Fishless Cycling.

[mimifish]

Hello,

I have set up a 75 gallon aquarium and started the fishless cycling 3 days ago. I know that before I started, my water was cloudy and I posted my concerns about that on this forum and I was told that the cloudiness was caused by the growth of beneficial bacteria and would clear up. I purchased 3 plants and put them into the aquarium with their rockwool.

I then started the fishless cycling by adding enough ACS grade ammonia hydroxide (29.5% ammonia) to get a reading of 5 ppm. I added that same amount every day and still have not seen the nitrite spike. How long before the nitrite is detected on my test? Did I add too much ammonia and should I cut back? Because now I notice that my ammonia reading is higher than 5 ppm. Should I do a partial water change? Today I started adding a pinch of fish food to "feed" the beneficial bacteria. I plan on "feeding" the bacteria once a day, is this okay? I am afraid that I added to much ammonia and may have harmed the beneficial bacteria

Thanks in advance.

 

[smb]

Sounds like you're doing it correct to me. It might be 5 days or more before the ammonia levels drop, it varies with everyone.

5ppm isn't all that high for the ammonia spike. I've heard some saythey had up to 14ppm when doing a cycle. It will probably go up for another couple days before the beneficial bacteria catches up to it. I wouldn't add food as the ammonia is the food for the bacteria.

You can click on my sig for more info on it.

 

[Alien Anna]

It doesn't matter how high the spike gets - mine was off the scale one time (I misread the instructions). The important thing is that the bacteria break it down. All that too much ammonia means is that it might take longer and you'll have a vast amount of nitrate in the tank at the end (before you do a water change), so you might get a lot of algae.

 

[mimifish]

I detected nitrite this morning (0.25 ppm) and tested again earlier this evening and nitrite was at 0.50 ppm .

From what I understand from reading about fishless cycling, I now cut the amount of ammonia that I was adding by 50% and add this amount until I get a reading of 0 ppm of nitrite, correct? Then once I get a reading of 0 ppm of nitrite I quit adding ammonia, correct? Or do I stop adding ammonia once I get a reading of 0 ppm for BOTH ammonia and nitrite?

But what about the conversion of the 50% ammonia per day that I was adding? Seems to me that there will always be some detectable nitrite & ammonia present. If I am always adding ammonia then there will always be nitrite, how will I get a reading of 0 ppm? It just seems like I will have to quit adding ammonia to get a reading of 0 ppm of nitrite.

Unless, when I started the fishless cycling, I was adding the normal amount of ammonia (not the 50% amount) and I was conditioning the aquarium for such a high level of ammonia. Then once nitrite was detected and as the level of nitrite increased the amount of the ammonia being added decreased to 50% of the initial amount along with the amount of ammonia available for the bacteria to convert to nitrite. The bacteria in essence are "catching - up" with the amount of ammonia being added which was 50% of the initial amount because they were conditioned and there are now enough bacteria to handle the reduced amount of ammonia.

Maybe I am answering my own question here.

Is this correct? Am I confused? If I am incorrect let me know.


Thanks in advance.

 

[smb]

From what I understand from reading about fishless cycling, I now cut the amount of ammonia that I was adding by 50% and add this amount until I get a reading of 0 ppm of nitrite, correct? Then once I get a reading of 0 ppm of nitrite I quit adding ammonia, correct? Or do I stop adding ammonia once I get a reading of 0 ppm for BOTH ammonia and nitrite?

Once you get a 0ppm of ammoinia and nitrites start to spike, you halve the ammonia you put into your aquarium. You are correct.

You have answered your own question but I wanted to give a second opinion. Once you have 0ppm nitrites then do a water change and add a full compliment of fish asap because you have the bacteria already established to handle a full bioload. If you add them a couple at a time then the beneficial bacteria will die off because they don't have the ammonia to feed on to continue the cycle.

 

[Alien Anna]

You have answered your own question but I wanted to give a second opinion. Once you have 0ppm nitrites then do a water change and add a full compliment of fish asap because you have the bacteria already established to handle a full bioload. If you add them a couple at a time then the beneficial bacteria will die off because they don't have the ammonia to feed on to continue the cycle.

I don't think it matters (from the bacteria's POV) if the ammonia is coming from fish or a bottle, as long as there is ammonia in the tank to "feed" the bacteria.

 

[mimifish]

Once you get a 0ppm of ammoinia and nitrites start to spike, you halve the ammonia you put into your aquarium. You are correct.

But I have already reduced the amount of ammonia that I am adding by 50% once I detected the presence of nitrites (0.25 ppm). My nitrite is now detected at 4 ppm and my ammonia is > 5 ppm. Was I supposed to wait for the ammonia to go to 0 ppm and then reduce it to 50% or reduce it once nitrite was detected? How will you get a reading of 0 ppm if you are constantly adding ammonia or if you don't reduce the amount of ammonia you are adding?

I just want a bit of clarification so that I can do this correctly. It's definitely better to do things right the first time rather than wasting time to correct mistakes you made because you were unclear on procedure.

Thanks for all of your help, I really appreciate it.