So NH3 to zero in 12 hours, with NO2 increasing seems to cover off that part of the cycle if I'm correct; now waiting for NO2 to start falling as well over a 12 hour timespan?

Dosing NH3 back to 1ppm tonight

thanks for overseeing, people!

 

[OldMan47]

JD, we are always ready to accept a proven method, backed up by the science. That would be best discussed in the scientific section, not here where it might confuse new fish keepers. The "silent cycle" is what you do with a tank like this one.

Since plants are nitrogen sponges, they treat nitrogen as fertilizer, no ammonia ever shows up in a tank like that. It is "silent". It is not an alternate cycling method, it another way to manage the nitrogen in a tank.

 

[FishFanatic04]

You would be doing those water changes if you were cycling fish-in, so doing them on a fishless cycle won't hurt anything at all. Fishless cycling means for most people that they don't HAVE to do the water changes all the time, until the very end.

 

[JDs4me]

JD, we are always ready to accept a proven method, backed up by the science. That would be best discussed in the scientific section, not here where it might confuse new fish keepers. The "silent cycle" is what you do with a tank like this one.

Since plants are nitrogen sponges, they treat nitrogen as fertilizer, no ammonia ever shows up in a tank like that. It is "silent". It is not an alternate cycling method, it another way to manage the nitrogen in a tank.

wow that looks amazing...probably not good for my plantless plans for this tank then! Thanks for explaining

You would be doing those water changes if you were cycling fish-in, so doing them on a fishless cycle won't hurt anything at all. Fishless cycling means for most people that they don't HAVE to do the water changes all the time, until the very end.

great, thanks for the confirmation

 

[JDs4me]

update...first added NH3 on 2nd april; 1st reduction in NH3 detected on 14th april with 12 hour removal noted from the following day. This morning 23rd april noticed a downward movement in NO2 over 24 hours, from 2ppm to 0.5-1 over that time Could this be the start of the end??

Am keeping the test tubes for NO2 tests as the colour seems to remain stable over 48 hours; in this way its easy for me to discern changes in strength of pink in the colour...

Not getting too excited yet though as this is only the first apparent drop, but fingers and everything else definitely crossed today!!

 

[JDs4me]

OK, I am seeing a colour change in NO2 tests, by comparing the previous one to it - I am seeing a definite colour change, with the test colour less pink and more blue, although still quite deep-coloured; this occurs between 14-22 hours after NH3 addition, the NH3 now zeroing within 12 hours.

I want to see if the NO2 continues to drop over the next 24 hours which means no addition of NH3, which in turn means no NH3 addition will have been made over a 48 hour period, so that I can detect further change in NO2 if it occurs...is this a good plan?

Obviously a long way to go; I just want to try to confirm that something is going on - also if levels of NO2 do fall more, I can stop the daily pre-NH3 water changes additions that have been occuring up to now in order that I can detect a change in NO2...

 

[JDs4me]

NO2 reading 0.25 at 10pm, so dropped to this level 36hrs after NH3 added...

Good to see positive movement and no need for further water changes hopefully! Dosing NH3 to 1ppm in the morning!

 

[FishFanatic04]

I always loved that part of cycling, when you finally see things happening. Goodluck and make sure to stay patient!

 

[JDs4me]

I always loved that part of cycling, when you finally see things happening. Goodluck and make sure to stay patient!

With you there! this morning NO2 0-0.25; 2ml NH3 in...see how long that lot takes!

 

[JDs4me]

OK, this morning 24hrs after NH3 added I have 0 NH3 and 0 NO2!!

Added 3ml NH3; +1ml over yesterday, see how that goes. Now have 1-2ppm NH3 reading

 

[Welshweeks]

Sweeeeeet, getting there matey. I had a slight ammonia spike and ended up doing a 70% water change at 22.00 last night