Quick Fishless cycle check please

[Slyspy]

Please check if I have the cycle correct since despite the belief of you experts the links above to not explain terribly clearly. I would suggest a point-to-point description of the proceedure. Anyway have I got this right:

1) Set up the tank wih all its gubbins, plants if possible, nice clean chlorine free water etc and set everything going.
2) Bung in some gravel/filter material freshly harvested from a healthy, cycled tank if you can get some as a "bacteria starter pack".
3) Add additive free ammonia of whatever strength you can get until the tester gives you about 5ppm.
4) Add that amount everyday after testing the level of ammonia and nitrites in the tank.
5) When the nitrates spike cut the ammonia to half the dose until tests show that both ammonia and nitrites are zero.
6) Stop adding ammonia, do a 50% or more water change and start adding fish.

Is that about right?

If the tank is cycled before the fish are available do I just leave it or must I add ammonia, fish flakes or something to keep the bactria fed?

Will adding organic matter like fish flakes help speed up the cycle, especially if no "bacteria starter pack" can be sourced?

Is a fishless cycle possible without ammonia but with just organic matter (just in case ammonia is hard to come by in the UK)?

So many questions.............

 

[romiko]

Hi,

Test you water for Natrates (Tap water) I got nitrates in my tap water.

Also rather check when the nitrites spike, they spike before nitrates if the water u added did not contain any nitrates, Also, I put in way too much ammonia the first time, 3ml in a 50 gallon tank should be ok for first dose.

 

[luxum]

1) Set up the tank wih all its gubbins, plants if possible, nice clean chlorine free water etc and set everything going.
2) Bung in some gravel/filter material freshly harvested from a healthy, cycled tank if you can get some as a "bacteria starter pack".
3) Add additive free ammonia of whatever strength you can get until the tester gives you about 5ppm.
4) Add that amount everyday after testing the level of ammonia and nitrites in the tank.
5) When the nitrates spike cut the ammonia to half the dose until tests show that both ammonia and nitrites are zero.
6) Stop adding ammonia, do a 50% or more water change and start adding fish.

Basically correct. Number 5 should say "when nitrItes spike," but that was probably a typo. I also recommend that several times during the cycle you add some fish food so that the bacteria which decompose organic matter can also become established. For number 6 i would modify it, you should do at least a 50% change, but you may need to do larger or multiple changes to get the nitrates to reasonable levels before adding fish, i shoot for under 20ppm personally.

If the tank is cycled before the fish are available do I just leave it or must I add ammonia, fish flakes or something to keep the bactria fed?

Continue to add your half dose and put off the final water change(es) until you are ready to get your fish. The colonies will die back if you stop feeding them ammonia.

Is a fishless cycle possible without ammonia but with just organic matter (just in case ammonia is hard to come by in the UK)?

Yes, but it will be a lot less science and a lot more art due to the nature of adding material to decompose versus adding measured ammonia.

 

[Slyspy]

Cheers guys. The online "guides" were not that clear. An experienced owner might want to do a stage by stage guide as a sticking thread maybe?

 

[washuai]

I'm going to use a bacteria pack. Not a starter pack, the actual bacteria, itself. I'm going with bio-spira. This way, all I do is add the bacteria, a short 24 hour wait and then add fish. I don't know if it's available in the UK, though. However, if you get marineland products, I'll assume it is. I also intend to watch the fish, like a hawk, at first, just in case. Maybe I'll post a thread on my results. I'm keeping a fish journal, but that's real life. Not much of a journal at this point, since I don't have the tank or the fish yet XD

 

[luxum]

Be careful, Biospira can only support a few fish, so you'll have to stock conventionally. You can't fully stock with bio-spira the way you can after a fishless cycle.

 

[washuai]

Thanks, can you stock 6 panda cories in a 10 gal after a conventional fishless cycle? or should I stock less? I was reading on fishless cycling, but the guides didn't have fish number details. I just know that's a number that the creator of the stuff used. Other users that I've read, all stocked much bigger fish, in much bigger tanks and I hadn't actually calculated a ratio.

 

[luxum]

If you are using BioSpira, i wouldn't add more than 3 initially. After a few weeks you could begin to add the rest, one at a time for such a small tank, with a couple weeks between each addition to ensure the tank remains stable.

If you do a hard fishless cycle with ammonia by taking it to 5ppm and then adding that same amount each day (decreasing the dose to half once you see nitrites), when the cycle establishes you could add your full load, so 6 panda cories would be fine. This is advantageous particularly if you don't have a quarantine tank and would like to stock all at once.

 

[washuai]

Well, I'll have a 3 gallon tank, but I won't have a filter or heater for it, I don't think. So, of course, then I won't be able to really use it as a quarentine. If the quarentine tank didn't have cover for the fish, wouldn't that stress them more? Or could I just set up stuff around the outside of the tank so they didn't have to be visible, if they didn't want to be?

the 6 panda cats would be like 3" of fish to start with (unless the new batch, when I get them are larger) You think 3" in a 10 gal is too much for biospira? That's only 1/3