Cycling query

[Lee31uk]

Hi guys..
Im currently into 4th week of doing a fishless cycle.

now for the first week all i did was add a few flakes to my water and squeezed the sponge from my matured tank into the new tank and also swirled my bag of seeded media around the tank for a few mins and left it at that for a week or so.

I then read up abit more and found that 1 of the most popular ways to cycle a new tank is to add an ammonia source.
For this a chose a popular product from amazon that people seem to use.
I added around 4ml which i then left for it to mix into the tank then took a reading.

The ammonia measured at around 4ppm which ive heard is spot on, i then left for about 4-5 days then measured again, it was around 1.0-2.0 ppm and the nitrites went from 0 to 0.50-1.0 and nitrates went from 5.0ppm to 20ppm.

Now ive just taken a reading and this is how it looks

Ammonia 0-0.25

Nitrites higher than readable

Nitrates 80-160 ppm (highest on chart)

Now to me it seems the cycling is well underway, im going to dose the tank again to get my ammonia upto 4ppm to help feed the bacteria.

Now ive heard that if readings become so high then its best to do a large water change to help get the nitrites and nitrates so they can be read easily, is this the case? If so then how much % of water?

 

[mrvincent]

Hi guys..
Im currently into 4th week of doing a fishless cycle.

now for the first week all i did was add a few flakes to my water and squeezed the sponge from my matured tank into the new tank and also swirled my bag of seeded media around the tank for a few mins and left it at that for a week or so.

I then read up abit more and found that 1 of the most popular ways to cycle a new tank is to add an ammonia source.
For this a chose a popular product from amazon that people seem to use.
I added around 4ml which i then left for it to mix into the tank then took a reading.

The ammonia measured at around 4ppm which ive heard is spot on, i then left for about 4-5 days then measured again, it was around 1.0-2.0 ppm and the nitrites went from 0 to 0.50-1.0 and nitrates went from 5.0ppm to 20ppm.

Now ive just taken a reading and this is how it looks

Ammonia 0-0.25

Nitrites higher than readable

Nitrates 80-160 ppm (highest on chart)

Now to me it seems the cycling is well underway, im going to dose the tank again to get my ammonia upto 4ppm to help feed the bacteria.

Now ive heard that if readings become so high then its best to do a large water change to help get the nitrites and nitrates so they can be read easily, is this the case? If so then how much % of water?

Do a big water changes, if nitrites are too high bacterias won't develop...

 

[Lee31uk]

Do a big water changes, if nitrites are too high bacterias won't develop...

Thanks,will get straight to it

 

[mrvincent]

Thanks,will get straight to it

Then dose a very small dose of ammonia (1 drop)

 

[sheilashoelady]

A fully cycled tank should be able to process 1 ppm ammonia in 24 hours, so keep dosing the ammonia until that happens. But as mrvincent said, levels that are off the charts can stall your cycle so do water changes as neccessary.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Lee31uk]

Well just done 60% water change.

I dosed tank last night to 3ppm and tested again prior to water change and was down to 0.25 which i was happy abt but nitrites are still high at about 2.0ppm and nitrates above 80ppm.

Going to test again in abt 10mins to see if theyve decreased abit