Fishless Cycling

[Mark Thompson]

Hi,

Just after some advice really.....

I have had my 320L tank set up for exactly 1 week now. I decided to try the fishless cycling technique using a product called Biomature (this is just fancy Ammonia really).

I have been adding the Biomature to my tank as stated on the instructions which after 1 week has left me with Ammonia levels at around 5ppm.

Now I realise that with a fishless cycle I am now waiting for the Ammonia munching bacterial to kick-in and turn some of this readily available foodsource into Nitrite. The thing is I am measuring no Nitrite at present which means the colony has not developed, can anyone tell me if this is normal and does it generally take this long for the Nitrite to become detectable?

I realise that once I have the Nitrite I have an even longer wait on my hands for the Nitrite eating bacteria to establish and reduce the level but I just wanted to know I was on-track so to speak.


Cheers
Mark

 

[Mark Thompson]

Add on.......

I just checked the PH and it was at the top end of my high range card, probably about 9.

I know that about 4 days ago it was at 7.5 so for some reason it has gone up, could this have had any impact on my cycle?

Incidentally I just used some PH down to bring the level to 7.5 again.

 

[Dan04COBRA]

I'm assuming this is for a tropical tank?

Personally, I wouldn't fool around with chemicals such as PH Down at all, much less while the tank is in the process of cycling.

My 55 gallon and 29 gallon tanks both fully cycled in less than 72 hours when using Bio-Spira. It could take you a while or it could be a 48 hour process once the Nitrites start showing up on tests.

You have ammonia, so yeah you are in phase 1 of the cycle

 

[Mark Thompson]

I have Ammonia because I added it myself in the form of the Biomature which is just basically Ammonia Salts. The thing is after a week I thought I should be seeing at least some Nitrite.

I did wonder about adding the PH down but I guess it's too late to do much about that now. I was concrned that my PH was so high and that this might be holding things back then I thought maybe it is the Biomature that is so Alkaline.

 

[ox5477]

If you have another mature tank set-up or a friend who has a mature tank(and you trust them to not have any diseases in their tank) then you can take a bit of filter media from either to help jump start your filter. This is just a little shortcut to save some time.

It is normal for your pH to rise like that as the high amounts of amonia will cause this to happen so don't worry. This will be normalized when you do the large water change at the end of the cycle.

Using things like biomature, or bio-spira are not worth it to your tank i don't think. your adding extra things to your tank you don't need. either just wait for bacteria to form on their own (does take a couple weeks, a month or more to fully cycle) or do like I said with the filter media from a mature filter.

 

[campbellmay]

Using things like biomature, or bio-spira are not worth it to your tank i don't think.

Actually, Bio-Spira is the one cycling aid that actually does work, as it contains live nitrifying bacteria. It cycled my 20 gallon in 24 hours, as a matter of fact. You are right about the other cycle boosters, though. They typically only prolong the cycling process. But Biomature isn't a cycle aid, though...I think it's really just ammonia, "specially made" for fish tanks.

What are you using to test the water? If you're using strips, there might be an inaccuracy. Or maybe you just need to hold out for a little longer.

 

[Mark Thompson]

Thanks for the replies.

I am using a master test kit (liquid) to sample my water so it should be accurate.

I just tested again this evening, the Ammonia is still very high at around 5ppm even though I have not added any for 48 hours. I can deduce therefore that at the moment there are none of the Ammonia eating bacteria present as surely otherwise the levels would have dropped.

At the moment I don't think I should be adding even more as I am sure I read that having really high levels might actually slow things down. What do you think?

Nitrite is still at zero so consistant with the Ammonia readings.

You are dead-on, Biomature is just fancy Ammonia and nothing else so I think I will take the advice and go see my friend this weekend who has a tropical setup at home for some gravel which might kick things into life.

Will keep you posted as I test day by day.

