Fishless Cycling

[backtotropical]

I wanted to use the bottle of ammonia method to cycle my filter in my new setup but couldn't find any anywhere. Should have looked here first eh?

Just for info, i cycled my tank with fish food which i left in the tank to rot. Worked really well.

 

[Benihana]

Morning all. We are buying a new filter tomorrow for a second hand tank we picked and we are picking up some mature media in a couple of weeks. Would we do any harm to our new filter if we got it all up and running while the tank is in essense doing nothing? Would you recommend two weeks of fishless cycling and then adding the mature media? We just want to make sure we have the substrate, filter, decor, heater, airstone etc looking spot on before we even consider adding fish. Thanks

 

[rdd1952]

You could go ahead and start a fishless cycle by adding ammonia as soon as you have the tank and filter ready. You should be fairly well along with ammonia being processed in 10 to 12 hours and the nitrite off the chart high in a couple weeks but adding mature media at that point should help complete the cycling relatively quickly after you add it.

 

[Aubergine]

Argh. After 6 weeks, my cycle was almost finished,the nitrite had gone down and I was going to add fish this weekend. I did a 50% water change on Wednesday and I just realised last night that I forgot to use dechlorinator I put some in as soon as I realized, and I'm glad I made that mistake before I put fish in, but is that time going to have killed off all my bacteria?

 

[rdd1952]

The only way to really tell is to add ammonia again and see how fast the ammonia and nitrite go back to zero. Chlorine disipates in 24 hours or less, depending on aeration so it may hae been gone before it really had a chance to have any effect. Even in a worst case scenerio, it shouldn't have killed off all your bacteria.

 

[xeno]

I'm about to start my fishless cycle - I have my ammonia and my test kit, but I'm a bit confused. My ammonia test kit is measured in mg/l. How does this compare with ppm? Or am I being daft?

 

[ebrcknrdg]

I'm about to start my fishless cycle - I have my ammonia and my test kit, but I'm a bit confused. My ammonia test kit is measured in mg/l. How does this compare with ppm? Or am I being daft?

what test kit have you got?

 

[xeno]

I'm about to start my fishless cycle - I have my ammonia and my test kit, but I'm a bit confused. My ammonia test kit is measured in mg/l. How does this compare with ppm? Or am I being daft?

Oops. Parts per million, ie. same as mg/l???

 

[xeno]

I'm about to start my fishless cycle - I have my ammonia and my test kit, but I'm a bit confused. My ammonia test kit is measured in mg/l. How does this compare with ppm? Or am I being daft?

what test kit have you got?

It's an interpret Easy Test (liquid)

 

[Starsailor]

After adding the ammonia, how long should you wait to to test it (to make sure its evenly diffused)?

 

[rdd1952]

You can generally test in 5 to 10 minutes.

FYI, starsailor, you need to validate your membership or you will only be able to post in a couple forums. You should have received an email when you registered. Open the email and click the link to validate. If you didn't get it, check your spam blockers and blocked emails. The email comes from gmail.com so if you by chance have that blocked as I did at one time, you won't get it. You can have the email resent to you from here.

 

[Starsailor]

Thanks.... I could've sworn I clicked a blue link but obviously not!

 

[Marlin&Nemo&Mac]

Its been a long slowwww progression to this point, but we just started our cycling.
Added 5 ml Ammonium HO to 17gal tank.

TAP Water measured; PH 7.4, Nitrate 10ppm
TANK Wtr Measured;

7/29/07
Day one; PH 8.4, Amn 8ppm


I will add to this when ever I take measurements. Did not do the other tests, as it appears it takes a week, before readings show. I do have some water/gravel from FFM to jump start, but know its 2 weeks old, so I assume any bacteria are dead?....

Mac

 

[rdd1952]

You may want to do a partial water change to lower the ammonia some. Most test kits only show as high as 8ppm and 5ml to 17 gallon seems to be too much (1ml will usually raise 5 gallon to 5 ppm). You want the ammonia to be on the chart measurable so you can tell when it starts dropping.

 

[Marlin&Nemo&Mac]

I was wondering about that rdd

I thought since it was early, that maybe it did not matter cause it usually took 7-10 days before anything happens, right? Anyway, do you recommend 50% change?

Thanks for you watching out for us here

Mac