Fishless Cycling

[worldboy79]

I am starting a 29 gallon tank with fishless cycling. I added ammonia every second day, and the level really rose, then suddenly dropped to zero. So far so good. The problem is, at the time the ammonia was rising, the nitrite level also rose, and has stayed high for approx 5 weeks.

It is getting a bit discouraging, but I did do a very minor water change, just to clean some gunk off the tank bottom and hopefully try to jumpstart things.

Anyways, I guess I am more venting, or asking has anyone had any problems with the high nitrite and did they do anything to overcome it or just wait? I know patience is the key, but I did start this whole cycling with filter material and rocks from my tub pond, so I am surprised it has dragged on as long as it has.

Many thanks,
Glen

 

[Lithril]

Yup I had a similar problem I used seeded filter material and the ammonia dropped with a couple of days but the Nitrite was still high after 3 weeks, turned out I was adding about 10 times the recommended amount of ammonia to the tank. Did a 70% water change and reduced the amount of ammonia I was adding, Nitrite went up then dropped to 0 within a couple of days.

 

[semper fi]

when you sucked the gunk off the bottom did you stick the cleaner into the gravel? if so, you may have removed some of the bacteria when it was still forming and delayed the cycling process.

when cycling new tanks, i do a water change of about 10% every week. don't go into the gravel though.

 

[worldboy79]

Thanks for your help guys. No, I didn't really clean the gravel all that much, only to get rid of visible decaying plant material and some algae. I forgot to mention that I put some plants in there and they've been losing leaves so I tried to clean a bit of that.

I haven't been doing water changes up to now as I read not to. Still, it's probably a good idea, as long as precautions are taken (use dechlorinated water, etc.)

I will see what happens today, maybe do a bit more of a water change. The good thing is I know the aquarium can handle the ammonia that the fish may produce, and it must be somewhat handling the nitrite, even if the level hasn't gone down. (those test kits are hard to interpret sometimes.)

Just an additional question. I want to add an apple snail. Do they/should they be quarantined just like any new fish would be?

 

[Lithril]

Not sure about the quarantine although if you've got the tank for it then it can't hurt.

If you want to find out if your tank has started cycling nitrites then buy a NitrAte testing kit, this is the end product so if your nitrate is rising then you're almost there.

 

[semper fi]

plants should not be introduced until the nitrates have risen. plants feed on nitrates in the aquarium. no nitrates, no food for plants, plants wither. decaying plant matter will cause your ammonia levels to rise and the cycling to get out of whack.

faster growing plants require larger amounts of nitrates than slower growing ones.

 

[lizard]

If you want to find out if your tank has started cycling nitrites then buy a NitrAte testing kit, this is the end product so if your nitrate is rising then you're almost there.

Yay!! Then my tank should be almost done cycling (I think)! The nitrAte levels have been going up, but so have my nitrIte levels. Is that normal? Over the last week my ammonia has gone to to less than 0.5ppm (or to zero, depending on which test I use), my nitrAtes have gone from about 20ppm to close to 40ppm, and my nitrItes have been between five and 10ppm. Do I need to do a large-than-usual water change soon?

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[semper fi]

were your nitrites higher than what they were? if they are going down and stabilizing along with the ammonia it is nearing the end of the cycling process.

some people experience a biological bloom that signals the end of the cycling process. basically the tank water turns cloudy like someone dumped milk into it. it clears up in a few days.

 

[aquamanis]

plants should not be introduced until the nitrates have risen. plants feed on nitrates in the aquarium. no nitrates, no food for plants, plants wither. decaying plant matter will cause your ammonia levels to rise and the cycling to get out of whack.

faster growing plants require larger amounts of nitrates than slower growing ones.

Cant plants use ammonia directly as a food source too?

 

[worldboy79]

Thank you to everyone for their help. So, I did that water change, maybe 4 gallons out of 29. Two days later I test and the nitrites have gone from very high levels to almost nothing.

I then added more ammonia. My tests indicate that after adding the ammonia by the next day it’s dropped to zero, but it takes two days for the nitrite to go down to zero. But I admit I put a higher dose of ammonia in error. (In theory I guess the second bacteria can’t convert nitrite to nitrate until the first bacteria has converted ammonia to nitrite.) Anyways, it appears we are getting there. Last night I added just the regular dose of ammonia and today we’ll see how much nitrites are left 24 hours later. What is a reasonable time frame for the nitrites to disappear?

Regarding the water change before adding fish, what’s a reasonable amount (90%?) Also, I wouldn’t mind rinsing out the filter media just to get rid of debris but maybe I should wait until next week for this (not do it at the same time as the water change as not to disrupt the good bacteria too much.) I do realize the proper way to clean the filter media but maybe it’s best to leave well enough alone for now?

Thanks for everyone’s help and encouragement.

 

[Lithril]

The article I read on fishless cycling suggested a 70% water change at the end of cycling, this is mainly to bring the the Nitrates down (mine were way off the scale.)

HTH

 

[worldboy79]

The nitrite and ammonia levels stayed at zero for a few days, so I did a 70% water change with proper temperature/dechlorinated water and then added the fish.

They say that one of the nice things about fishless cycling is that you can add all your fish immediately, but I think you can still get an ammonia or nitrite spike if the fish produce more ammonia than you've been adding to the aquarium. I mean, how do we really know how much a fish adds on a daily basis? Anyways, if a spike should happen, is there an acceptable ammonia level, or at any sign of ammonia should I immediately do a 10% water change (and continue it daily until it goes down?)

I guess the difference now is that the fish are gradually adding ammonia throughout the day, instead of me adding a whole bunch of drops all at once.

I also guess I should only feed them little for a few days?