29G Fishless Cycle

[ddereckl]

Today's readings: ammonia: .5
nitrite: 1ppm

 

[librarygirl]

Are you testing PH at all? Keep an eye on it; PH drops are normal during cycling and if they drop too low (mid-low 6's) it can stall the cycle. I have a feeling you're close to being done though; keep dosing and checking and keep posting results!

 

[ddereckl]

Thanks for the reminder, i completely forgot about pH.
Here are todays readings, i forgot to check last night. Also I dosed what what left of my ammonia last night which was not much.
Ammonia: .25ppm
Nitrite: almost 0
pH: about 7.8-8.
I think i'm going to put in 2 guppies from my other tank and hope they produce enough ammonia to finish the cycle. Which reminds me, I already had a nitrite spike, so why isnt the tank done? Maybe it wasnt really a spike and my mind is going bonkers.

 

[librarygirl]

I think you're pretty close if not already done. Ideally you'd dose a few more days at least; see if you can get nitrites and ammonia to 0. If you really can't get anymore ammonia though I don't see the harm of putting some fish in. Two guppies isn't going to equal 4 ppms of ammonia though, nowhere near, so the bacteria you've built up so far will adjust down to the bioload of the two guppies, so you'll be losing a lot of bacteria. What did you plan to stock the tank with when it cycled?

 

[ddereckl]

Alright, so you are right, 2 guppies isn't enough. So i added 4 more to make 6 guppies, still not enough:
ammonia: 0
So i am going to add my last few guppies remaining (4 more) and 2 corys. I'm thinking of angelfish, african dwarf frog, guppies, more corys, a few tetras. I don't really have an exact idea of the fishes, but i definitely want an angelfish.

 

[librarygirl]

Well it's pretty hard to get enough fish that'll make 4 ppms of ammonia anyway and even if you could you wouldn't want to do it. The amount of ammonia added to the fishless cycle is way more than any fish could produce which is the point (if the tank can zero out 4 ppms of ammonia in 24 hours then it can handle pretty much anything). Since your ammonia was going to 0 within 24 hours anyway you may not even see any ammonia spikes at all (which is a good thing). I'd be more concerned about nitrites showing up as they were up and down during the cycle but that might not even happen. I'd say keep adding fish slowly, test daily for a full week, if nothing spikes then add more fish, etc.

 

[ddereckl]

Alright, so i decided to not add the corys, but all together there are 10 guppies, and the ammonia: 0ppm.
nitrites:0
So what now?

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Alright, so i decided to not add the corys, but all together there are 10 guppies, and the ammonia: 0ppm.
nitrites:0
So what now?

Are you having nitrates show at all?

 

[ddereckl]

Nitrates are 40ppm, im going to do a water change to get it down as low as possible.
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0