Water changes during cycling.
- Thread starter Obsessed with fish
- Start date
Oh and by the way, doing water changes during the fishless cycle is not advisable unless you added too much ammonia dosages or if there are problems occurring during the cycle process.
If you do water changes this reduces the ammonia every time and if the BB has not started to be established then this can upset the cycle.
And also using food is not the best method, messy and inaccurate but sometimes this is the only way to produce ammonia especially in places like Australia where it’s nigh on impossible to obtain ammonia.
Using food is difficult at the best of times and more often than not you may get detritus or planeria worms which can be fairly hard to get rid of once the cycle had completed.
IF you can get ammonia then this is advisable but otherwise try your best.
Does your mum use ammonia cleaning products for household cleaning? If she does and it’s basically 100% ammonium hydroxide then that should be fine to use as an ammonia source. Use the ammonia calculator if you see the percentage of ammonia on the household cleaning bottle and your tank volume, pretty straightforward a really.
I’ve used this method before and it does actually work.
If you do water changes this reduces the ammonia every time and if the BB has not started to be established then this can upset the cycle.
And also using food is not the best method, messy and inaccurate but sometimes this is the only way to produce ammonia especially in places like Australia where it’s nigh on impossible to obtain ammonia.
Using food is difficult at the best of times and more often than not you may get detritus or planeria worms which can be fairly hard to get rid of once the cycle had completed.
IF you can get ammonia then this is advisable but otherwise try your best.
Does your mum use ammonia cleaning products for household cleaning? If she does and it’s basically 100% ammonium hydroxide then that should be fine to use as an ammonia source. Use the ammonia calculator if you see the percentage of ammonia on the household cleaning bottle and your tank volume, pretty straightforward a really.
I’ve used this method before and it does actually work.
Why is it not advisable to do a water change and then redose ammonia?
Sometimes a water change is essential when cycling, especially when people are using 4 or 5 ppm ammonia, which produces nitrites and nitrates so high, and depletes KH so much, that the cycle slows down to a trickle or even stalls. There are absolutely no drawbacks whatsoever to changing water during a cycle, and it will speed most cycles up.
Myraan
Fishaholic
In fairness to the Op it's no wonder he fails to follow instructions and advice given "to the letter" because the advice given is so often contradicting advice given by other people. In this thread he has been lambasted for cruelty to pest snails; most other people who have advice about pest snails on this forum get tips on how to trap them followed by instructions to remember to squish them before throwing them away to product the local ecosystem (if you don't have a friendly pufferfish or clown loach to feed them to).
Some advice to @Obsessed with fish - long term you might want a background on your tank to make the fish feel safer, and if you limited with the amounts of plants you can buy, something very fast growing like most floating plants and stem plants would have been more useful than anubias (the one in the pot might want to be attached to wood or something because of the rhizome, but I think you know that).
And saying a test strip telling you nitrite and nitrate is zero is all you need to know is only useful if your tank is already established, but then we we all know that many of the books from 30 plus years ago will suggest cycling your tank with a hardy and cheap sacrificial lamb, hoping for the best, and spread out your stocking over 6 plus months.
Some advice to @Obsessed with fish - long term you might want a background on your tank to make the fish feel safer, and if you limited with the amounts of plants you can buy, something very fast growing like most floating plants and stem plants would have been more useful than anubias (the one in the pot might want to be attached to wood or something because of the rhizome, but I think you know that).
And saying a test strip telling you nitrite and nitrate is zero is all you need to know is only useful if your tank is already established, but then we we all know that many of the books from 30 plus years ago will suggest cycling your tank with a hardy and cheap sacrificial lamb, hoping for the best, and spread out your stocking over 6 plus months.
Can you read my post again please, you are quite correct and I agree 100%, just to clarify I did mention very biefly why -
I have mentioned - "doing water changes during the fishless cycle is not advisable unless you added too much ammonia dosages or if there are problems occurring during the cycle process."
And also - "If you do water changes this reduces the ammonia every time if the BB has not started to be established then this can upset the cycle."
Am not being argumentive and I wrote nothing that contradicts anything in regards to the cycling process, I just did not explain in full details, just wrote very briefly why is all. OK?
Ok. But my point was that a water change during a cycle can only be beneficial, and is often a good thing even when there are no ‘problems’. Cycling at high ammonia and nitrite levels needn’t lead to problems, but a water change is still beneficial.
Most advice says do a large water change at the end of the cycle to remove nitrates. Well if this were done during the cycle it would finish quicker, so water changes during a cycle are often advisable.
NannaLou
Fish Herder
Because she’s trying to cycle a tank really, really quickly, almost instantly quickly, and isn’t following the proper process. Fast growing plants are much better at absorbing ammonia therefore supporting the cycling (and safety) of any living thing being added to the tank.
All plants will do is remove ammonia, thus limiting the growth of bacteria. A quicker cycle would be to have no plants at all, then the bacteria get all the food. They double their numbers every day. Having plants consume the ammonia isn’t cycling.
NannaLou
Fish Herder
Using plants in ‘Silent Cycling’ seems to be a well researched process and successful enough that some people state you can add a shoal of fish almost instantly.
True, but the tank isn’t cycled. It’s using plants instead of bacteria. Cycling a filter means growing a colony of bacteria.
NannaLou
Fish Herder
There is a well documented “Silent Cycle” process that uses fast growing plants. Google.
You’ve already said that in your previous post.
NannaLou
Fish Herder
I did, and if you Google, or read the ‘stickies‘ on here you will find out how it works.You’ve already said that in your previous post.
I do find your manner rather argumentative …
OP
OP
Obsessed with fish
Fish Herder
There anibius plants.
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