Fishless Cycling

[Beemeeup]

i'm on the 3rd week of cycling and the last two days the nitrite has suddenly dropped to .25 but not zero. ammonia readings zero and nitrates off the scale. should i continue until the nitrite is exactly zero

 

[rdd1952]

Raise the ammonia back up to about 4 ppm. If the ammonia and nitrite go back to zero in about 10 to 12 hours, you are finished.

 

[Beemeeup]

Raise the ammonia back up to about 4 ppm. If the ammonia and nitrite go back to zero in about 10 to 12 hours, you are finished.

thanks rdd - the test results were after 12 hours - i have since tested after 16 hours and the nitrite and ammonia are nil - i'm happy i have cycled - i shall feed ammonia now (for today) and then do a 90% water change tomorrow and then start adding fish.

 

[Lord Zogat]

Well The levels have dropped again to 1 ppm but seem to be staying there, Still no sign of Nitrites or Nitrates. I don't know if I jump the levels up again or dump the water and add fish.

I could still put in filter media if I can find some but then may have expect another several weeks to get anywhere.

---------

LFS has activated a filter in one of his tanks, he will give me the filter material after a weeks time.

Sept 27th - OMG I have .25ppm Nitrites

 

[Creature Seeker]

I've just tested how much ammonia I need to add in a 2 gallon bucket and I had to add 42 drops to get the correct reading.

Is this right?

...

 

[rdd1952]

It depends on the strength of the ammonia. There isn't a set amount. Since you know how much it takes, I would measure it out in a test tube (just put 42 drops in it) so you don't have to count 42 drops each time.

 

[Lord Zogat]

Well my ammonia is dropping much faster now, nitrites are staying at .25ppm, I am going to leave the filter media out for now as I don't want to have to add it if the bacteria culture is large enough now. Last batch of ammonia took about 7 days to drop from 4ppm to 1ppm. The cycle before that was easily 3 weeks. Just increased ammonia back to 4ppm or there abouts.

 

[Kevstir]

started mines about 2 and a half weeks ago , started off fine but stalled due to a massive pH crash due to the bog wood and our very soft water up here in Scotland , was below 6 , added some baking soda on Sunday there , that brought it back up to 7 and started the cycle almost instantly , added 4ppm on Sunday night and by 9am Monday morning was down to 1ppm , 9pm last night it was down to 0 , added another 4ppm and again it was down to 1ppm this morning , nitrites are just about off the scale and nitrates are around 40ppm , looking good now what im suprised at is iv no algae at all

if you have bog wood in your tank while cycling keep an eye on your pH as anything below 6 will stall the cycle..

iv not read all 15 pages but if someone hasn't already added a picy of the bottle of ammonia you should look for in boots here it is ..

hmm why isnt teh image showing??

aw well heres the link

http/www.kevstir.co.uk/images/Ammonia.jpg

 

[Mark Thompson]

My tank has been cycling for around 4 and a half weeks.

After about 2 weeks my Ammonia started to drop although ever so slightly and very very slowly the Nitrite crept up.

Within the last week the Ammonia seems to be processed quite rapidly so I am topping it up daily. The nitrite however is 5ppm and not dropping as yet, I know that this is supposed to happen quite rapidly eventually but I just wondered how long I should expect to wait?

So far I have had Nitrite present over 2ppm for about 11 days, it was present several days before that also but in lower amounts of about 0.5ppm.

 

[Lord Zogat]

Thought my tank was finally getting somewhere but the last injection of ammonia is not lowering and nitrites haven't budged, this last batch has now gone longer than the last dose took to disappear. Grrrrrrr

Ok took a closer look at the tanks, both my water heaters bumped up to 90 degrees for cycling have large amounts of calcium buildup on them on the back side. Would this effect the growth of the necessary bacteria to process ammonia, and nitrite?

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Oct 23, 2006

Looks like the decrease in ammonia has slowed down again, nitrates have bumped up a bit more but not much. I am realy at a loss now, any suggestions?

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

ok jhere where i am at does loom about right? i was able to seed it a littel bit!

Ammonia Nitrites Nitrates
21/10/2006 5 0 0
22/10/2006 5 0 0
23/10/2006 5 0 0
24/10/2006 5 0 0
25/10/2006 2 0 0
26/10/2006 0.25 8 0
27/10/2006 AM 5 6 0
27/10/06 PM 4 4 40


OTP

 

[fishgirl44]

hi there i have a betta and a new tank 5 gal with filter. i live in canada not sure how the ammonia bottles look like. anyhow i herd yuo can do it with food. so please let m eknow how. also not sure but can i use any of these bottles that came with my tank for my betta

Cycle reduces fish loss

Aqua plus tap water conditiner

Waste control organic waste eliminator



here soem pics!


http/i63.photobucket.com/albums/h124/mys...ishtanks018.jpg


http/i63.photobucket.com/albums/h124/mys...ishtanks010.jpg


http/i63.photobucket.com/albums/h124/mys...ishtanks003.jpg

nicky

 

[rdd1952]

You definitely need some type of water conitioner to remove chlorine and chloramine. That is what the Aqua Plus is for but I'm not real familiar with it. I use Stress Coat. The jury is out on Cycle. Personally, I think it is useless and that it doesn't help your tank cycle nor does it do any harm. As for the Waste Control, I would definitely NOT use it. After doing a search and reading up on it, it looks like a problem waiting to happen. You don't really need anything to break down waste. You vacuum it out at water changes.

 

[chris_junior41]

This is a brilliant article! coming from a beginner i can tell you this has helped!! thanks!

 

[fishyfinger]

Hi all
22 days into fishless cycling 180ltr tank 2 artificial plants 1 peice of myopani and rounded gravel as substrate. got a bit of seeded filter bits added to filter on day2 of cycle.
Readings last night
ammonia level 1.2(dripped in 90 drops of ammonia after reading) This on the first day took tank to 6ppm ammonia
nitrite level off the chart(very high)
nitrate 50ppm.
I check all levels daily and log them.
i have it cycling at 28c when i started i did not add stress coat or similar anti chloro stuff.
I have not touched the water only to dip the test pippette in. Not topped it up at all kept the lid shut
maybe water condensed back into tank.
it converts ammonia very well. I find in the test tube tiny particles floating around which are coloured darker than the water so when it settles the water gives a lighter reading on the comparison chart.
i have pumped in copius amounts of ammonia 50-90 drips /day which took me over 4-5 ppm.
Questions
1 should i change this brownish particled water?
2 is there a problem with feeding the tank loads of ammonia more than keeping it at 4-5ppm?
3 everything seems to be progressing ok does anything need changing.
Thanks in advance
Ian