My cycling fun

[Angrybeaver]

So today makes 28 days of my adventure into trying to get my tank cycled. I had already started down the fish I'm cycling before I learned about fishless. At first I struggled to get any ammonia to read in my tank so I ended up get a few more fish as needed.

As of now I have 7 glofish tetras and a single gloshark. Ammonia has increased slowly and has been easy enough to manage. I did find out that my tap water ph fluctuates since they get it from several locations. When I started the source was 7.4-7.6 now after a few water changes (small each to reduce impact on cycling) it appears to be in the 6.8 range.

After sewing no nitrites or nitrates after 25ish days I added 2 bottles of tetra safestart plus (I used seachem stability when I started which apparently doesn't have the right bacteria) now after about 2 days I am seeing this.

Ammonia 1ppm (free ammonia is under .02 according to my badge which at my ph makes sense)

Nitrites are still at 0

Nitrates appeared for the first time yesterday and are holding at 2-3ppm (my tap doesn't show any nitrates when tested)

So now I am at a loss. I am about a month in with no sigh of nitrites, but there must be potentially low levels for nitrates to show up. I guess it is possible the nitrate producing bacteria from the bottle is just more established than the nitrite one so I am not seeing nitrites, but even then it must be a very small amount since I haven't seen ammonia drop.

Either way I know the cycling can be slow, but I fully expected to have seen at least some nitrites by now.

I did get a much better canister filter that also holds a ton of media, but I also put all the filter media from my old one in the new one (only filled about 1 tray out of 5) then just added a bunch of seachem matrix to the other free trays minus the one I used for my medium and high density foam on the bottom.

Anyways just curious if I am missing something or if I just need to keep waiting it out.

Oh and I have turned off all my air stones since my new pump caused enough surface agitation to make them pretty pointless.

 

[Slaphppy7]

So, you are doing a fish-in cycle?

What kind of test kit are you using?...what kind of water conditioner?

 

[Angrybeaver]

I am using the api test kit and the api conditioner. When I first noticed a ammonia jump I did do a couple days of using prime ti get it under .25ppm over several days and water changes, but this was before I understood more about ph and free ammonia.

 

[Slaphppy7]

API Tap Water Conditioner?

 

[Angrybeaver]

API Tap Water Conditioner?

Yes

 

[Slaphppy7]

Any time ammonia is present, a WC is in order.

You don't need the SafeStart, and you don't need 2 water conditioners, either...they both do the same thing

Read more on fish-in cycling here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-i.433769/

 

[Angrybeaver]

Any time ammonia is present, a WC is in order.

You don't need the SafeStart, and you don't need 2 water conditioners, either...they both do the same thing

Read more on fish-in cycling here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-i.433769/

I don't "need" it you are correct, but after no nitrite movement in almost a month I was trying to jump start the process.

I am not really using 2 conditioners. I treat my tap water with the api water conditioner to remove chlorine. I used the prime for a few days to de-toxify the ammonia so I could slowly remove it by small daily water changes (20%).

Another problem is going to be that ammonia is always going to be present until the nitrites show up. So I am having to play a balancing act of having enough for the bacteria to develop while also a low enough amount that it isn't toxic to my fish.

I guess my concern is the fact i have still not seen any measurable amount of nitrites in 28 days. Though I am for some reason seeing nitrates now.

 

[Slaphppy7]

In some cycles, the nitrIte phase happens so quickly, you never see them

Prime doesn't "remove" ammonia, it renders it non-toxic, just like the API will do

Don't fret over not seeing nitrItes...concern yourself with ammonia levels finally becoming zero, as the the beneficial bacteria finally grows large enough to handle the load

 

[Essjay]

Prime detoxifies nitrite and ammonia for somewhere in the region of 24 to 36 hours, then they become toxic again. The best way to use Prime during a fish-in cycle is to do large daily water changes and Prime will keep the fish safe between one water change and the next.

 

[Angrybeaver]

well a quick update. Today makes #32. My readings today are .4 ppm ammonia, .25 nitrite, and 7.5ppm nitrate.

today was the first day i was able to see an actual nitrite value. So going to just dose prime daily with small water changes 20-25% every other day to every day as needed to keep levels down, but seems like I am on the home stretch now. Should hopefully see ammonia go to 0 over the next few days and watch nitrite climb until the bacteria coverting it to nitrate is able to grow enough to handle it.

Then my journey to see if the anaerobic bacteria really forms at any meaningful level on the biochem matrix media. I still think it is going to be mostly snake oil as no actual studies or tests outside of user claims have backed it actually being true.

Thank you all for your help and patience.

 

[Essjay]

You shouldn't really dose Prime to the tank like a medication; it should be added to the new water at a water change.
If ammonia and/or nitrite read above zero, a water change should be done that day and Prime used as the water conditioner. This will keep the fish safe if the readings go up again.
Water changes are the important thing here, not adding Prime every day.

 

[Angrybeaver]

You shouldn't really dose Prime to the tank like a medication; it should be added to the new water at a water change.
If ammonia and/or nitrite read above zero, a water change should be done that day and Prime used as the water conditioner. This will keep the fish safe if the readings go up again.
Water changes are the important thing here, not adding Prime every day.

Is it even possible to keep them at 0 or close to it when doing a fish in cycle? Will it disrupt the cycle from being able to complete?

 

[Essjay]

Ammonia and nitrite need to kept as near to zero as possible. Yes the tank will cycle, but slowly. Fish-in cycling is a compromise between keeping the levels low enough to keep the fish safe, and high enough to grow the bacteria faster. Most of us prefer the slow safe end.

 

[Angrybeaver]

Well I am on day 40 or 41 (don't have my sheet to check lol)

I think my tank is cycled or extremely close haven't seem ammonia or nitrite in days. Though I have no been battling brown algae even after running 10-12 hrs of light.

This last one was the second so I soaked all accessories for 15+ minutes in a 50/50 white vinegar mix. I squeezed and rubbed down all the fake plants, for the structures I gave them a good toothbrush scrub. The gravel was brown so I took a vacuum to it and got the vast majority but some rocks still have a little brown on them that won't come off. I also for good measure added a 210/gph uv light/filter combo that is suppose to handle an 80 gallon tank.

Who knew fish keeping would be so fun ( I enjoy fixing and solving problems)

 

[wgoldfarb]

The brown algae you are seeing is most likely diatoms. They are very common in newly setup tanks. They are caused by silicates in the water and wiwill usually go away on their own after 2 or 3 weeks.