Fishless Cycling

[dirtydog]

i think you will need to run it alongside for a couple of weeks for anything to happen.

 

[dirtydog]

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[aquabomber]

Im not sure if I should keep doing this Add Daily method. My ammonia is ultra high and it might be faster if I switched to Add and Wait by draining all my water and starting fresh. I would probably use old tank water to start in my 18g im trying to cycle. What do you think Rdd1952 and everyone?

 

[rdd1952]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Add Daily method. I think it raises the ammonia so high in the beginning that it may inhibit the bacteria growth but some have used it with success. I've just never seen the need to raise the ammonia to 15 to 20 ppm which is what happens if you add 5 ppm for 4 straight days. I would do a large water change to bring the ammonia back down to 4 to 5 ppm and sjust wait on it to drop.

 

[Nosnibor]

I have got to say Mr rdd1952 (your parents must have been hippies That original thread is amazing. I was lucky to get about 55 liters of system water from the LFS, I have had the 180 litre tank running now for the past 4 days and I was recommended to add some hardy fish next Wednesday (8 days later), I hope this was good advice. I will obviously check the water first, I am a beginner and will need some advice on fishes etc but I intent to do a lot more reading up.

When looking for my first hardy fish, is there any recommendations you can give me. Also, considering I have already been running the tank for 4 days with LFS system water (and upped the temperature to mid 80 degrees following your advice,) is there anything else you can recommend so that my tank is completely ready for fish. I will be adding them slowly of course and not all in one go.

Many thanks
Martin

 

[rdd1952]

Actually, my parents were before the hippy age. I'm the one that grew up through the hippy days but I was pretty square.

As for the tank, keep in mind that the water from the LFS will not do anything to help cycle your tank. There is only a very minimal amount of bacteria present in the water column so adding it to your tank won't help much. Danios are probaby the most hardy tropical fish. They usually can make it through the cycling process but they will be stressed. You will definitely have an ammonia and nitrite issue. Letting the water sit and run without an ammonia source doesn't help cycle the tank. As a matter of fact, any bacteria that may have been present in the LFS water would have died off by now from lack of food (ammonia) so you are basically starting from scratch when you add your fish. If you can get the LFS to give you some media from their system when you buy your fish, that would help jump start the cycling process. The more they can give you the better but even a small amount will contain enough bacteria to give you a start. Good luck.

 

[cookie_db]

Starting to get bored of waiting for my fishless cycle to finish now but thought I'd check in and see if every things normal. I started the add and wait method on 12th April, ammonia started to drop on the 23rd and the nitrite rocketed off the chart 2 days later and has been off the chart ever since which is just under 3 weeks. I've had to do two partial water changes due to my pH dropping to 6. My nitrate hasn't gone up at all in this time.

Is this about right? I don't know anyone with a tank so I can't get any filter media or gravel to help.

Here's my test results from this morning
pH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite Off the chart
Nitrate 5

Thanx in advance
Dani

 

[rdd1952]

If the nitrite has been high since the 23rd, you should definitely have nitrate by now unless you possibly have a nitrate sponge or some other type nitrate removal media in your filter. At least some of the nitrite should have been processed. What is the pH of your tap water. Actually, 8.4 is getting too high for cycling as the process starts to slow again as pH gets high too. Optimal range from what I have ready is 7.0 to 8.2.

 

[cookie_db]

My tap pH is 7.2. When I first set up my tank it tested at pH 8. I have sand in my tank and no nitrate removal sponge or carbon is in my filter, just plain sponge. I do have a few plants in my tank but not alot.

Thanx
Dani

 

[Nosnibor]

I was given bad advice from my LFS, they gave me 'System Water' and and said that it would be okay to start putting fish in after a week!!! I find out after 5 days of cycling ammonia and bacteria free water that the bacteria died due to no ammonia - boy have I learnt my lesson.

My plan now is to purchase the ammonia (Kleen Off) and start with the Fishless Cycle you wrote, what a waste of 5 days (6 now). I was thinking about speaking to my LFS and see if I can purchase some media from them but exchange it for one from one of their tanks - do you think this is a good idea?

I have 5 plants in my tank too at the moment, I take it that it would be better if I remove them and start afresh when my water is ready to handle the ammonia and fish?

Thank you
Martin

 

[Nosnibor]

Sorry, just one last question before I shoot around the shop. Do you think I should take out the Bog wood too or leave that one in?

Cheers

Martin

 

[TubbyLaLa]

Ok this fishless cycling lark seems to be going faster than expected. I set the tank yesterday it came with a mature filter as its previous occupants left the day i picked the tank up so i expected things to go slightly quicker. I was worried about adding too much ammonia as there were plants in there and i had so much conflicting advice!!!! plus with a mature filter I was told less ammonia would be needed. So 1mg/l of ammonia 10mg/l Nitrate 0mg/l Nitrite was the reading yesterday after adding ammonia to get a level of 1mg/l. Today the water readings are 0.2mg/l Ammonia, 50mg/l Nitrate and around 0.15mg/l Nitrite pH 7.5. When would a water change be advisable to help get rid of Nitrites? It is a Juwel 42litre tank with oxygenating plants and filter that pumps water so it disrupts the surface. guy at LFS says as long as water quality is ok it will be alright for fish in a couple of days this seems far too quick to me. Plus with Nitrites on the rise don't want to be adding any fish! Any advice welcome.

 

[rdd1952]

Nosnibor, here is a link to the pinned thread with members who will donate mature media to you if you can find someone in your area.

TubbyLaLa, to fully cycle your tank for a full fish load, you will still need to raise the ammonia to around 4 or 5 ppm and let it and the nitrite drop. There is only enough bacteria present on the filter to process the amount of ammonia present. So if you're only adding 1 ppm per day, there may not be enough at the end of the process to handle a full load so you would have to add fish slowly. If you already have bacteria present from a mature filter, cycling it with 5 ppm versus 1 ppm will only take a couple extra days.

You are correct that you don't want to add any fish until the filter can handle the 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia and process back to 0 ammonia and nitrite in 10 to 12 hours. Don't worry about doing a water change until then. At that point, do the big water change (preferable the night before you get fish the next day) and you can safely add all your fish without problems. Unfortunately, most fish store employees dont have a clue about fishless cycling and quite a few don't even have tanks or fish.

 

[Nosnibor]

Nosnibor, here is a link to the pinned thread with members who will donate mature media to you if you can find someone in your area.

TubbyLaLa, to fully cycle your tank for a full fish load, you will still need to raise the ammonia to around 4 or 5 ppm and let it and the nitrite drop. There is only enough bacteria present on the filter to process the amount of ammonia present. So if you're only adding 1 ppm per day, there may not be enough at the end of the process to handle a full load so you would have to add fish slowly. If you already have bacteria present from a mature filter, cycling it with 5 ppm versus 1 ppm will only take a couple extra days.

You are correct that you don't want to add any fish until the filter can handle the 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia and process back to 0 ammonia and nitrite in 10 to 12 hours. Don't worry about doing a water change until then. At that point, do the big water change (preferable the night before you get fish the next day) and you can safely add all your fish without problems. Unfortunately, most fish store employees dont have a clue about fishless cycling and quite a few don't even have tanks or fish.

rdd, you are a star. Thanks for all the help. I've just gone and posted a thread - cheers.

 

[ziggyboy]

I have been fishless cycling my new 55 gallon tank for the past 4 days, maintaining about 5 ppm of ammonia. As of last night my ammonia is getting consumed at a rate of about 1 ppm/day. Is that too slow?