Fishless Cycling

[aaronc]

Cool

I will move this to its own thread


Thanks
Aaron

 

[Dr. Bogger]

ok, its been 1 week now, and my ammonia still hasent processed completely (doing the add & wait method), right now the ammonia is about 1.5ppm, and its been there for the past 4 days... so its processed about 2.5ppm so far, but shouldent it have processed all of it by now?





I also have another question, after the fishless cycle has been completed, how long do I have to wait before i add fish?
is it ok to add fish while there is still a small amount of ammonia (the bottled kind) left in the tank?


Thanks in advanced for the help

 

[Underwurlde]

ok, its been 1 week now, and my ammonia still hasent processed completely (doing the add & wait method), right now the ammonia is about 1.5ppm, and its been there for the past 4 days... so its processed about 2.5ppm so far, but shouldent it have processed all of it by now?

Times vary. Increase the heat of the water to speed cycling if you can. 28-30°C

I also have another question, after the fishless cycle has been completed, how long do I have to wait before i add fish? <snip>

Straight away if you wish - but stock up GRADUALLY - allow the filter load to adjust to your stocking levels.

<snip>is it ok to add fish while there is still a small amount of ammonia (the bottled kind) left in the tank?

NO.

 

[Dr. Bogger]

I also have another question, after the fishless cycle has been completed, how long do I have to wait before i add fish? <snip>

Straight away if you wish - but stock up GRADUALLY - allow the filter load to adjust to your stocking levels.

<snip>is it ok to add fish while there is still a small amount of ammonia (the bottled kind) left in the tank?

NO.

So if i can't add any fish to the tank when there is ammonia in it, how long do i have to wait after the ammonia has been desolved by the cycle before i add fish?

 

[rdd1952]

I also have another question, after the fishless cycle has been completed, how long do I have to wait before i add fish? <snip>

Straight away if you wish - but stock up GRADUALLY - allow the filter load to adjust to your stocking levels.

Actually, you should add at least 75% of your fish load as soon as possible after the cycle has completed. You will have more than enough bacteria to handle a full load. That is the one of the purposes of the fishless cycle in the first place. If you filters can process 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia in 10 to 12 hours, they will easily be able to handle the waste you fish produce. If you only add a few fish at a time, the bacteria will die off to the amount needed to support the current fish load, leading to a mini cycle every time you add more fish. If you can't add fish immediately, continue to add ammonia daily until the day before you get your fish. Just make sure the ammonia and nitrite are back to 0 before adding them.

 

[Squid]

I also have another question, after the fishless cycle has been completed, how long do I have to wait before i add fish? <snip>

Straight away if you wish - but stock up GRADUALLY - allow the filter load to adjust to your stocking levels.

Actually, you should add at least 75% of your fish load as soon as possible after the cycle has completed. You will have more than enough bacteria to handle a full load. That is the one of the purposes of the fishless cycle in the first place. If you filters can process 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia in 10 to 12 hours, they will easily be able to handle the waste you fish produce. If you only add a few fish at a time, the bacteria will die off to the amount needed to support the current fish load, leading to a mini cycle every time you add more fish. If you can't add fish immediately, continue to add ammonia daily until the day before you get your fish. Just make sure the ammonia and nitrite are back to 0 before adding them.

Agreed. There are considerations though...

You need to ensure that the 75% of the fish that you are are suitable for a new tank. Although cycled, the tank will not be mature and will not necessarily be kind to the more fragile fish such as panda corys for instance.

But.. the more fish you can add in the first instance, the easier it is for the bacteria to build up to support any new fish added at a later date, and thats just a maths thing really. adding 4 fish, then adding 4 later on means that there has been an increase of 100%. Adding 8 fish, and then adding 4 fish later on is an increase of 50%, which would put less demands on the tank to get up to speed.

I hope thats right anyway .. rdd helped me through my fishless cycle a year ago..

Squid

 

[Dr. Bogger]

How long does is usualy take to complete a "mini-cycle"?

 

[rdd1952]

The length of a mini cycle is dependent on the number of fish add. As Squid mentioned, the more fish you add, the more new bacteria you will need to develop to process their waste thus the longer the mini cycle. In any case, a mini cycle usually doesn't take too long, a few days at the most. If you're only adding a couple fish to a tank with 10 or more in it already, you probably won't even see a mini cycle. Messy fish such as plecos, oscars or goldfish may be an exception as they produce more waste than your everyday tropicals such as tetras, corys and the like.

