First of all I'd never heard of a fishless cycle till I found this message board and took the time to read the pinned topics in the beginner section. Something all new members should do and once in a while maybe some of the older members should re-read.
I decided to fishless cycle my 46G bow front that has 2 301 powerheads and a fluval 304 cannister filter. This had previously been an oscar setup but I tore it down after they died of HITH.
My first task was finding ammonia which proved to be rather difficult till I discovered wal-mart and their 97cent bottle of pure ammonia.
The first night I took a filter cartridge from my 5G hex and threw it in the tank. I added 2 TBSP of ammonia which brought my levels up to 8ppm
Next day and actually the next few days I saw no noticable change in my ammonia levels and didn't see the drop till 3 days later when it registered 4ppm. I added the same ammount of ammonia and didn't see any change again for 2 days.
After those first few times I started seeing regular drops in ammonia levels and started registering nitrites. At this point I changed from 2Tbsp to 1.5Tbsp of ammonia as I wanted a very hardy bacteria base.
I kept checking ammo levels every day for the next 2 weeks. At about the 2 week point I could reliably add 1.5Tbsp of ammonia to my tank and within 18 hours have a reading of 0ppm NH3/4. However my nitrites were OFF the scale.
In fact my nitrtite test was showing me colors that don't exist in nature. Finally about 3 weeks into the cycle I finally registered a nitrite reading it was 8ppm.
Most people would be horrified to see nitrite this high I was jumping for joy.
I continued with teh 1.5Tbsp of ammonia and the next day I registered 2ppm of nitrite. The following day I finally hit 0ppm nitrite. I continued my ammonia cycle and for 3 days in a row I was getting 0 ammonia 0 nitrite. I knew I could finally add fish.
I next tested the nirtate. I had previously tested it a few times here and there throughout the cycle to make sure things were on track. The nitrate registered somewhere above 200ppm. So I went to my LFS and bought 4 amazon sword and 3 large bunches of hornwort and put them in the tank. I knew my LFS's got their fish shipments the next day so I prepared for my large water change.
I readied 35 gallons of water in a large rubermaid tub. I let it sit overnight with decholrinator so it would get to room temp since it was hard to get that much water ready and have it warm enough.
I drained my tank into another rubermaid bucket using my gravel siphon then used a small electric subersible sump pump to put the 35 gallons of fresh water back into the tank I also changed the carbon packs in the filter. I let it run for an hour then tested the water. I had PH 6.8 NH3/4 0, NO2 0 NO3 ~80. I decided to go get some fish. I added about 30" of fish that first day. Not everyone survived throug the night but I found out later it was due to agressive danios and badly inbred specimens of neons from one partcular LFS.
for the next 36 hours I did a 5 gallon water change every 12 hours just to help continue to get the NO3 levels down. Now 1 week post cycle my PH is 7.0(without chemicals) NH3/4 0, NO2 0, NO3 10ppm. The plants really have made a huge dent in the nitrate levels. All the fish are happy and I have the pleasure of introducing everyone at the same time which really helped in them sorting out territories and such more amicably than if I added 2 fish per week over the course of a few months.
Total time from when I put water in the tank to putting fish in the tank was 3.5 weeks and for such an active lively tank I couldn't ask for a better solution. It also was considerably less work then having to do 50% water changes every day and worrying about if my fish were going to live while the ammonia and nitrite spiked. I also have the peace of mind knowing that I have a very robust bed of bacteria in the tank and that the water should remain very stable even as I add more fish.
Thanks for listening.
--Kyle
I decided to fishless cycle my 46G bow front that has 2 301 powerheads and a fluval 304 cannister filter. This had previously been an oscar setup but I tore it down after they died of HITH.
My first task was finding ammonia which proved to be rather difficult till I discovered wal-mart and their 97cent bottle of pure ammonia.
The first night I took a filter cartridge from my 5G hex and threw it in the tank. I added 2 TBSP of ammonia which brought my levels up to 8ppm
Next day and actually the next few days I saw no noticable change in my ammonia levels and didn't see the drop till 3 days later when it registered 4ppm. I added the same ammount of ammonia and didn't see any change again for 2 days.
After those first few times I started seeing regular drops in ammonia levels and started registering nitrites. At this point I changed from 2Tbsp to 1.5Tbsp of ammonia as I wanted a very hardy bacteria base.
I kept checking ammo levels every day for the next 2 weeks. At about the 2 week point I could reliably add 1.5Tbsp of ammonia to my tank and within 18 hours have a reading of 0ppm NH3/4. However my nitrites were OFF the scale.
In fact my nitrtite test was showing me colors that don't exist in nature. Finally about 3 weeks into the cycle I finally registered a nitrite reading it was 8ppm.
Most people would be horrified to see nitrite this high I was jumping for joy.
I continued with teh 1.5Tbsp of ammonia and the next day I registered 2ppm of nitrite. The following day I finally hit 0ppm nitrite. I continued my ammonia cycle and for 3 days in a row I was getting 0 ammonia 0 nitrite. I knew I could finally add fish.
I next tested the nirtate. I had previously tested it a few times here and there throughout the cycle to make sure things were on track. The nitrate registered somewhere above 200ppm. So I went to my LFS and bought 4 amazon sword and 3 large bunches of hornwort and put them in the tank. I knew my LFS's got their fish shipments the next day so I prepared for my large water change.
I readied 35 gallons of water in a large rubermaid tub. I let it sit overnight with decholrinator so it would get to room temp since it was hard to get that much water ready and have it warm enough.
I drained my tank into another rubermaid bucket using my gravel siphon then used a small electric subersible sump pump to put the 35 gallons of fresh water back into the tank I also changed the carbon packs in the filter. I let it run for an hour then tested the water. I had PH 6.8 NH3/4 0, NO2 0 NO3 ~80. I decided to go get some fish. I added about 30" of fish that first day. Not everyone survived throug the night but I found out later it was due to agressive danios and badly inbred specimens of neons from one partcular LFS.
for the next 36 hours I did a 5 gallon water change every 12 hours just to help continue to get the NO3 levels down. Now 1 week post cycle my PH is 7.0(without chemicals) NH3/4 0, NO2 0, NO3 10ppm. The plants really have made a huge dent in the nitrate levels. All the fish are happy and I have the pleasure of introducing everyone at the same time which really helped in them sorting out territories and such more amicably than if I added 2 fish per week over the course of a few months.
Total time from when I put water in the tank to putting fish in the tank was 3.5 weeks and for such an active lively tank I couldn't ask for a better solution. It also was considerably less work then having to do 50% water changes every day and worrying about if my fish were going to live while the ammonia and nitrite spiked. I also have the peace of mind knowing that I have a very robust bed of bacteria in the tank and that the water should remain very stable even as I add more fish.
Thanks for listening.
--Kyle
Good luck! I did the Fishless Cycle on my 46 gallon tank and brought a water sample to Petco! They employee said that there is no way a fish could survive with the ammonia this high, but I told her that the tank wasn't stocked yet. I think she got a little confused! 
