Fishless cycle

[The Trooper]

I've dosed my new tank to 4.0 PPM ammonia and i've been checking the water waiting for it to drop, it's been 5 days and remains exactly the same, is this normal?

I have not used any mature media or substrate, all brand new.

Thanks.

William.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Yes. Cycling can take a couple months in some cases. You'll see it drop in time, and just keep dosing it to 4ppm until you see nitrAtes show up

 

[sodbuster95]

Fishless cycling takes time and patience. When I did my most recent tank, it took 29 days for the ammonia to go down, 9 days after that for Nitrite to appear, and then 21 more days for Nitrite to disappear and Nitrate to appear. So, about 60 days from start to finish.

 

[molliwopp]

I've dosed my new tank to 4.0 PPM ammonia and i've been checking the water waiting for it to drop, it's been 5 days and remains exactly the same, is this normal?

I have not used any mature media or substrate, all brand new.

Thanks.

William.

It's normal and could take afew weeks like someone has mentioned. Afew things that may help is rising the temperature of the tank. This will speed up the cycle and allow the bacteria to multiply faster. Once cycled i would drop it to the temp youre going to be keeping fish in and make sure it can still convert the ammonia in 24hrs because the bacteria will conversions are slower in colder temperqtures. Also highly oxygenated water will help speed up the cycle too.

 

[wildroseofky]

You can also greatly speed up cycling by taking the water that you have cleaned out a cycled filter in and pouring it into the new filter. You can cycle in a couple of weeks like that. Maybe someone you know has a cycled tank and you can grab their dirty water pretty quickly and put it in your filter. Or maybe they would be nice enough to give you a piece of their cycled filter media. Watch out for PH drop while cycling. It is the leading cause of stalled or slow cycling. you need to keep the PH up to 7 while cycling. If it drops to 6 the bacteria die. Any time I have read a post stating their cycling is taking forever or has stopped this has been the cause.

 

[molliwopp]

You can also greatly speed up cycling by taking the water that you have cleaned out a cycled filter in and pouring it into the new filter. You can cycle in a couple of weeks like that. Maybe someone you know has a cycled tank and you can grab their dirty water pretty quickly and put it in your filter. Or maybe they would be nice enough to give you a piece of their cycled filter media. Watch out for PH drop while cycling. It is the leading cause of stalled or slow cycling. you need to keep the PH up to 7 while cycling. If it drops to 6 the bacteria die. Any time I have read a post stating their cycling is taking forever or has stopped this has been the cause.

Water holds next to no bacteria but if you could wash a sponge out into a bag and then empty this into your filter or like wildrose said you could use some established media. When i set up my first tank i was 2weeks into the cycle when my lfs kindly rinced a filter of theirs into a bag for me.

 

[The Trooper]

I've got an established tank running, but didn't want to disturb the filter too much, it's a Fluval U2 filter so i can put half the used media into my new canister and replace it with a brand new sponge, i assume this would significantly speed up the process?

 

[pip walters]

I've got an established tank running, but didn't want to disturb the filter too much, it's a Fluval U2 filter so i can put half the used media into my new canister and replace it with a brand new sponge, i assume this would significantly speed up the process?

Excellent idea.

 

[sodbuster95]

I've got an established tank running, but didn't want to disturb the filter too much, it's a Fluval U2 filter so i can put half the used media into my new canister and replace it with a brand new sponge, i assume this would significantly speed up the process?

That would likely speed up the process significantly (though, there are never any guarantees). If you're using the Fluval BioMax media, I might suggest taking about 1/3 of what you have in your established filter and transferring them to the new filter, as well. Replace them with some of the ones that should have come with the new U2 filter. The BioMax media should have a substantial amount of BB on them.

 

[wildroseofky]

That would make your tank cycle in about 2 weeks, maybe less. When I have used the cleaning water method it speeds my cycle up to just over a week. Keep in mind that when you add fish you will have to add just a couple at a time even though the tank will be cycled. That gives the bacteria time to build up to meet the new demand. I had to do that even though I followed the fish in and fish out cycling instructions on here. If you have a healthy filter, removing a little of the material will not cause any problems. I keep a little extra filter media and bio balls in my 4 filters in case I need some for a QT tank or decide to get another tank. Fish keeping gets addictive.

 

[kazman18]

I have a small 10 gallon tank, threw some bacteria in it. Had heater, and air stone going. Went cloudy and cleared up in 3 days. All the test strips were somewhat high. And I decided im not waiting a month, and through a couple white clouds in as I hear their veey hardy during cycling. And it's been a week gunna get a couple tommorow hopefully they dont die on me. BUT they're doing very well. Lol.

 

[The Trooper]

I have a small 10 gallon tank, threw some bacteria in it. Had heater, and air stone going. Went cloudy and cleared up in 3 days. All the test strips were somewhat high. And I decided im not waiting a month, and through a couple white clouds in as I hear their veey hardy during cycling. And it's been a week gunna get a couple tommorow hopefully they dont die on me. BUT they're doing very well. Lol.

Fish in cycling is cool as long as you keep up with tests and water changes. This bigger tank is an upgrade and i don't want to loose any of my current stock, hence fishless.