 

[BigTallV]

Noob to the forum here... Loving this wonderful article on fishless cycling (lots of great info).

I'm doing the 'wait and see' method in my 47G 'column' tank. Started tank on Dec 27. Next day, added 8ml (157 drops) of 4% pure/clear ammonia to obtain reading of 2.0ppm @ 76.5F temp. On Dec 29th, added an airstone bubble wall (14") with a Rena 300 pump going wide-open and added another 8ml of ammonia to obtain 4.0ppm reading. Also on Dec 29th some 5 hours later I added 25ml of multipurpose aquarium water conditioner ("Big Al's"). Tank heater temp was adjusted up to upper 80's.

On Dec 30th I had ammonia reading of 2.0ppm. I replaced 1/2 pail of water with some waste water from a heathy tank that a friend supplied (has barbs, pleco, shark, danios, etc). Another reading on Jan 2 had ammonia at 2.0ppm and has more or less been there ever since through today (Jan 12th).

Testing is done with an API "Master Kit", I test the water every 24 hours since startup. Filter is an Eheim external cannister (#2217). Lighting has been off for the most part. No plants. Just some ornaments and a few small rocks. Gravel bottom. Everything was well rinsed and scrubbed with a new brush. My tap water is pH of 7.6.

The readings the last 2 days "look" like it may be ever so slowly creeping below 2.0, but it's so difficult to determine with the API test kit.

How long should I wait for Ammonia to get to 1.0ppm or zero? Should I add more ammonia now, or wait? Should I get a filter bag from my friend and hang that in the flow of the spray bar in my tank?

I would appreciate suggestions or explanation on what's going on or if I'm doing anything wrong. I thought I'd be well into the fishless cycle.

The wife thinks I'm nuts, and the kids want fish in the tank... any help offered would be appreciated by all. Thanks to all in advance.

/BigTallV

 

[Dr. Bogger]

THAT is the same exact problem im having.... my ammonia dropped down to 2ppm, from 4ppm within a week (if that), and now its Jan 12th (about 2 weeks), and the ammonia is STILL at 2ppm.... im wondering why the ammonia droped down to 2ppm so quickly, then just came to a dead stop there...

Could someone tell me what (if anything) we are doing wrong? i mean according to the instructions, it says it takes about a week for the ammonia to drop to 0ppm, its been almost 2 weeks for me...


Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[rdd1952]

It should take about a week for the ammonia to drop after it starts. The key is how long it takes for the beginning bacteria to develop (there was a thread a while back about where the first bacteria comes from). When you have a quick drop and then a stall, the drop is probably a result of something other than bacteria but I'm not certain exactly what. Raise it back up to about 5 ppm and see what happens.

BigTallV, as for adding the water from another tank, it doesn't do any good. Bacteria don't live in the water column so you are only adding dirty water to your tank. If you can get some filter media or an old filter cartridge from your friend, that would give you a great jump start on cycling.

 

[Dr. Bogger]

Ok, well i just raised the ammonia back up to about 4ppm, we'll see what happens from here... i hope it dont take as long this time...


Can i get some other peoples oppinion on here.... How long did it take YOU before your ammonia to drop down to 0ppm?

 

[BigTallV]

It should take about a week for the ammonia to drop after it starts. The key is how long it takes for the beginning bacteria to develop (there was a thread a while back about where the first bacteria comes from). When you have a quick drop and then a stall, the drop is probably a result of something other than bacteria but I'm not certain exactly what. Raise it back up to about 5 ppm and see what happens.

BigTallV, as for adding the water from another tank, it doesn't do any good. Bacteria don't live in the water column so you are only adding dirty water to your tank. If you can get some filter media or an old filter cartridge from your friend, that would give you a great jump start on cycling.

rdd: Thanks for the reply (and a great article/thread)! I'll be sure to get the filter.

Do I boost my ammonia back up to 5ppm as well as hanging some filter media, or just add the filter media only until it sets up bacteria enough to depleat my current 2.0ppm worth of ammonia?

 

[Dr. Bogger]

I don't know anyone who can donate a filter media cartridge to me so i'm stuck doing it the old fasion way.

 

[Dr. Bogger]

hmm.... I have a interesting question.... does aquarium salt (for fresh water tanks) have an effect on how the cycling works? i've heard something about its suppose to lower the nitrites in the water, but idk if thats true or not...

Anyone here have any information on that?