Fishless Cycling

[rdd1952]

Something is removing the ammonia. It isn't processing naturally or you would have nitrite in increasing amounts. I'm not certain what may be the problem since your dechlorinator does not have an affect on ammonia. I did see where a product Aquasonic make called CHLORMON does eliminate ammonia instantly. You've got me stumped on this one. I don't think continuing to add ammonia will have much effect since you aren't developing bacteria to process the nitrite. On the other hand, if your tank is processing all the ammonia and your nitrite isn't ever rising, then maybe you would be ok. One other note, are you using liquid test kits or strips? Sometimes, strips are very inaccurate, especially if they are old.

 

[purplesnakegirl]

Something is removing the ammonia. It isn't processing naturally or you would have nitrite in increasing amounts. I'm not certain what may be the problem since your dechlorinator does not have an affect on ammonia. I did see where a product Aquasonic make called CHLORMON does eliminate ammonia instantly. You've got me stumped on this one. I don't think continuing to add ammonia will have much effect since you aren't developing bacteria to process the nitrite. On the other hand, if your tank is processing all the ammonia and your nitrite isn't ever rising, then maybe you would be ok. One other note, are you using liquid test kits or strips? Sometimes, strips are very inaccurate, especially if they are old.

Thanks. Yeah I'm pretty sure CHLORMON is a different product so its a mystery why this is happening. I might start again the old fashioned way and just add a couple of fish at a time, monitor the water closely and see how I go. What would be a hardy smallish community fish to start with? I was thinking of starting with three platy's.

I'm also using the API master kit tests. I assume they are more reliable than the strips.

 

[rdd1952]

I know danios are very hardy and good community fish. I'm not very knowledgable about livebearers. You might check in the Livebearers section and ask about cycling with them.

 

[scubadoo]

My apologies for doubling up - I have already posted this in the beginner questions section, but no replies, so I wonder if you could give me your opinion.

I am currently on day 13 of my fishless cycle.
The tank is a Juwel Trigon 190 l corner unit with the standard juwel filter system.
Generally its all going very well - I'm using the add & wait method.

I now have enough bacteria to get my ammonia readings down from 5ppm to 0 in about 18 hours, so hopefully not too long to go there.
My nitrites have been rising nicely for 3 or 4 days, but last night my nitrites were down from over 5ppm to 0.5ppm - so all well and good BUT

I dont seem to be registering any nitrates - only about 5ppm (which is the same as my tap water).
So my question is - could the green Nitrate sponge in my filter be reducing the levels, cos I'd expect them to be rising if my nitrite readings are dropping?

If so, should I take the nitrate sponge out while cycling?
or just carry on anyway and see if my ammonia and nitrite readings steady at 0 after adding the ammonia?

I have noticed however that there are a few small algae like growths on the glass - so there must be some nitrate present right?

Your opinion would be appreciated

thanks
scuba

 

[fUbAr]

anyone know roughly how many ml of ammonia i'll need to achieve 6ppm in my 22g aquarium?

is it just a case of adding a few ml and testing, and repeating until i get 6ppm?

ta

 

[fUbAr]

anyone know roughly how many ml of ammonia i'll need to achieve 6ppm in my 22g aquarium?

is it just a case of adding a few ml and testing, and repeating until i get 6ppm?

ta

just answered my own question by experimenting 1ml at a time.

18g (US): 6ppm = 5ml of ammonia (9.5%)

thought this might be worth sharing for other people to use

 

[rdd1952]

just answered my own question by experimenting 1ml at a time.

18g (US): 6ppm = 5ml of ammonia (9.5%)

thought this might be worth sharing for other people to use

It will probably be different the next time as ammonia can lose strength and different bottles may have different persentage so you usually have to experiment every time.

 

[nogsnellin]

Hi everyone, As a total newbie I have been trying to do a fishless cycle in my 54 litre (12 gall) for 3 weeks+ 3 days now. My problem from today is I have 0 nitrites but 1.0 ammonia. Nitrites were 5.0 on 10th August but ammonia still seems to be present. Nitrates are 10. Any ideas please? Thanks in advance.

