Fishless Cycling Record

[waterdrop]

Yes, there are other traces of things that bacteria may have need of besides ammonia, so I've always liked the idea of one tiny pinch of ground up flake food to add a little organic complication without actually stinking things up by adding too much.

Back when I first joined I remember reading about concerns that some types of blue gravel could give off something bad but I don't remember the details and unless anyone knows something real to that effect I don't think we should take it seriously.

Member menacer is having a similar problem getting an initial ammonia drop and member kporteo had the same type problem back when she fishless cycled I believe. We get hundreds of cases so there are bound to be some problems here and there and there are bound to be parameters we don't understand about this process.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gvilleguy]

The sheer number of variable factors for a fishless cycle are boggling! That's why it is important for forum members to log their results so that concensus trends start to trickle through, I guess.

 

[menacer]

Yes, there are other traces of things that bacteria may have need of besides ammonia, so I've always liked the idea of one tiny pinch of ground up flake food to add a little organic complication without actually stinking things up by adding too much.

Back when I first joined I remember reading about concerns that some types of blue gravel could give off something bad but I don't remember the details and unless anyone knows something real to that effect I don't think we should take it seriously.

Member menacer is having a similar problem getting an initial ammonia drop and member kporteo had the same type problem back when she fishless cycled I believe. We get hundreds of cases so there are bound to be some problems here and there and there are bound to be parameters we don't understand about this process.

~~waterdrop~~

Yes i am did you have to remind me

 

[waterdrop]

Hopefully it shows that we are thinking of you! None of us would want to be going through what you're going through. It's always humbling to be reminded we certainly do not have a process that is failsafe or that we fully understand. WD

 

[southcity]

I am hoping these reading today are good news, please let me know
I added some fish food the other day as suggested by a previous poster.
Todays readings

Ammonia 4ppm
PH 8
Nitate 0 perhaps 1.ppm
Nitrite 5+, off the chart I would say, slight movement a couple of days ago in this and now its taken off, so does that mean good things are starting to happen in this tank?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, it appears that your A-Bacs must have multiplied and started pumping out nitrite(NO2), thus moving you toward the second stage of the process, the "nitrite spike" stage. Are you measuring any drop in ammonia from the amount you dose and if so how many hours or days is that taking?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[southcity]

Measured the ammonia today and it was 0ppm. Finally I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. So it took 5 days to drop to zero after adding last time. I re-dosed it back up right away and will check daily now for levels to drop again.

 

[southcity]

only 24hrs for ammonia to drop to 0ppm this time, I will start checking every 12hrs now.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Moving right along!

 

[southcity]

Chewing through ammonia now every 12hrs, just waiting for Nitrite to fall!!!!!

 

[waterdrop]

It is good to be wary of any fishless cycling process (a standard one with no mature media added) that takes less than 30 days. If I had one that took only 3 weeks I would probably "vamp" it for another week to be sure.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[southcity]

It is good to be wary of any fishless cycling process (a standard one with no mature media added) that takes less than 30 days. If I had one that took only 3 weeks I would probably "vamp" it for another week to be sure.

~~waterdrop~~

But it's been 5 weeks and 3 days since I set this tank up. But not to worry, I won't be adding anything in there until posters here tell me it's a go!

 

[waterdrop]

But did you begin your ammonia dosing right at setup? That is the beginning day of the fishless cycle. WD

 

[southcity]

But did you begin your ammonia dosing right at setup? That is the beginning day of the fishless cycle. WD

Oh yes, I had it at 5ppm right from day 1,(actaully this tank was set up about 2wks prior with 5ppm ammonia, but I didn't start recording on here until I switched the charcoal to ceramic rings) it sat there doing absolutely nothing for the first few weeks, added some fish flakes a couple of weeks ago and things finally started to move.

 

[waterdrop]

OK then, I'm satisfied, everything is sounding good. WD