Fishless cycling

[Essjay]

Those readings were because not enough ammonia had been added to grow enough bacteria. The OP is now well into a fishless cycle and is waiting for ammonia to drop after adding the correct amount of ammonia.

 

[Tyler777]

This is good, it's getting less which means the your first cycle is coming to an end. Do you have plants in the tank? Plants will take up ammonia and nitrite, which explains why your nitrite and ammonia levels dropped.

No plants. Was told plants would die

 

[Tyler777]

This is good, it's getting less which means the your first cycle is coming to an end. Do you have plants in the tank? Plants will take up ammonia and nitrite, which explains why your nitrite and ammonia levels dropped.

No plants. Was told here live plants would die at this time. My post u answered is old, the last post shows ammonia n nitrites at 2.0 ppm

 

[yzaylakeepsfish]

No plants. Was told here live plants would die at this time. My post u answered is old, the last post shows ammonia n nitrites at 2.0 ppm

Yep, I was trying to reply to that post in particular.

No, plants will thrive because you have a lot of ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. After getting the nitrites and nitrates from bacteria, they have to go somewhere, which is to plant intake.

 

[Tyler777]

Yep, I was trying to reply to that post in particular.

No, plants will thrive because you have a lot of ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. After getting the nitrites and nitrates from bacteria, they have to go somewhere, which is to plant intake.

I see. Thanks

 

[Essjay]

It is advisable to do either a plant cycle with a lot of fast growing plants and no added ammonia OR a fishless cycle using ammonia and wait until the cycle has finished before adding plants.

Fishless cycling involves having a lot of ammonia in the water for days or weeks as you are finding. Many plants cannot cope with this level of ammonia for days/weeks. Once the tank is cycled and fish are in there they will make ammonia in tiny amounts 24 hours a day and the bacteria will remove it as fast as the fish make it so the level will never read above zero. Plants cope well with this.

During fish-in cycling, it is advisable to add plants as they take up ammonia as fertiliser and help to lower ammonia to keep the fish safe. However, Tyler is not doing a fish-in cycle, he is doing a fishless cycle adding ammonia so plants should be left till after the cycle has finished,

 

[Tyler777]

Ok I tested the tank today n nothing changed. Ammonia 2.0 ppm nitrites 2.0 ppm.

Any way to make this faster ? I have fish in different tanks waiting to go into that tank AND I'm getting frustrated waiting the cycl8ng to be done

 

[Essjay]

The only ways I know of are #1 add a bacterial starter which contains the right bacteria (Dr Tim's One & Only or Tetra Safe Start) and #2 put some mature media in the filter.

You have tanks with fish already. If they've been running for more than 6 months, you can transfer some of the media from those tanks. It is safe to remove up to a third of the media in the other tanks, the bacteria numbers will soon make up the loss. Just remove some media from the tank you are cycling and put the mature media in its place. Sponges can be cut to make them fit; if all the filters have ceramic media, the old can be mixed in with the ceramic medium in the cycling tank.

 

[Tyler777]

The only ways I know of are #1 add a bacterial starter which contains the right bacteria (Dr Tim's One & Only or Tetra Safe Start) and #2 put some mature media in the filter.

You have tanks with fish already. If they've been running for more than 6 months, you can transfer some of the media from those tanks. It is safe to remove up to a third of the media in the other tanks, the bacteria numbers will soon make up the loss. Just remove some media from the tank you are cycling and put the mature media in its place. Sponges can be cut to make them fit; if all the filters have ceramic media, the old can be mixed in with the ceramic medium in the cycling tank.

Ok thanks

 

[Tyler777]

Ok thanks

Ok I half dozed the tank with quick start by Api last nite n the results today were

Ammonia 1.0 ppm
Nitrites still 2.0 ppm.

I dozed the other half just now n will test again tomorrow

 

[Essjay]

The API bottled bacteria may help with ammonia but it contains the wrong nitrite eaters so it won't help with nitrite.

add a bacterial starter which contains the right bacteria (Dr Tim's One & Only or Tetra Safe Start)

 

[Tyler777]

The API bottled bacteria may help with ammonia but it contains the wrong nitrite eaters so it won't help with nitrite.

So what should I buy to use ?

 

[Tyler777]

So what should I buy to use ?

Never-ending, I just re read ur text

 

[Essjay]

TwoTankAmin, who has done a lot of research on the subject, posted recently that his preferred bottled bacteria is Dr Tim's One & Only. If he says that, I'd go with it.

TwoTankAmin said -

Dr. Hovanec and Tetra share the patent on Nitrospira. However, they do not share the methodologies for bottling it. That is why I prefer One & Only over Safe Start.

 

[Tyler777]

TwoTankAmin, who has done a lot of research on the subject, posted recently that his preferred bottled bacteria is Dr Tim's One & Only. If he says that, I'd go with it.

TwoTankAmin said -

Thank you