Fishless Cycling

[Dr Bob]

Should be a sticky!!!!

 

[zodiac]

I was wondering at the end of the cycle when you do the big water change do you put the fish straight in? how long can you leave between the water change and addin the fish? once you change the water you stop adding amonia so how long do you have before the bacteria start to die off, sounds stupid but i dont want to have to start all over, and i also dont want to rush and put the fish in too soon!!

 

[Lord Zogat]

Thanks for the info I think I may just give this a try as I haven't really decided on going with Platy fish and fellow friends or Barbs or Cichlids, although I think the latter is out due to tank size.

Should I wait until I get my ornaments and plants in the tank (in the mail) before I start this.

 

[Don155]

A chart with the current readings on my cycling tank:

Also picked this up on another forum and got permission to use it elsewhere:



“… This is something I think is necessary for people new to the aquarium hobby to fully understand:

Bacteria divide, and as such, for a while you will think nothing is happening. That is because the difference between 1,2,4,8,16,32,64 etc. is impossible to see. They will be consuming so small amount of ammonia that the fish will produce more than they can consume, and your ammonia will continue to go up.

BUT! They are dividing at/near the same rate the entire time (once every 12-24 hours is average). What that means is that (space and food not withstanding) it takes the same amount of time to go from 1 to 2 bacteria, as it does to go from 100,000 to 200,000. This is why patience is so necessary at the beginning, and why getting seed material is so vital.

If you start from scratch as you did and assume each bacterium has optimum conditions and divides every 12 hours, then in 1 week starting with 1 bacteria you would have ~ 4,100 bacteria (using 1 as an example though the fish will have many more on their body and fish waste). This is probably not enough to notice a difference if you had no fish in your tank. With fish, you would most definitely still see the ammonia level rise in the tank, and you would get discouraged.

Now however, if you got seed material and started with 1,000 bacteria (much more in reality), <under the> same conditions <in 7 days>, you would have 4.1 MILLION bacteria. 12 hours after that you would have 8.2 MILLION. In this case you would probably see the level stay the same or go down slightly at the end of the week, but by the next morning would see the level dropping quickly.

Both situations described above are the SAME, the only difference is the amount of bacteria you start with.

So the point of this whole post was to show why we say don't get discouraged and "start over", and when we say stuff is happening in the tank, we mean it really is.â€￾

-7Enigma
Aquarium Advice Forum.
7/5/06


Really excellent advice for cycling both with and without fish!!


-Don T.

 

[Lord Zogat]

Once your done the fishless cycle, it stated that you will have tones of brown algae and cloudy water....do you need to do something further at this point to clean that or will it clear itself? Can the fish go in when its in this state?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Once your done the fishless cycle, it stated that you will have tones of brown algae and cloudy water....do you need to do something further at this point to clean that or will it clear itself? Can the fish go in when its in this state?

At the end of the fishless you do a big water change- but that's to dilute the nitrates. The cloudy water and brown algae are no threat to the fish- indeed, some fish will eat the algae. And it may never happen- the tank I just cycled fishless grew no algae, much to the disgust of my 2 bristlenose plecs.

 

[rdd1952]

Unfortunately, I haven't been very active in the forum in a few months but I'm glad to see this thread is still helping people. I had hoped it would get pinned when I wrote it and several people even posted in the "Pin Me" Thread in the "Board Announcements & Suggestions" section but it never happened. I just glad it keeps making it's way back to the first page.

 

[l337dave]

I've been cycling a rio 125 for about 5 days now. From about day 2 NH4 levels would drop from about 6ppm to 0 in less than 18 hours (going to bed to coming back from work)

I've put this down to using water and stones and one of the filter pads from the tank in my bedroom with 2 ranchu in and them being very mucky pups...

should I keep raising the NH4 to 6pm or now drop it down to 3 or 4..?

the nitrate and nitrite levels are very very high still. 50 - 100 and about 3.0

I'm using nutrafin liquid test.

thanks,


dave.

 

[rdd1952]

I've been cycling a rio 125 for about 5 days now. From about day 2 NH4 levels would drop from about 6ppm to 0 in less than 18 hours (going to bed to coming back from work)

I've put this down to using water and stones and one of the filter pads from the tank in my bedroom with 2 ranchu in and them being very mucky pups...

should I keep raising the NH4 to 6pm or now drop it down to 3 or 4..?

the nitrate and nitrite levels are very very high still. 50 - 100 and about 3.0

I'm using nutrafin liquid test.

thanks,


dave.

You can drop the ammonia down to about 3 or 4 ppm until the nitrite finally drops back to 0. That will take a while and the nitrite will definitely get higher than the highest reading on your chart. That's because you are technically adding more nitrite every day when you add the ammonia and it is processed. It will probably take about 2 to 3 weeks for the nitrite to drop to 0. The nitrate isn't a worry since you will get rid of it by doing a large water change once the nitrite drops.

 

[l337dave]

my cycle is done today!

N02 down to 0, (I had to test it twice just to make sure)

it did actually happen overnight!

only problem is now I won't be getting any fish till the weekend, so I'm guessing that I need to keep adding the ammonia until friday..?

I'm guessing still at the 3 or 4 ppm level..?


thanks,


dave.

 

[rdd1952]

Congratulations. Raising it to 3 to 4 ppm will be fine. If it is truely cycled, that should be processed back to 0 ammonia and nitrite in 10 to 12 hours. You may end up needing to do another water change just before adding fish just to lower the nitrates again.

 

[Lord Zogat]

SWEET, my LFS brought in my freshwater Test kit today, 700 test total of PH, High PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, for $37CND including tax!

Arrived in 3 days. He drives daily to Toronto to Pick up stuff from a supplier.

 

[l337dave]

it seems to be fine still,

NH4 and N02 are both still reading 0

N03 is reading about 5ish,

only problem is I've realised I'm going to be away all of next week!

I think I need to ask someone to come round and put 40 drops of household cleaner into my fishtank every evening!



(also it took me ages to find this now it has been pinned (Y))


dave.

 

[geo7x]

yey its been pinned! this thread deserves it as the best cycling method yet!

 

[Lord Zogat]

Has anyone used Goldex Household Ammonia for the fishless cycle. It contains no phosphates or fragrances. I picked it up at walmart in Canada.

1.8L for $2CND