Fishless Cycling Advice

[Fishoftheday]

Hi,

I've taken the plunge and gotten my 1st tank, 125L, moderately planted with rock and driftwood. I've opted for a fishless cycle and I'm using fish flakes as my ammonia source. I've been adding a few pinches each day (unsure on how much I should or should not be using) and I've also used fluval biological enhancer to give myself a kick-start. Water isI've put a picture of my current water parameters (I'm now 7 days into the cycle) and I guess I'm after reassurance I'm on the right track, and if I've done or doing anything to delay the cycling process.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

 

[gwand]

The fish flakes are generating ammonia, and that is good. But you do not have a conversion of ammonia into nitrite despite the Fluval bio enhancer product. The conversion should begin soon. I prefer Tetra Safe Start over the fluval product. It works rapidly.

 

[Fishoftheday]

Perfect thanks for your reply. You know what it like starting out new, never sure if your doing it right or wrong!

 

[Mikeyboy123]

Your ammonia is on an upward curve. Soon (hopefully) the nitrite will do the same. Look out for a nitrite peak followed by a nitrite crash to zero. At that point, your ammonia should also be zero and you'll be cycled. You will probably have a pretty high nitrate level by then, so will need to dilute the nitrate with a water change before adding fish..

 

[Essjay]

Once the tank is cycled I would stock it slowly, one species at a time. There may be enough bacteria for a tankful of fish or there may not. Better to stock slowly than to risk ending up doing a fish-in cycle.
After you add the first fish, test for ammonia and nitrite every day. If they remain at zero, good. If they don't, you'll need to to daily water changes until they do. Once the levels have been zero for at least a week, you can add the next species, again testing every day afterwards.


One advantage of using ammonia from a bottle to cycle is that you know exactly how much has gone into the tank so you know when the cycle has finished that the tank has more than enough bacteria. With food, there's no way to know how much ammonia it has added, or how many bacteria have grown.

 

[Fishoftheday]

Thanks for all the help and advice, appreciated