Fish-less cycling a 55 gallon tank

[summit]

when you did a water change did the nitrite levels change at all? For reference when I had a nitrite stall, I did the 40% change and it was cycled a week later, so it still will take some time.

Problem is when doing a fishless cycle, all that ammonia you dose turns into nitrites which can build up to very high levels when dosing 4ppm everyday before there is nitrite bacteria present, stalling cycles or causing it to take a while. Your levels are probably off the chart, which happened to me as well and I believe is quite commom.

I would wait a few more days, see if there is a reduction in nitrites, if none after a week do another water change to bring the nitrite level down again to help out.

 

[Gus]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Gus]

Nitrites hit 0 ppm 24 hours after I dosed 75 drops of Ammonia. I didn't realize that some Ammonia was still left on the tank, so the Ammonia test came back positive (1 ppm). Nitrates are 5 ppm, I though it would be more.

I'm gonna let it ride for another 24 hours.

 

[marchmaxima]

Your nitrates are low becuase you did a water change. Personally, I don't change water at all during a fishless cycle. When you dose ammonia, it'll spike. Then it'll be converted to nitrite, so ammonia will go to 0 and nitrite will spike.

The fact that you are getting nitrates is good. It means that the bacteria to convert nitrite to nitrate are present and will only get stronger. I'd avoid any further water changes. Just test ammonia and nitrate every 24 hours and nitrate every 2 days. When Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0 or 0.25, dose.

What you are looking for is three consecutive days when 24 hours later after dosing, your ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm. At that point, your nitrates should be off the charts.

The reason I suggest ensuring a consistent pattern for three days is because in all my previous fishless cycles, things went a little haywire and I got some really bizzare (and false) readings at the end. You want to be certain your tank is competely cycled and stable before adding pets.

Then, 80% water change to rid yourself of most of the nitrates and stock away!

 

[Gus]

Thanks! I'm gonna go measure the Ammonia in a bit, it should be in zero. Nitrites were zero last night, and the Nitrates were in 40 ppm (looks like I didn't shake the bottle hard enough when I did the first test)

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Gus]

Ok, this is baffling me. Before the Nitrite spike, the tank was processing ammonia like there was no tomorrow. Now it won't go down! grrrr this is frustrating!

 

[Gus]

Well, I should had done a Ph test earlier. It was below 6, very light yellow. No wonder, I'm doing a 90% water change as I type this.

 

[Gus]

Ok, so I did a big water change, and I dosed 60 drops of Ammonia. Today at lunch time I noticed that the Ph went down again (6.2 or so), so I added 3 teaspoons of baking soda. Now the Ph is at 7, but the water got really cloudy (bacteria bloom?) Is it normal? Now what? Just let it run its course and keep an eye on the Ammonia and Ph level?

Thanks!

Forgot to mention: Nitrites are at 0 ppm, and Nitrates are at 20 ppm.

 

[BigJim]

Ammonia is basic. Your pH should rise when you add ammonia unless the ammonia is reacting with something in the tank.

pH is the most overrated water parameter in aquariums. There's really no need to worry about it unless you're trying to keep and breed really sensitive fish. There are people here that keep tropical fish in tap water with a pH near 10. I'd love to have acidic water in my tanks, but my tap water is pretty much 7.0 and staying that way.

 

[Gus]

Ammonia is basic. Your pH should rise when you add ammonia unless the ammonia is reacting with something in the tank.

pH is the most overrated water parameter in aquariums. There's really no need to worry about it unless you're trying to keep and breed really sensitive fish. There are people here that keep tropical fish in tap water with a pH near 10. I'd love to have acidic water in my tanks, but my tap water is pretty much 7.0 and staying that way.

For what I read online, when the Nitrites got converted into Nitrates, they turned the water acidic, and that's why my Ammonia was stuck (it just quit going down)

Thanks for the tip, I'm just gonna let it ride, and we'll see where this ends!

 

[summit]

Glad to see those nitrites finally broke for you, usually you don't want to do a water change but I think in your case it was different because you had such a high concentration of them causing the nitrites to stall out.

Ammonia could also be slightly slower to reduce because you removed the original filter which would have had a good portion of the ammonia eating bacteria at the time and would need some time to catch up once removed.

