I've Never Done A Fishless Cycle. Help?

[eaglesaquarium]

Shrimp have very little bioload.  Its a bit early to declare being cycled...  I always suggest waiting a few days of double zeros before declaring it cycled.

 

[nikkifro8994]

Ok. I can put one if my platys in if necessary. I'll test it tomorrow afternoon.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Having had a rethink, and a reread of the thread, it probably would be safe to consider it cycled sufficiently for a single dwarf puffer...  Your tap water having to much ammonia in it is a concern though...  

 

[nikkifro8994]

Ammonia is .25 and nitrite is 0. Nitrates are off the charts. I'll do a water change with bottled spring water this afternoon. I'll test the bottled water before I add it and then post the results of the bottled water and the tank after the water change. How much should I take out?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Personally, I wouldn't trust bottled "spring" water.  You can also buy 1 gallon jugs of "distilled water" for less than a $1 in most grocery stores, which would ALSO be far better than trusting the "spring" water.  Another option would be "purified drinking water" as it will be far more reliable and less bacteria laden than the spring water.  The spring water could also be far harder than your current water, adding a whole other complication.  When adding, take your time, as the new water will have a FAR different chemistry than the current water, and the animals will require time to acclimate to the new water.
 
With the nitrates "off the charts" the water change should be as large as possible.  So, for less than $5, you should be able to refill the tank with distilled water and have virtually no nitrates, at all.

 

[nikkifro8994]

I picked up a gallon of distilled water this afternoon. It is purified by reverse osmosis and then distilled.
Test results are:
pH-6
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-0
kh-2
gh-2
 
My tank results are:
pH-~7.6
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-off the charts
kh-4
gh-20
 
I'll test a gallon of purified (not distilled) water that is only purified by RO. I'm concerned with putting this distilled water into my tank. I don't want to kill the shrimp or the bacteria by a huge ph and hardness change. Also, I believe that dwarf puffers need a ph of at least 7 so this water won't work for me.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Wow. Nikki - I feel for you.  I have never heard of that high a level of ammonia coming out of tap water!  Up here in Greenville the ammonia is around 0.25 ppm out of the tap.  But after having read the entire thread I think TwoTank and Eagle have given great advice!

 

[nikkifro8994]

I have a gallon of purified and a gallon if spring water. Hopefully one of these will work. Otherwise I'll get another betta.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, first of all, you can RAISE the pH to whatever level you desire by making some minor additions to the distilled water.  An easy way would be to add your TAP water in strict proportions and you'll learn quickly how to use the distilled water to create the water you want... but it takes a little work to get it right where you want it.
 
 
If you can get your hands on a bit of calcium carbonate - this can be used to buffer the water, raise the pH and the kH of the distilled water without a terrible amount of work.  I'd test a small sample of calcium carbonate powder added to a gallon of water, and measure the pH, kH and gH again.  This would give you a baseline to work with, and as long as you can keep up the water changes with the same solution of calcium carbonate and distilled water, it would be relatively easy to keep the levels safe enough for the fish.  
 
 
The biggest key would be that the additions of water would need to be done SLOWLY so the fish/inverts have a chance to adjust and acclimate to the new chemistry of the water.  I guess your biggest hurdle would be finding a source of pure calcium carbonate and being able to measure it precisely enough to always add the same amount each time to a gallon of distilled water.

 

[nikkifro8994]

Results are in! I tested the tap, my tank, distilled water, purified water, and spring water.
 
Tap:
ph- 7.2
ammonia- ~2.5
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 3
kh- 3
gh- 9
 
Tank:
ph- 7.6
ammonia- .25
nitrite- 0
nitrate- off the charts
kh- 4
gh- 20
 
Distilled Water:
ph- 6
ammonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 0
kh- 2
gh- 2
 
Purified Water:
 
ph- 6
ammonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 0
kh- 2
gh- 2
 
Spring Water:

ph- 6.6
ammonia- .25
nitrite- o
nitrate- o
kh- 10
gh- 13
 

I think the spring water will be my best option, but the ph is still a little low. I will try testing a mixture of my tap and spring water and another mixture of my tap and purified water to see if I can get the ph up without raising the ammonia levels too high.