 

[Mark Thompson]

Tested again this evening and still nothing doing. Ammonia still at 5ppm and Nitrites at zero. I have decided to cheat and ordered some Bio Spira which should speed things along.

Does anyone know if I should just drain the tank and refill before I add the Bio Spira or leave as is?

I guess the ammonia in the water would be OK as it is food for the Bio Spira.

 

[matchstickgeezer]

Hi there

Dont worry the bacteria will soon be there... maybe another 2 or 3 days when the readings will decrease.

Then you have to wait another few weeks again for the nitrates to turn into nitrates!

 

[Mark Thompson]

Hi there

Dont worry the bacteria will soon be there... maybe another 2 or 3 days when the readings will decrease.

Then you have to wait another few weeks again for the nitrates to turn into nitrates!

So you think two weeks is about average for Ammonia to start processing?

It's like watching paint dry!

Can you tell I am a man of little patience

 

[Tetras]

It's like watching paint dry!

Can you tell I am a man of little patience

Buy yourself a present for distraction and for doing a fishless cycle

 

[scubadoo]

Normally when going through the fishless cycle you would aim to add up to 5ppm ammonia on the first day, so if using your biomature took over a week to get a concentration of 5ppm, you are effectively on day 1.

I have no experience of bio spira, but I believe that it is one of the products that must be kept refrigirated at all times. Therefore dont bother ordering it on the web, and make sure your LFS has kept it correctly.

My tank started processing ammonia in about 3 - 4 days, but it takes a good bit longer for enough bacteria to develop to do it quickly enough, and longer still for the nitrite munchers to grow.

If you can get your hands on some mature filter media (sponge or ceramic media etc) then that should significantly speed the process up.

The only thing I'd say is that watching an empty tank isn't much fun, but watching your new fish die in an uncycled tank whilst changing gallons of water daily is far less fun!

 

[Mark Thompson]

I think half the problem with the biomature is that after adding it daily (as per instructions), after 1 week my Ammonia levels were completely off the chart. It took only a few days to build the levels to 4ppm and I guess on that basis my levels probably ended up being over 10ppm after 1 week.

I gather that concentrations of Ammonia like this are not so condusive to the build up of Ammonia producing bacteria and so when nothing was happening I decided not to continue adding any more.

That was about 3-4 days ago now so I am just waiting to see if anything happens naturally and the levels drop. Tomorrow I am going to pinch some gravel from a friend who has an established tank and I hope that will speed things up a little.

With regards to the Bio Spira I was told by the owner of the fishstore fishstore

" Q: Does BIO-Spira® need to be refrigerated?

A: BIO-Spira® is an active bacteria culture. Refrigeration provides the optimal long-term storage. If BIO-Spira® is left out of the refrigerator at room-temperature, it will still perform at optimal conditions. However, it is best to return BIO-Spira® to refrigeration when possible. Use the following as a guide:
a. Long Term Storage (1 year): 50°F (10°C)
b. Mid Term Storage (6 months): 39°F-87°F (4°C-31°C)

"

Time will tell I guess, I will add it anyway and see what happens.

Thanks for the replies sp far!

 

[Mark Thompson]

OK, yesterday (Saturday) I visited my friend with a mature tank.

He has an undergravel filter and so I pinched about 2-3 cupfulls or gravel from the bottom. I put these in a small plastic chinese takeaway type container (clean of course!) along with some tank water and drove back home with it (10 mins).

I have put the plastic container into my tank and opened the lid, just leaving the container sitting on top of my sand.

Initially lots of muck was thrown up into the water as I dug quite deep while collecting the gravel but the filter sorted this out within an hour.

Should this help speed things up and have I done things correctly and how much would doing what I have done speed things up by?

 

[JoanneH]

Hi, I recently cycled my tank with bio mature - I stopped adding the product after a few days because my reading for ammonia was off the chart. It took 9 days before the nitrites showed and 23 days for the full cycle to complete.
Hope that helps