Either way sounds like your almost there.

 

[Gus]

I'm at loss because eventhough I exchange filters, 2 weeks later, I had the Nitrite spike, now my Nitrites are at 0 ppm, but the Ammonia won't go down as it did before the Nitrite spike.

I finally figured out how to make the Whisper 60 silent, so I'm running it alongside the AquaClear

 

[summit]

strange, something must have killed off some of that ammonia eating bacteria, did you forget to dose ammonia at all? Dose too much? do anything that might have killed them off?

In any event if memory serves me correct ammonia eating bacteria is the quicker forming ones, should replenish pretty quickly.

 

[Gus]

I don't know what it was. Maybe the change from 60 drops to 75 drops of Ammonia had something to do with it? Anyways, I took another reading, and my tank is back to processing Ammonia! I dosed 60 drops early this morning, and it's back to 1 ppm, so I guess I'm gonna have to make another reading and dose some more Ammonia tomorrow morning (24 hours or so)

Also, the water cleared up big time! I'm running the AquaClear 110, and the original Whisper 60 that came with the tank, so I don't know if that has something to do with it, but the water looks so much better now.

 

[Gus]

Tanks is back to process ammonia! Also, this morning the water cleared up, so it's all good. Yesterday I dosed 60 drops of Ammonia, and today the test tube was yellow, but after 3 minutes or so it develop a touch of green, so I marked it down as .25 ppm, Nitrites still at zero, and Nitrates still at 40 ppm. I dosed another 60 drops of Ammonia.

I'm ready for some fish!

 

[summit]

Sounds like its pretty much done to me, but you might want to do a water change to get those nitrates down first before adding the fish, you should see the nitrates rise from 40 after dosing the ammonia last night. The ammonia test in API does take 5 minutes to show color as well. Now comes the fun part you have been waiting for, choosing what you want to add!

 

[Gus]

I think I'm just gonna go with a mbuna tank. I have the river rocks and the sand already in the tank, and I don't want to mess with plants that much. I have a small 20 gallon planted for that.

How much bioload is 6 drops of ammonia a day? I know I have to overstock the tank, and the shipping for the fishes is very expensive (something like 80 bucks) can I add 15-20 mbunas? or that will be too much?

 

[summit]

I think I'm just gonna go with a mbuna tank. I have the river rocks and the sand already in the tank, and I don't want to mess with plants that much. I have a small 20 gallon planted for that.

How much bioload is 6 drops of ammonia a day? I know I have to overstock the tank, and the shipping for the fishes is very expensive (something like 80 bucks) can I add 15-20 mbunas? or that will be too much?

I don't have too much experience with mbunas personally, hopefully someone more experienced can come along for this, but from what I have read there is a few variables for keeping mbunas, such as types of mbunas, how many hiding places there is in the tank, and whether its an all male tank or if it will have male/female. That being said even in an all Male tank with the most peaceful mbunas you would probably want no more than 8 fully grown adults. Its not really due to the bioload but the agressive nature of mbunas, if too crowded they will be constantly fighting for territory and injuring each other.

By 6 drops of ammonia, did you mean 60 drops? I thought I remembered seeing you dosing 60 drops of ammonia, dosing 4ppm of ammonia per day is a really large bioload, you should be able to fully stock it as long as you keep the bacteria fed and is does not die off before the fish arrive.

This is a great site to visit for stocking, you can enter your tank and filtration, and select the fish you would like and it will tell you how loaded it is, and how they might get along with each other, it is on the conservative side though so you can push it a bit.
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

 

[Gus]

Yeah! I meant 60 drops of Ammonia a day =)

I think I'm just gonna buy this:

Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Mbuna Mixed Cichlid

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Gus]

All right! My tank is running a full capacity with 15 new Mbuna Cichlids! I was gonna buy 20, but I settled on 15. I introduce them to the tank last night, and so far, so good. They swim around the tank together, but they hide under the rocks when they see me. So far they haven't eaten much either.

Ammonia is at 0 ppm, so is Nitrites. Nitrates are around 10 ppm. I did a 90% water change prior to anything.

I really like the colors, they are beautiful. How big do they get? Right now they are about 2-3 inches in length.