Fishless Cycling, Cycling, Cycled!

[lukejwindsor]

Thanks for all the help with my fishless cycle so far guys. Just wanted to do an update, and check everything is progressing as it should.

Stats: 240L/63G Rio, sand substrate, 6 pieces of mopani, about 15 plants, 25C, going for amazon inspired.

Been cycling for a week and current readings are:

Amm 0.5 (bump up to 2.5 each day)
Nitrite 3.3 or higher (as high reading as i can get on my kit - presume i'm in the spike)
Nitrates 110 or higher (as high reading as i can get on my kit)

So, I just keep topping up my ammonia to 2.5 until my Nitrite drops to zero, and then keep going until the nitrites drop to zero within an hour?

Also, will all the nitrates in my water have any effect on my plants and/or friendly bacteria?

And thinking ahead to my stocking, I plan to introduce about 10 bleeding heart tetras, couple angels and some corys. Sound good?

Thanks for continued help everyone.

 

[rabbut]

Hi,

You wnat to wait till all that ammonia is processed in 12 hours, then bump it up to 5mg/l, and wait again for it to process it all in 12 hours. It will be quicker the second time, as the bacteria are alreay there. Once 5mg/l is being processed in 12hours, you are fully cycled.

I'm sure you are aware, but I'll clarify for anyone reading this that is not formiliar with fishless cycling. By processed, I mean ammonia and nitrIte are dropping to zero and nitrAte is rising steadily. NitrAte is unlikely to be processed in an aquarium, and the build up of this chemical is one of many reasons for the weekly water changes.

NitrAte is not damaging to filter bacteria. I remember reading somewhere that plant growth stagnates at 50mg/l, and that algea can become a problem in planted tanks, above this value for that reason. In my experience however, I have found plant growth to be fine with nitrates in excess of 100mg/l before.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[waterdrop]

You should be bumping your ammonia up to 3 to 4ppm each time and then seeing how many hours it takes the ammonia to drop to one or zero. Read rdd1952's pinned article carefully. Sounds like your bacteria are coming along though.

Personally I would think about introducing the tetras and seeing how the tank settles down and then when everything seems really nice, introduce the angles at this later stage. (not saying tetras are that easy, just that I would want things really nice for my angles.)

 

[rdd1952]

I think I remember you saying that you had some nitrate in your tap water. The nirtate won't harm the plants but you may want to do a large water change just to get the nitrite and nitrate back to a measurable level. That way you will be able to tell if any nitrite is being processed. As it stands now, with both of them off the chart high, you don't know if anything is happening to the nitrite or not.

 

[lukejwindsor]

Ah ok, thanks... doing a water change won't affect the cycling process I guess?

My tank is now processing ammonia from about 4ppm to 0 in 24 hours... it's only a matter of time before the nitrites drop right?!

Cheers guys, all the help is great.

 

[P&J]

From my experience, a water change won't hurt the cycle and could actually help. My cycle keeps stalling because my pH falls during the process. The water changes bump the pH back up and get things going again. Just remember to add ammonia after the change to get it back to about 4ppm.

-P

 

[backtotropical]

From my experience, a water change won't hurt the cycle and could actually help.

Correct. Bignose explains it well in the linked thread below, if you're interested.

http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...cling-Are-Good/

 

[lukejwindsor]

Cool, just done 50% water change, and rebumped the ammonia back up to 5ppm. Will keep you posted on how this affects my cycle.

On a superficial side - my tank looks lovely and clean! I want fish in it. Be patient... ha!

 

[lukejwindsor]

Developments:

Still processing 5ppm of ammonia to 0ppm in 24 hours
No change on my nitrites, still way up there!
Suddenly I have some small transparent snails wandering around the tank... they took a while to show themselves.
White fungus stuff on mopani reducing
Very dark green algae cropping up all over the place, but is just sorting of 'dusting' on everything i.e. it instantly falls off if I touch a plant.

So, any thoughts guys?

And for all those helping me out, here's a pic of my tank... urrr... once I figure out how to upload a pic!

Cheers!

 

[rabbut]

Ammonia looks to be going OK, but it is hard to tell what nitrite is doing while it is off the chart high Perhapse another waterchange? If this isn't an option, mebe some nitrate readings will give an indicator, but some nitrate tests are innacurate with high levels of nitrite bouncing arround

The algea will be being caursed by the ammonia and nitrite. Nothing to worry about, it will clear once you get fish in

HTH
Rabbut

 

[lukejwindsor]

Cycle has been going for 19 days now, the ammonia i add is fully processed within 12 hours, but my nitrites still aren't reducing. Probably just being impatient...

Have done 1 50% waterchange during the cycle - think another would help?


Cheers!

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Luke,

If you are concerned that your nitrite isn't processing, do water changes to get it down to a level which is measurable with your test kit. You will then be able to monitor it more effectively.

Nitrite generally takes around twice as long as ammonia to start processing, so you probably are being a little impatient, but the water change won't hurt and it'll give you a better idea of what is going on.

Also, try only topping up ammonia to 2ppm for now to give the nitrite bacteria a chance to catch up.

Cheers

BTT

 

[tigermoth2]

Another point which has cropped up on other posts is that the nitrite oxidising bacteria are hindered by high ammonia levels and so it might be worth keeping the ammonia low until the nitrite starts to drop and it is clear that the NOB's are getting to work. I'm at about the same stage as you . I think the NOB's in my tank are getting to work because the nitrate is starting to rise perceptibly (from 5 ppm in the tap water to between 10 and 20 ppm in the tank). Also I don't want to dose huge amounts of ammonia because of the huge amount of nitrate I will then have to decrease by water changes from a tank with ~300 litres of water. There's a lot of buckets in doing that!
Bob W

 

[lukejwindsor]

Another point which has cropped up on other posts is that the nitrite oxidising bacteria are hindered by high ammonia levels and so it might be worth keeping the ammonia low until the nitrite starts to drop and it is clear that the NOB's are getting to work. I'm at about the same stage as you . I think the NOB's in my tank are getting to work because the nitrate is starting to rise perceptibly (from 5 ppm in the tap water to between 10 and 20 ppm in the tank). Also I don't want to dose huge amounts of ammonia because of the huge amount of nitrate I will then have to decrease by water changes from a tank with ~300 litres of water. There's a lot of buckets in doing that!
Bob W

I hear you bud, mine's about 250 litres... my nitrites have dropped slightly since the water change, still about 3. I'm going to keep the amm at around 2.5ppm

I've already got lots of nitrate, so i know something is happening, but just need the nitrite to start dropping off!

Lots of time to plan fish though, mine's an amazon tank. First fish I'll eventually introduce are bleeding heart tetras - they are great.

 

[lukejwindsor]

Well everyone, I'm cycled! Just tested, and 0 ammonia and 0.1 nitrite, down from 3.3> where it's been for says. From start to finish, the cycle took 27 days, and I'm so happy that I did a fishless cycle. Thanks for all the help, especially rabbut and BTT who were always very forthcoming.

I'm going to pick up my first fish on saturday - i'm pumped. Should I get a 10 shoal of bleeding hearts or neons? I want to introduce an angel eventually, but I hear that the bleeders ( ) might nip at the angel's fins, or that the angel might eat the neon once it grows up.... any thoughts?

So, Friday should be the last day of adding ammonia, big waterchange saturday morning (75% enough?), then add the fish saturday afternoon. Sound good?

Cheers!