Fishless Cycling

[Fisherfield]

64 l, 14 imperial gallons, 17 US gallons, I looked up and what I have in the fishtank it does not look like glofish on the internet.

I am sure there is much less water in it , coz pump, gravel, plants all take space.

There was a lot of scramble in the shop everyone was talking in one voice, kid saleswoman, wife and me but I have heard the word glofish.

So here is the pic:

It is not of great quality taken with mobile, I can get better one if needed, the fins are redish in colour.

P.S.

Looking up on the internet, looks more like glow light tetra:

I think that mystery is solved.

 

[chokko]

Also are corys happy to scavenge leftover flakes that are not picked by glofish, or do they need dinner of it's own?

nope, feed Corys their own food (pellets)

they're amazing to watch eating live worms...jumping in shock initially when they realise the food moves...and their cheeks quivering like a chipmunk whilst munching on the worms

also they came 'alive' once i changed from gravel -> sand, i.e. constantly driving face in sand for food...churning the sand out through the gills

currently cycling (fishless, pure ammonia, 30degC, planted, seeded) a 160litre tank which will be dedicated to corys...took 3x 95% water changes to get nitrites to readable readings...hope it wont be much longer

 

[jts123]

I plan to start-up my FIRST tank this week, which naturally will need cycling. (Fish-less of course).

I found this thread to have been one of THE most informative and helpful threads I have read anywhere to this day.

THANK YOU.

 

[waterdrop]

I plan to start-up my FIRST tank this week, which naturally will need cycling. (Fish-less of course).

I found this thread to have been one of THE most informative and helpful threads I have read anywhere to this day.

THANK YOU.

Don't hesitate to start up your own fishless cycling log as a thread both to get advice from the other members and as another example for the newcomers to see. Even when it all just goes normally, it is a help to others to see it. If you search back among the threads that have "fishless cycle" in their titles you can see examples of how this goes. There are many great members here who will no doubt be a help if they can. I found that one of the main advantages of doing a fishless cycle and working on a stocking plan and doing it all in a thread was that it made all of it a learning experience that stuck with you for a longer time. It is well worth it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Fisherfield]

Also are corys happy to scavenge leftover flakes that are not picked by glofish, or do they need dinner of it's own?

nope, feed Corys their own food (pellets)

they're amazing to watch eating live worms...jumping in shock initially when they realise the food moves...and their cheeks quivering like a chipmunk whilst munching on the worms

also they came 'alive' once i changed from gravel -> sand, i.e. constantly driving face in sand for food...churning the sand out through the gills

currently cycling (fishless, pure ammonia, 30degC, planted, seeded) a 160litre tank which will be dedicated to corys...took 3x 95% water changes to get nitrites to readable readings...hope it wont be much longer

Got them pellets, but glowlights are after them as well, coz corrys are small I break them into 2-3 pieces. Replacing Gravel with sand - thinking about putting some kind of divider in the tank - make it half gravel half sand and add sand next time I do large water change. Is it feasible?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes. It has been done. There are varying views on whether or not to take your fish out of the tank or doing it with them in the tank. Personally, I put sand in from stage 1, so I can't help with that.


I can say though that you are going to need to rinse out the sand THOROUGHLY before you put it into your tank. You want to remove as much of the dust and small particles as you can that will cloud the water. You want only the larger grains of sand to be left behind. If you do this right, the water will stay almost pristine when you add it. If not, it will cloud and take hours/days to clear up. You will want to turn your filter OFF while you add the sand, otherwise it will get particles inside and that isn't a good thing. You might want to put some nylon netting over the intake for a little while afterward too, just to help keep the sand from getting sucked up until it all settles.


If you are looking for more advice about the change over from gravel to sand, I recommend you make a new thread. This one isn't really about that and might not get you the responses you are looking for.

 

[aholobin]

Apologies if this question has already been asked and answered, but I wondered how quickly a tank can fully cycle? I set up our Fluval Chi 25L aquarium (for our Betta) on Saturday the 26th, added 1.32 mL ammonia and tested yesterday (~4 ppm). I tested ammonia again today (~2 ppm). Since it dropped I tested nitrites and they registered 0 ppm. I have the temperature at ~75F, and am using Fluval plant stratum and 4 live plants. Also added about a teaspoon of gravel from a previously established bowl (no filter, no heater). I will continue daily tests for ammonia, but I thought the nitrite reading should be off the chart initially. Did I do something wrong?

 

[fluttermoth]

You haven't done anything wrong

You won't have any nitrite readings to start with, that will only begin to show up once you have some of the bacteria that digest ammonia into nitrite.

I expect the reason your ammonia has gone down without any nitrite showing up is because you have plants; they will have used up some of the ammonia as food for themselves. That's the reason we normally recommend people fishless cycle without plants, but it doesn't matter too much, especially as the tank is for only one betta.

 

[aholobin]

You haven't done anything wrong

You won't have any nitrite readings to start with, that will only begin to show up once you have some of the bacteria that digest ammonia into nitrite.

I expect the reason your ammonia has gone down without any nitrite showing up is because you have plants; they will have used up some of the ammonia as food for themselves. That's the reason we normally recommend people fishless cycle without plants, but it doesn't matter too much, especially as the tank is for only one betta.

Thank you! Well, we also have one Mystery snail...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

They come with the plants. Now you know what it means when the sign says: "Snail Free", it merely means that you will not be charged for the hitchhikers.

 

[Autonerd]

I'd like to make a suggestion for the original article. It recommends adding an airstone to help with oxygen. The members recommended that people with HOB filters can lower the water level so that the water pouring into the tank causes bubbles and surface disruption. I did this and it appears to have worked. Perhaps it can be added to the original.

Aaron

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Does 1ppm = 1mg/L?

Also I was trying to cycle with just adding fish food but have now got some ammonia so I want to use the ammonia method instead. Should I remove the fish food that I previously put in the tank? I'm thinking if it is in there producing ammonia then I'll never get down to 0ppm? I've been at 0.5ppm for two days now, do I add more ammonia?

Thanks!

 

[OldMan47]

In the concentrations we work with, ml/litre and ppm are identical numbers. In large concentrations they deviate a little but if your levels were that high you would smell the ammonia when you walked into the room.

 

[dave1.]

Hi everyone, i'm about to start cycling my sons new tank he got for xmas, i'm completley new to this. I've made notes from the first page and hopefully it will go well, i need to go to the fish store to get all the equipment. he already has a well established 30 litre fish tank with about 8 fish in it. would it be worth putting some of the gravell in the new tank to get it started off. the new tank is about 90 litres. thanks dave

 

[fluttermoth]

It's generally accepted that there is very little of the good bacteria growing anywhere but the filter.

You could take a small piece of filter media however. We normally say up to a third, but as the established tank is small and quite heavily stocked, I'd recommend you take no more than a quarter.

Put that straight into the filter of the new tank, once you have some household ammonia, and you should find you cycle goes much faster