Cycling a new tank for the first time (fishless).

[imasillymomma]

Hi there!

It may be helpful to see my post in the introduction forum. I am currently attempting to do my first ever cycling of a new tank without fish. I am not adding ammonia and trying to do the whole thing naturally using some of the substrate and decorations from the other established tank that I have. I will also be using one of the filter cartridges from that tank to try to speed up the process.

Here is where I am coming from:

Well water parameters that I started with:
ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
As per advice from another site, I added a small amount of Prime to the water (which I'm beginning to think was a mistake)

4 days into cycle--adding a pinch of food each day
ph: 8.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
NitrIte: .25 ppm
NitrAte: 10 ppm

It is still very early on and I have not seen any type of ammonia spike (I'm testing twice a day). The pH has gone up which I understand is good because that will lead to the ammonia spike. The NitrAte has dropped and I'm assuming that is because of the Prime that was used. However, the NitrIte has gone up and that is what has me confused! How can there be a nitrIte rise when there is no ammonia? Can it be from the media I've added from the other tank? Should I start over?

Thank you for any advice!

~Tammy

 

[toolman]

Without any ammonia your cycle is liable to be a long one. IMHO ammonia would be more natural than fish food because ammonia is produced by fish where fish food is produced by man. The fish food will make it a less efficient cycle, but again that's just my opinion.

The prime wouldn't have done much with nitrates, mainly effective on ammonia and nitrites.

You have your reasons for cycling like you are, and that's fine but I believe your cycle could be slow and very inefficient. Not enough ammonia to feed the bacteria, hope I'm wrong and good luck.

 

[imasillymomma]

Thanks, toolman. I'm open to suggestions to make this go faster if it is possible to do it safely. I've never even bought ammonia before and don't know where to buy it (I know, that sounds silly). I appreciate your feedback!

 

[Barliman]

Thanks, toolman. I'm open to suggestions to make this go faster if it is possible to do it safely. I've never even bought ammonia before and don't know where to buy it (I know, that sounds silly). I appreciate your feedback!

You could get ammonia at a grocery or hardware store, just be sure it's pure ammonia, no additives. Add one drop per gallon and then test your water: you should have between 1-2 PPM of ammonia showing. Test daily and wait until it goes to zero. Then add more ammonia to get to 1-2 PPM again. Rinse and repeat until your water cycles from ammonia through nitrite to nitrate in 24 hours. When that happens, do a big water change (75-90%) and you're ready to go.

 

[fae29]

Thanks for useful info. Just joined. Will be posting questions soon I'm sure

 

[imasillymomma]

Thank you! I'm actually running to the hardware store shortly to do just that. I really want to get this thing cycled ASAP so that I can move these fish into it. I know, patience is key. I just really want to do what is best for these guys! I found an article here that explains how to do the whole fishless cycle so I think I'm good to go! I can't wait to see some changes in these parameters!

 

[imasillymomma]

Progress:

Added ammonia yesterday afternoon(thank goodness I have an Ace hardware 5 minutes away)

Parameters this morning:
pH: 8.4
Ammonia: 4.0
NitrIte: .50
NitrAte: 40

Took old filter cartridge from one of the filters on my 40 gallon and squeezed it out into the new tank, then put it into the filter in front of the new cartridge. Fingers crossed that this works! I'm so excited to get this started and buy a school for my solitary black widow tetra.