cycling question/confirmations?

[dax29]

I started up a 29 gallon tank that someone gave me recently. I'm using the Tetra Whisper 30 that came with it and I purchased a new Penguin BioWheel 350 that is running in it too. I figure I'm getting 480 gph.

I have been running this tank since last Thursday.

I added 5 drops of ammonia (from ACE Hardware) to it Friday and I placed an old filter in the Penguin 350 from another tank as well as a plastic plant from an established tank. I tested the ammonia on Saturday and it was around 1 ppm. I tested it yesterday and it was a little lower, closer to .5 ppm. I have not detected nitrites with my test kit but I have detected about 5 ppm nitrate.

I'm going to do a 30% PWC using tank water from my established tank tonight.

I've got some zebra danios on hand for cycling, but I wanted to see the ammonia go down some more before I put them in.

Is this a good course of action to take to "speed up" a cycle?

 

[Jchillin]

Using filter media from an estabished tank in combo with dosing pure NH3 is always a good way to speed up a cycle. I used plants, gravel and spare sponge to cycle my 75 gal and was done in two weeks.

 

[dax29]

thanks JC

Thanks JC. How do the parameters look? My pH is 7.6-7.8. The temp is 80F.

I almost never detect nitrites with my test strips (Mardel). I think I may begin looking at another test method. Maybe my strip test is okay but I just thought after testing multiple tanks several times a week I'd at least get some kind of nitrite reading on one of the tanks.

 

[Jchillin]

Test strips are just not as reliable as the re-agent drops. If you can, get the AP kits...much more accurate.

The presence of 5ppm nitrate isn't uncommon...the test converts the nitrite to nitrate in order to give a result. Therefore, you do have nitrites, just not enough to register on the test.

 

[TomK2]

it is hard to accurately monitor a cycle with the test strips due to accuracy. They just arent as good as a liquid reagent kit. Since a liquid reagent kit is about $14 online, its a good investment. You get many, many tests out of one. Cheaper than the test strips in the long run too.

Instead of taking tank water from the established tank, use a handful of gravel placed in a mesh bag in the tank or put in the filter. The water won't hold bacteria, but the gravel and filter media do.

 

[dax29]

ceramic media

I've got some ceramic media from an aquaclear that I keep in my disease-free-for-the-moment QT. The bag is suspended over a bubble curtain for aeration and circulation. I may stick that ceramic media bag in the big Penguin.

My QT stays stocked with otos and zebra danios so I should have some bacterial populations in that media.

My ammonia kit is a reagent kit but the rest is tested on a strip. I just got a new kit from the person that gave me the tank......

 

[dax29]

stepped it up

Well I stepped it up a notch on the bacteria for cycling my tank. I put in a plastic plant from an established tank and a mesh bag full of ceramic media that has been in my disease-free QT for 2 months. I put the bag of media in the big Penguin. On another note, I checked out the test kit I got with the free aquarium and it consists of only reagent tests. It has barely been used.