My Fishless Cycle Log

[yasinullah]

Should only be a couple more days before you are ready to dose back up to 5 ppm Yasinulla. By that time you may well be seeing zeros on both chemicals by 12 hours so it would be time to increase the dose for a few days before saying the cycle is done and starting your search for appropriate fish. Have you chosen what fish will be the first ones in your tank?

thanks, I'm super confused about what fish to get, I definitely want some neon tetras several months after cycling is complete. Going to read up on more hardy tetra species meanwhile.

I like the look of honey gouramis and guppies in general, though I would have to go with male guppies only. Can both of these be added to newly cycled tanks?

The advice of Zebra danios seems to be a no for a 60l tank as they are very active, so I don't think I'll be going for them after all.

I think a lot more research is in order meanwhile, and will go check out another lfs, to see whats available

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update on cycling:

ammonias still dropping to 0 at 12 hours, and nitrite at 24 hours. Nitrite was ~1.0ppm at 12hrs

 

[OldMan47]

Male guppies make a good addition to a newly cycled tank. In general guppies are quite tough fish as long as they are not the super fancy excessively inbred type. A couple of honey gouramis would also be a nice addition. Knowing what you really like of what you see available can be very important. In the long run, fish that you care for will do better than fish you buy just to fill the tank.

 

[yasinullah]

DAY 19 12hrs
NH3: 0.5ppm
Nitrite: 1.0ppm

slightly dissapointing results today but not too far off than normal, but i think i can put it down to 2 things, 1) i use a 1ml dropper to add ammonia, so I add 2 doses , and then always seem to vary the amount of the 3rd dosing (can never remember how much exactly I need) so end up adding >2ml = ~3.5ppm. I now have a syringe to measure out so should be better now.

2) changed the filter floss pad last night as had turned very brown, I think mainly sand particles caused this.

 

[OldMan47]

If you just removed sand with that pad change then no harm is done. You need to be aware that the bacterial colony we are trying to develop will stain your filter a yellowish brown color so don't change anything just because it has a shade of brown to it. If a filter element is starting to restrict flow, clean it in used tank water if you can. Filter media should not be considered disposable items, they hold the biological filter that you are working so hard to get going.

 

[yasinullah]

It was just the filter floss (white) pad so I thought would be ok, as the flow was slightly reduced.

Today 24hours after adding ammonia, all the ammonia had gone but had about 0.5ppm of nitrite. Added exactly 2mls of ammonia today which according to the calculator should take me upto 3ppm, going to stick with 2mls daily now.

 

[waterdrop]

 

[yasinullah]

DAY 20 12hrs
NH3: 0ppm
Nitrite: 5ppm
Nitrate: >80ppm
pH: 7.6

I think maybe earlier on I was confusing the 5ppm Nitrite at 12 hours for 1ppm. They just look so similar especially with indoor lighting its harder to tell. pH drops to around 7.6, but after adding ammonia, rises back to 8.0.
Nitrates are rising, again hard to tell but looks to be around 80ppm probably higher

Will high nitrates warrant a water change? Thanks.

 

[OldMan47]

Eventually the high nitrates can cause your pH to drop. If that happens, a water change will correct the pH and reduce the nitrates. When the cycle is complete, we always do a very large water change before putting any fish in because the nitrates are very high from processing all the ammonia that you have been adding.

 

[yasinullah]

Eventually the high nitrates can cause your pH to drop. If that happens, a water change will correct the pH and reduce the nitrates. When the cycle is complete, we always do a very large water change before putting any fish in because the nitrates are very high from processing all the ammonia that you have been adding.

kool thanks

noooooo had about <0.5ppm of ammonia after 12 hours, nitrite still off the chart, am guessing it will be a 0 ammonia but a small nitrite reading tomorrow now.

 

[waterdrop]

day 22 is still young for a fishless cycle even though yours seems to be proceeding quickly... there may be some bouncing around that's hard to interpret prior to getting the zeros at 12 hours, so just hang in there --wd--

 

[yasinullah]

DAY 22 12hrs---------------------DAY 23 24hrs
NH3: <0.25ppm--------------------------NH3: 0ppm <<<< added 2.5ml= ~4ppm
Nitrite: 5ppm-----------------------------Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: >80ppm------------------------ Nitrate: >80ppm
pH: 7.6 ---------------------------------- pH: 7.6

upped the ammonia by another 0.5ml, to get the tank upto ~4ppm, got bored of the same old results, but it is still early so must be patient

i can't remember but does the the 0 for nitrite at 12hours happen suddenly or is it more a gradual process? thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Nitrite reaching zero ppm within 12 hours will one day seem to the fishless cycler to be a sudden event. Underneath that observation there is actually a smooth gradual process going on, its just that cell division in bacterial colonies is more or less exponential during the growth phase of their biofilm cycle, so one day the number of "nitrite eaters" will be insufficient, whereas the next day they may have doubled and so will be more than adequate.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[yasinullah]

hopefully will happen soon, but having odd blips as ammonia not always being processed after 12 hours, and same for nitrite in 24hours. Hopefully will stabilise soon.

DAY 23 12hrs---------------------DAY 24 24hrs
NH3: 0.5ppm-----------------------------NH3: 0ppm <<<< added 2.5ml= ~4ppm
Nitrite: 5ppm-----------------------------Nitrite: <0.25ppm
pH: 7.6 ---------------------------------- pH: 7.6

 

[yasinullah]

DAY 25 24hrs---------------------DAY 25 12hrs
NH3: 0ppm-----------------------------NH3: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm----------------------------Nitrite: >5ppm
pH: 7.6 --------------------------------- pH: 7.2

pH dropping further

 

[yasinullah]

darn! messed up big time yday me thinks, decided to do a water change as filter flow slowed again and pH was dropping and nitrates were getting really high >80ppm and I guess I got quite impatient, and every so often the filter would splutter, and was making a louder than normal sound, maybe its trapped sand. Anyway so changed the water about 70%, got paranoid and thought maybe the media would dry out, as it was no longer in water after draining the water out from the tank, so put it in the bucket of old tank water, and noticed lots of brown bits coming away as I lowered the media basket, my precious bacterial colonies?!??!
anyway 24hours later had an ammonia reading of 1 - 2ppm, and 5 hours later this has now dropped to 1ppm.

Was I not supposed to take the media basket out and place it in old tank water?
Am I back to the early stages of cycling again? Looks like I am! I start my new job in August anyway so hopefully, in the next 21 days I'll have caught back up!

thanks