My Fishless Cycle!

[Ape-man]

FISH-LESS CYCLE OVER... I just hasn't worked... Simple as that!

I did speak to a guy who lives in the same village as me and he said that he tried fish-less cycling his new tank a couple of years ago and he also couldn't get it to work... He said it was something to do with a high calcium content in our water (hence the high pH), and when mixed with household ammonia, it turns it into a salt (or something, didn't quite understand, he studied chemistry at university so he understands all that stuff!)...

Anyway, tomorrow I am emptying the tank giving it a good clean and starting a fish-in cycle, I will start a new thread for my fish-in cycle.

 

[waterdrop]

That's kind of interesting. I wonder, doesn't Salifert have a calcium-only test kit? (or maybe I'm just imagining they have one for every substance known.. it sometimes feels that way.) Sure would be interesting to know if the calcium content was unusually high...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Lots of people make GH test kits which measure calcium and magnesium total in the water. I don't know how you would differentiate one from the other though WD.

If you are going for a fish-in cycle, the least you can do is retain whatever benefit you have from working with the fishless cycle. Why reset everything to zero when you may have made significant progress. It will cost you less effort in the long run if it takes less time to finish the fish-in cycle.

 

[FISH-FRY]

Hi

I have been Fish-less cycling for a week now... Initially I was only testing ammonia, when that started dropping I started testing for Nitrite. Everything seems fairly normalish: Ammonia seems to be slowly dropping an nitrite slowly rising.

Now, my concern is that the ammonia seems to have plateaued at 2ppm, and Nitrite at 0.25ppm for the last few days! But even more concerning is that the Nitrate seems to have shot through the roof! Anyone got any ideas? Please help!


My other thread with other questions te be answered:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/312544-ideas-advice-suggestions-please/page__st__20

Thought I would add my results as I get them:

My tap water: Ammonia: 0ppm, Nitrite: 0ppm, Nitrate: 30ppm, pH: 7.6

Tank: No lights, 28-29 deg C, Fluval-U2 Filter(needs some more Bio-max, got some on order), couple of fake plants, will hopefully add some real ones once cycled!

Cycle started: 20th December 2009
Day1: Ammonia:0ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, Nitrate:0ppm, pH:7.4. Added 4ppm ammonia.
Day2: Ammonia:4ppm ~ water gone cloudy!
Day3: Ammonia:3-4ppm
Day4: Ammonia:3ppm
Day5: Ammonia:3ppm, Nitrite:0-0.25ppm ~ water cleared up.
Day6: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm
Day7: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm
Day8: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm, Nitrate:20ppm, pH:8
Day9: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm, Nitrate:30ppm
Day10: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm ~ Still no change!
Day11: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.4(ish)ppm ~ Yay, Nitrate is rising ... Boo, Ammonia isn't dropping!
Day12: Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite:0.4(ish)ppm
Day13: Away from home... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Day14: Away from home.. Still drunk!!
Day15: Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite:0.5ppm ~ Still no drop in ammonia, am I doing something wrong?
Day16: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.5ppm, Nitrate:40ppm, pH:8 ~Turned air pump on to try and get some oxygen in their!
Day17: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.5ppm, pH:8
Day18: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.5ppm ~ Grrr still no change in my ammonia reading!!
Day19: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0.75ppm, pH;8.2
Day20: Ammonia:2ppm, Nirtite:1ppm
Day21am: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:1ppm ~ Done 50% water change, ammonia down to 1ppm, added 2.5ml of ammonia.
Day21pm: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm, pH:8.2
Day22: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm, pH:8.2
Day23: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:1ppm, pH:8.2
Day24: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:1ppm, pH:8.2, Temp:29.3C, Got a new digi thermometer today.
Day23: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:1.5ppm, pH:8
Day25: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:1.5ppm, pH:8
Day26: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:1.5ppm, pH:8
Day27: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:2ppm, pH:8
Day28: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:2ppm, pH:8
Day29: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:1.5ppm, pH:8, Nitrate:40ppm, Temp: 28.3C ~ Strange drop in nitrite!! ... My last reading for 4 nights...
Day30: Holiday
Day31: Holiday
Day32: Holiday
Day33: Holiday
Day34: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, Nitrate 20ppm, pH:8, Temp: 27.3C ~ Where's all my Nitrite Gone???
Day35: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8, Temp: 28.9C
Day36: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8.2
Day37: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8
Day38: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8.2
Day39: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8.2
Day40: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8.2 ~ "filter booster" added
Day41: Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:8.2
Day42~Day48 Ammonia:4ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH8.2
Day49: 95% water change done, 2ppm Ammonia added, Nitrite:0ppm, pH 7.6
Day51~Day64: Ammonia:2ppm, Nitrite:0ppm, pH:7.6 NOTHING IS HAPPENING!!!!!

Wow over 2 months of wasted time. What did you wind up doing and are you up and running with a living tank now?

 

[BettaBoysGirl]

sorry