Fishless Cycling

[scorphonic]

Hey guys, I am going to be starting up a tank and will be giving fishless cycling a go but have a question that needs answering.

Once the fishless cycle has come to an end and you are at the point where you add the fish, what do you do if you cannot add any fish until 3 or 4 days later. Do you need to keep adding the amonia to keep the bacteria going or can you leave the tank alone without undoing all your hard work. I ask because I can only get down to my local fish store at weekends and knowing my luck the cycle would end on a monday or tueday

Even if I start the cycle tomorrow I dont think it will be ending for a while, so at least I dont need an urgent answer

Mr-Xoc

Yes you must continue to add in the ammonia to keep the bacteria alive when you have finished the cycle. The ammonia will more than likely be consumed in about 8 to 12 hours so remember to add in more ammonia each time. The timing between adding in the ammonia and allowing this to go to zero, and for you to do a water change to remove most of the nitrates and adding in the fish is down to yourself. Just remember that the bacteria will begin to die off after a few hours without ammonia for them to feed off. Dont worry too much about it...you will be fine if you have cycled properly....and by the sounds of it...your well on your way to doing it well!

Check out the people on this site that donate media (bacteria from their filters)...get some of this and your cycle may only take a week...mine only took a week this way!! Otherwise a fishless cycle may only take 3 weeks!!

Best of luck with it!

 

[carronann]

Hi all.

I have set up a quaratine/hospital tank and used some of the water from my other well established tank to start it off. I also took half of the filter media out of the established tank and used it in the new quarantine tank.

After reading the fishless cycle advice page, I am wondering if it was ok to do what have done to set it up? Also, as the quarantine tank hasn't any occupants in it, do I do what the fishless cycle post says and add ammonia daily or when needed etc, or will the tank continue to cycle itself as the water/filter media is well established from the other tank...... or do i add fish flake or anything to keep it going until I may need to use it as a quarantine/hospital tank?

Tis a bit confusing I know

Cal

 

[aquabomber]

Hello everyone,

I decided to do a Add Daily Method. So far I calculated how much ammonia to put in my 18 gal tank to reach 5-6ppm ammonia(160 drops). Correct me if im wrong but tomorrow I will add 160 again, then the day after I will add 160 again until my ammonia reaches 0. Then I move on to the next step. Ill post tomorrow after I add the second 160 dosage.

bomber.

 

[rdd1952]

That is correct. I personally prefer the "Add & Wait" method as I think the other wa puts too much ammonia in at the beginning but people have been able to cycle both ways. I just think the "Add Daily" method takes longer.

 

[aquabomber]

That is correct. I personally prefer the "Add & Wait" method as I think the other wa puts too much ammonia in at the beginning but people have been able to cycle both ways. I just think the "Add Daily" method takes longer.

I Have read your amazing post and understand that AD way is much longer but I plan to house 5 baby aro's and feeders so I need all the bb I can get. I will massive amounts of fish poo when its cycled. Thanks for this post by the way. If you lived in ohio, I'd get ya sh!t faced on me

bomber.

 

[ziggyboy]

I'm still new and cycling my tank but thought someone else would benefit from this. Some people without access to pure ammonia would feed the tank stuff to decay (fish food/dead shrimp/fish). But I have realized that this will put unnecessary dirt in your tank. With fish food I have found this to be a problem since you have to put quite a bit to get enough ammonia.

What you can do is put all your fish food and dead fish/shrimp in a bucket containing dechlorinated water. Don't add daily, put as much dead fish and food as you can. That way you'll get very high levels of ammonia. After 24 hours or so, scoop water from top of the bucket to use in your tank. That way all the crap would remain at the bottom of the bucket. Hope that helps!

 

[dirtydog]

guys I started my cycle 2 or 3 days ago with ammonia at 6ppm ish. im using a 2nd hand canister filter which had wet media in bags when it arrived (im guessing its carbon.)
i tested today apx 48hours after adding the ammonia and its at 0. nitrite also at 0.
could it be there was good bacteria in the filter media or is the carbon getting rid of the ammonia and giving me no nitrite spike? do I need to remove media or do you think my media has good bacteria in it?? how often should I test to check?
the media I have is 4 sponges, 2 trays of balls and 2 bags of carbon.

thanks!

 

[rdd1952]

Whether there was beneficial bacteria in the filter depends on whether it had been running or not. If it had been sitting then there wouldn't be any around. If it was taken straight off another tank, then it would be pretty much cycled. Add ammonia again and see what happens. Test for nitrates. If the ammonia continues to drop without any evidence of nitrite and the nitrates start to rise, then the tank is cycled.

If the ammonia continues to disappear but the nitrates dont, then most likely one of the filter sponges is removing the ammonia and the tank isn't cycling.

 

[aquabomber]

18g tank, Add Daily Method
day 3
third dosage

 

[dirtydog]

Whether there was beneficial bacteria in the filter depends on whether it had been running or not. If it had been sitting then there wouldn't be any around. If it was taken straight off another tank, then it would be pretty much cycled. Add ammonia again and see what happens. Test for nitrates. If the ammonia continues to drop without any evidence of nitrite and the nitrates start to rise, then the tank is cycled.

If the ammonia continues to disappear but the nitrates dont, then most likely one of the filter sponges is removing the ammonia and the tank isn't cycling.

ok i added more ammonia this morning and it has reduced a bit and my nitrites are climbing! currently at around 2ppm, hoorah!

 

[aquabomber]

Adding daily method, day for.. hehe.. I cant wait to get a drop in ammonia.

 

[aquabomber]

I have a question to all.
So far I have a 18g tank doing the add daily method. I have being doing everything right for 4 days now. Today I did something that thought was pretty smart but might be pretty retarded. I had this idea to dechlorinate the water with stress coat so I could use my old filter media to get the BB jump started. Well, after I put in the correct amount of stress coat, the water is still clear but a little bit cloudy. I did not add the other media with BB yet. I have to do a water change in my 55 tank first. Well im off to take care of some nick nacks. I hope by the time I get back there would be a reply so I can either fix the cloudy water, get an OK to add the media with BB or just leave it alone.

 

[rdd1952]

You can definitely add the old filter media to the new filter to jump start it. From the way I read your post, it sounds like you had not put any dechlorinator in the tank when you started. Is that correct? If so, chloramines (if your water has them) could prevent the tank from cycling. The chlorine would have dissipated from the water in about 24 hours anyway so it wouldn't be an issue. Adding the dechlorinator should not have had any effect on the cycling.

 

[aquabomber]

You are correct. Im starting to think that I should have started the add and wait method lol. This is taking so long. Or do you think it would be wise to just empty my water and use water from my 55 gallon tank? Would that cycle faster? I am getting an amazing deal on med size arowana's. I cant wait even though I know that waiting for the cycle would be best.

 

[ziggyboy]

rdd or any other,

If I was to get a 2nd tank, would it be better to use the filter media from my established tank on the new filter/new tank.... OR... have the new filter run on the old tank for a couple of days then move it the new tank?