fishless cycling

schizo_fish

Fish Crazy
Joined
Jun 6, 2004
Messages
265
Reaction score
0
Location
North-East, England
So, i add my amonia to the water everyday until I get a nitrite spike then i reduce the amount until amonia and nitrite are at 0, but then i will have quite large amounts of nitrate in the water...
Would it be a good idea to add a few plants about the time when i get a nitrite spike as to use up any nitrates that are produced???
and also what waste products do plants produce??
 
from what i understand yes you will have large amounts of nitrate but that is fine, as long as they are not over 60, you're good.

as for plant waste, i don't know. i don't think they produce any and if they do i don't think its an issue as i've never heard anyone mention it. but it would also probably depend on the plant.
 
As far as I know, plants photosynthesise (resulting in them taking in CO2 and give out O2) when it's light and respire (resulting in them taking in O2 and giving out CO") when it's dark. This is what we learnt at school and i've never heard of them producing any other waste.

What exactly are your nitrate levels? Nitrates are tolerable to fish in larger amounts than ammonia or nitries but reallyreallyreally huge amounts will still be harmful.
 
adding plants will actually aid in your fishless cycle. it will help to add good bacteria, and well as using up some of the amonia, and nitrites. To keep the nitrates under control just do partial water changes every week unless more frequent ones are neccesary!
 
schizo_fish said:
Are there any other ways of reducing nitrate level?
i thought plants used nitrate as a sort of fertiliser?
You need to do water changes. They are essential. In fishless cycles you don't need to do as large of ones but you still need to do small partial ones. and when you get fish you need to do at least 25% weekly or biweekly, to keep the nitrates down. Plants use up amonia and nitrites which are harmful to fish. Not in large amount but they help. They do not use up nitrates.

Adding water will not add bad chemicles as long as your using dechlorinator.
 
Actually, plants do use nitrates. Whether they prefer ammonia or nitrate depends on the Ph iirc. In order for the plants to use significant amounts of nitrate they have to be growing strong and there must be a lot of them. But you still need to do water changes for both the fish and plants if you have them.
 
Once ammonia and nitrite are zero, you should do a 50 - 75% water change to reduce the nitrate level per this article.

And as with any aquarium 10-30% water changes should be done weekly or biweekly to keep nitrate levels down.
 
By the way, a single large water is likely not enough to get your nitrates back down after a fishless cycle, you may need to do multiple water changes. Keep doing them until you get your nitrates down to something reasonable.
 
how long did after an ammonia spike did it take you guys to get the nitrite spike? my nitrite is still zero...:(
 

Most reactions

Back
Top