Where Am I In My Novice Fishless Cycle?

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yeah you always turn the heater and filter off. Turning it off just before the water change is fine, you don't need to give it time to cool off

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Thanks fingers crossed I'm in a position to do that before fish-shopping v soon!

 

[Easy]

Thanks fingers crossed I'm in a position to do that before fish-shopping v soon!

Man I'm jealous, LOL I can't wait. Ugh and I have this camping trip planned for the 16-19 .......I don't know what I'm gonna do if my cycle doesn't finish by then.....worried.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Another 24 hours, another 0 ammonia and another day of even lower nitrites... 0.1 roughly.......

How many days of this is 'safe' before adding fish??

Should I be testing at 12 hourly intervals now too?

I am so pleased!!!!

 

[Easy]

Another 24 hours, another 0 ammonia and another day of even lower nitrites... 0.1 roughly.......

How many days of this is 'safe' before adding fish??

Should I be testing at 12 hourly intervals now too?

I am so pleased!!!!

I believe so, you need to reach double zero in 12 hr not 24

 

[OldMan47]

As Easy said, you want to see a solid zero for ammonia and nitrites at 12 hours after an addition. You only need add ammonia once a day though.

For a large water change, switch off everything, including the filter, power heads and heaters. Wait a few minutes for the heater to cool down then it is safe to remove all of the water. The hard part is remembering to get it all going again after the water change, and don't forget the dechlorinator. Filters may require a bit of extra attention depending on their design after a water change. Some designs will require priming before you try to start them again.

 

[ShinySideUp]

As Easy said, you want to see a solid zero for ammonia and nitrites at 12 hours after an addition. You only need add ammonia once a day though.

For a large water change, switch off everything, including the filter, power heads and heaters. Wait a few minutes for the heater to cool down then it is safe to remove all of the water. The hard part is remembering to get it all going again after the water change, and don't forget the dechlorinator. Filters may require a bit of extra attention depending on their design after a water change. Some designs will require priming before you try to start them again.

Should you also empty the water from the filter? Why such a large water change though?

 

[4seasons]

As Easy said, you want to see a solid zero for ammonia and nitrites at 12 hours after an addition. You only need add ammonia once a day though.

For a large water change, switch off everything, including the filter, power heads and heaters. Wait a few minutes for the heater to cool down then it is safe to remove all of the water. The hard part is remembering to get it all going again after the water change, and don't forget the dechlorinator. Filters may require a bit of extra attention depending on their design after a water change. Some designs will require priming before you try to start them again.

Should you also empty the water from the filter? Why such a large water change though?

You could empty the water from your filter if you wanted to clean it in the process but depending on the filter it may take some work to get it all primed up and going again. But what you don't want to do is let your filter media go dry or put any chlorinated water on your media.
The large water change is just simple math to remove nitrogen in your water. No matter if it is ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate if you want to cut the levels down, the larger the water change the more of a drop. Most of the time we talk about larger water changes for fish-in cycles when you need to drop the ammonia or nitrite levels fast. But for a fishless cycle when you have finished you have super high nitrate levels. If it is 200ppm nitrate and you only do a 50% water change the most you could drop to is 100ppm which is still to high. Add to that if you have some nitrate in your tap water. If you want to get your nitrates to under 20ppm and you have 10 ppm in you tap you just about have to do a 100% water change to get there. Don't forget that you will still have some water in your filter and substrate that won't get changed so a true 100% water change is not realistic.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Should you also empty the water from the filter? Why such a large water change though?

You could empty the water from your filter if you wanted to clean it in the process but depending on the filter it may take some work to get it all primed up and going again. But what you don't want to do is let your filter media go dry or put any chlorinated water on your media.
The large water change is just simple math to remove nitrogen in your water. No matter if it is ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate if you want to cut the levels down, the larger the water change the more of a drop. Most of the time we talk about larger water changes for fish-in cycles when you need to drop the ammonia or nitrite levels fast. But for a fishless cycle when you have finished you have super high nitrate levels. If it is 200ppm nitrate and you only do a 50% water change the most you could drop to is 100ppm which is still to high. Add to that if you have some nitrate in your tap water. If you want to get your nitrates to under 20ppm and you have 10 ppm in you tap you just about have to do a 100% water change to get there. Don't forget that you will still have some water in your filter and substrate that won't get changed so a true 100% water change is not realistic.

OK, thanks for that.