My Japanese Fishless Cycle

[Koiboyjapan]

Live in Japan and starting my own tank, is is tiny, even by Japanese standards! 32 cm x 18 cm x 23 cm giving me 13.4 litres or 3.4 gallons, (the .4 really counts!!!)

Here is my first report for my fishless cycle: (no Day 1, as I only saw about reporting after it was all set up)...

Day 2:
pH 6.7
Ammonia 0.2 ppm
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 0 ppm

Last night I added some De-Chorination stuff called, Quattro Water (by the company that sells it, actually called Zicra Water by the company that makes it) http/translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http/www.zicra.com/02.goods/01-03.html&sl=ja&tl=en (Google Translate version of Japanese page) Also added two plants...

And this morning I have added Suisaku Live Mat. This is a ready to go bacteria rich filter mat. Have added it in with my original filter matting, as there was plenty of space in the external filter I have set-up. http/translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http/www.suisaku.com/product/filter/eight/ (Google Translate version of Japanese page), Live Mat is amusingly titled "Wed mat work live for eight". Have also added three pieces of wood to the tank...

I reckon my Ammonia levels are super low already, and NO2/3 are also rock bottom, why would this be? It is just normal at the beginning to have low levels of everything?

 

[spectrum]

The cycle should go something like this...
High ammonia ----> Lower Ammonia, High nitrite ----> No ammonia, a little nitrite and a little nitrate ----> High nitrate.

You should probably add a bit more ammonia to get the cycle going, aim for around 5ppm. Yes it is normal to have low nitrites and nitrates. You will know when the cycle is done because there will only be nitrate, this is when you start to add fish and do water changes

 

[Koiboyjapan]

Day 2 (evening test)

pH 7
Ammonia 0.8 ppm
NO2 0
NO3 10


Added some bacteria culture to the tank water, (about the size of a new born baby's thumbnail), on the advice of local fish shop.

Water looks much clearer now than earlier today, white "cloudyness" in the water from the bacteria bloom is abating, (me thinks).

Have a quesiton though...why has the Ammonia and NO3 shot up? Please remember I know nothing about keeping a tropical tank, so a simple, but complete answer would be good...

 

[waterdrop]

The reason your numbers are starting off at zero is because the cycling process has not started yet. The reason the numbers went up a little is probably because you put some dead organic matter (same as adding fishfood) in the tank (bacteria in a bottle products that are older than about 48 hours contain dead bacteria, which is organic material) and the heterotrophic/saprotrophic bacteria that were part of the bacterial bloom processed the organic matter into ammonia.

Fishless cycling is a process that involves a number of actions you must take. In order to have control over which two species of bacteria will grow in your filter, you need to have control over your ammonia amounts. The best way to do that is to use plain pure household ammonia. In the west we find this very cheaply in stores selling cleaning products for the household, such as mops and brooms. The ammonia is pure gaseous ammonia that has been injected into distilled water such that the bottled product is usually about 9.5% ammonia and 90.5% water, also known as aqueous ammonia. We then dose a few milliliters of this to the aquarium (we use a web calculator to get a starting point) and try to bring the ammonia concentration to 4-5ppm as measured by a good liquid-reagent based test kit.

By keeping the ammonia dosing level below 8ppm we encourage the correct autotrophic bacterial species. It can take 2 to 3 weeks for the first dose of ammonia to drop to zero (assuming no mature media seeding of the filter) and between 5 and 9 weeks overall for the fishless cycling process to produce a qualified biofilter. The only systematic way to test a biofilter is to see whether it is able to drop 5ppm of ammonia dosing down to zero ppm of ammonia and zero ppm of nitrite(NO2) within 12 hours or less. If the filter can do this for a week with no water changes and dosing 5ppm each day then it is qualified.

If the products your LFS has sold you are of any help to the biofilter, they will help it pass this test. After watching hundreds of fishless cyclng examples over the years, most of us have grown very skeptical of bacterial starters and helpers and just concentrate on helping beginners get the real basics.

I hope this answers a few of your questions. The members here are usually very friendly and helpful and I'm sure will be glad to help whenever they are online!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Koiboyjapan]

Thanks waterdrop...

Day 3 (morning)
pH 7
Ammonia 0.2 ppm
NO2 0
NO3 10