 

[Lord Zogat]

rdd1952, can you answer this for me. Will sticking your arm into a cycling tank for a period of time 10 - 20 min total time, put the cycling process out of wack?

It appears my slate rocks I am using are rusting. And from what I am told they should come out. This would mean retreiving the lot and replacing with another substance.

I am about two weeks into the cycle, should I let it finish, then remove the ricks and put in new caves froma different material, or should I do it sooner? Will the ammonia in the water harm me at that concentration?

Rust appearing on slate

 

[Cheffi]

rdd1952, can you answer this for me. Will sticking your arm into a cycling tank for a period of time 10 - 20 min total time, put the cycling process out of wack?

It appears my slate rocks I am using are rusting. And from what I am told they should come out. This would mean retreiving the lot and replacing with another substance.

I am about two weeks into the cycle, should I let it finish, then remove the ricks and put in new caves froma different material, or should I do it sooner? Will the ammonia in the water harm me at that concentration?

Rust appearing on slate

I took out my original rocks as I also had those marks on mine in the middle of fishless cycling. I didn't suffer anything from having my arm in the tank. I had someone to take them off of me so was pretty quick. The only negative I can think of is that you may be removing beneficial bacteria but not too sure on that. If it was me I'd take them out now so that once your tank is cycled you don't do anything to upset the balance.

 

[nogsnellin]

tested again today and am still showing 1 - 2 ppm ammonia. Whats going on, why isn't it being converted to nitrite after three and a half weeks? Have my ammonia eating bacteria died?
If rd1952 or anyone can help I'd be very grateful.

 

[rdd1952]

Hi everyone, As a total newbie I have been trying to do a fishless cycle in my 54 litre (12 gall) for 3 weeks+ 3 days now. My problem from today is I have 0 nitrites but 1.0 ammonia. Nitrites were 5.0 on 10th August but ammonia still seems to be present. Nitrates are 10. Any ideas please? Thanks in advance.

Have you been adding ammonia daily since your nitrite dropped to 0? You need to add ammonia everytime it drops back to 0 to 1 ppm. Otherwise, your bacteria will begin to die off. Go ahead and take it back up to around 4 ppm and see how long it takes it to come back down. If you have added ammonia daily and your nitrites have dropped to 0, your nitrates should be off the charts high (over 100 ppm) so something isn't right.

 

[nogsnellin]

Thanks rd1952 i ave only added ammonia 3 times but i thought there was still enough at 3ppm to serve the bacteria. I will try adding some more ammonia to bring back to 5ppm.

 

[Egmel]

I was reading this FAQ on the PFK website when I came across the following:

Arguably, organic material, such as a piece of fish or some fish food would be the ideal thing to use, since it would also encourage the growth of the heterotrophic bacteria that break down organic matter into ammonia. These might not be present in the same numbers if you cycle inorganically.

Do people think that it would be a good idea to cycle inorganically (using the nice clean liquid ammonia) and then towards the end of the cycle add a laundry bag with some organic matter in to build up the Heterotrophic Bacteria?

Does anyone know how long it takes to grow Heterotrophic Bacteria?

 

[scubadoo]

AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHHH

This fishless stuff is just soooooo frustrating.
For over 2 weeks everything goes better than anticipated and after adding 4-5ppm of ammonia each day my ammonia is 0, my nitrites are 0 within about 20 hours for almost a week, but I'm not getting any nitrate reading worth talking about.

So at the weekend I add two doses of ammonia 12 hours apart and also added some mopani wood to the tank. By tuesday my nitrites are still 0, but my ammonia wont come down below 1 or 2 ppm. By the way I've now gotten a different nitrate kit and testing with both gave readings of 120ppm and 5 ppm - I'm tending to believe the 120ppm.

I dont know if I've either added too much ammonia, or if the mopani wood has had a detrimental effect on the bacteria. Any thoughts anyone ?

I think I'm going to try a 50% water change tonight and resume the ammonia after that to see what happens.

I just knew it was too good to be true - should have just done a big water change and added fish at the weekend instead of a double dose of ammonia !