My Cycle Log (fishless)

[eco23]

ok sounds good. i did just have an idea though. yesterday after the water changes I added fish food. if i added too much (which is definitely possible), would that lower the pH? idk if fish food is acidic enough to do that but it was just a thought

That shouldn't make any difference. I think the pH drop is caused by having low KH to your water. Make sure you're only adding a small pinch of fish food...and grind it up into a fine powder so you don't get mold issues and it can be better dissolved.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

I dosed the ammonia up to 3ppm. Now I need to wait for the cycle to complete and doing water changes when the pH goes to low, right?

 

[eco23]

I dosed the ammonia up to 3ppm. Now I need to wait for the cycle to complete and doing water changes when the pH goes to low, right?

Yep . If you see significant drops in pH...do a large enough one to restore the value from the tap water. The pwc's will restore the nutrients and buffers to the water. Pwc's aren't necessary to do all the time...but with low alkalinity and pH drops it's important to monitor the level and male sure it doesn't crash. If it continues to drop dramatically...crushed coral might be something you need to consider as well...but I don't think we're at that point .

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Okay that sounds good. Do you think I could add my full stocking plan after the cycle is done. It consists of 5 Flame Tetras, 1 Platy, 2 Mystery Snails, and 1 Ghost shrimp. I'm also doing it the way when the Ammonia and Nitrite drop to 0ppm in 24 hours.

Thanks

 

[eco23]

Okay that sounds good. Do you think I could add my full stocking plan after the cycle is done. It consists of 5 Flame Tetras, 1 Platy, 2 Mystery Snails, and 1 Ghost shrimp. I'm also doing it the way when the Ammonia and Nitrite drop to 0ppm in 24 hours.

Thanks

Yep . That's basically the point of doing a fishless cycle at a high ppm of ammonia...it prepares the tank for whatever you throw at it. The only time I'd recommend against it is if you were stocking aggressive fish which needed time to establish territory or hierarchy.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Ok thank you very much.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

August 11

Ammonia 1.5ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrates 20ppm

pH 7.6

What does this mean? Does this mean that my bio-filter can handle 1.5 of ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours? That means tomorrow morning the ammonia and nitrite should be zero. Hopefully I'm Really close to the end!!
I'm wondering if my water change brought the Nitrites down enough to give my Nitrates a chance.

 

[eco23]

August 11

Ammonia 1.5ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrates 20ppm

pH 7.6

What does this mean? Does this mean that my bio-filter can handle 1.5 of ammonia and nitrite in 24 hours? That means tomorrow morning the ammonia and nitrite should be zero. Hopefully I'm Really close to the end!!
I'm wondering if my water change brought the Nitrites down enough to give my Nitrates a chance.

How much ammonia did you add yesterday and at what time? Did you measure what you're nitrItes were after the water change?

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

I added 3ppm of ammonia. Sadly no I didn't measure them after the water change. All I know is that 1.5ppm of ammonia is gone and Nitrites are 0ppm.

I added it at 11:00am after I was done with my water change. I tested the water today at 8:00am

 

[eco23]

Lookin good . We'll see what happens in the next couple days. Just keep doing what you're doing, test every 24 hours and add ammonia when needed. Hopefully we're not too far.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Cool! Thank you so much for helping me though this. I have one last question though (hopefully). This weekend I need to go to my Father-In-Laws house. I'll be spending the night there on Saturday. We are driving up there on Saturday morning at around 7:00am or so. Should I test the water than and add ammonia if needed? I usually add it at 8:00am. Also we're driving back on Sunday night so I'll miss the morning test. Will it be okay without ammonia?

Thanks for your help.

 

[eco23]

Cool! Thank you so much for helping me though this. I have one last question though (hopefully). This weekend I need to go to my Father-In-Laws house. I'll be spending the night there on Saturday. We are driving up there on Saturday morning at around 7:00am or so. Should I test the water than and add ammonia if needed? I usually add it at 8:00am. Also we're driving back on Sunday night so I'll miss the morning test. Will it be okay without ammonia?

Thanks for your help.

That'll be no problem at all, the beneficial bacteria can go quite sometime without food before anything bad happens. Just dose the ammonia up before you go...and hopefully you'll come home to good news.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

I really hope so! I can't express how much I thank you for helping me, you're GREAT help!

 

[eco23]

I really hope so! I can't express how much I thank you for helping me, you're GREAT help!

No problem . You're the one doing all the work...you can hold the thanks until you've got some fish swimming around

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

I hope I get some in there soon. I just need to double my bio-filter and than one more 1ppm of ammonia and nitrite and I'll be done! I hope it gets done sooner than later. In the next 11 days I hope.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

August 12

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrtites 0ppm
Nitrates 30ppm *RE-DOSED TO 3ppm*

pH7.6

 

[maxwellag]

You should test again tonight... it would be interesting to see how much ammonia it processes in half a day.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Thats a good idea. I'll post my results tonight.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

I just did a 12 hour test because I was currious what the reading would be. This is strangely what I got.

Ammonia 1.5
Nitrite 1.5

Are these normal? I was expecting Nitrite to be 0ppm but it shot up for some reason. It seems now that in 12 hours it takes away 1.5 of ammonia and converts it into nitrite. The nitrite right now look like they are being converted. Tomorrow I think that Ammonia will be 0ppm and hopefully the same for nitrites. If the nitrites aren't zero I should still dose right? Would my cycle be done if both of them were zero tomorrow. I don't think it would be safe to add fish though because if they were in there they would've went though that nitrite gain. How do you know when your cycle is done? When you do it the twenty four hour method will the fish still be in there for the nitrite gain? Do you every need to test it twelve hours with your method Eco?

 

[maxwellag]

That means that it processed 1.5 ppm of ammonia in half a day. That is good. Very good. I'd say you are ready to slowly start stocking your tank. But test again in the morning and make sure that the ammonia is below .25 ppm. Also the nitrites will go up depending on how much ammonia you dose. What size is your tank?