fishless cycle help please

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laur94x

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Nov 28, 2012
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Hi everyone,
I am currently in the process of attempting to cycle my 138 litre tank (think that's roughly 36 us gallons?) But its the first time I've done a fishless cycle so could do with some advice please. I'm using pure ammonia.

So I set the tank up a couple of weeks ago, it has all the plants (fake except one real) + ornaments in it except the ones which are coming over with the fish from their current tank when they move. Its heated to about 28 at the moment and has a interpet p3 filter which turns over 800 litres per hour. I also have a bubble stone to create some more movement and airation.

Well I made a big mistake on thursday by not measuring properly and adding far far too much ammonia. According to the calculater I should be adding about 7.3ml to my tank and I added way more than that.

So I did my first ammonia test today using an API kit and it was very high - almost 8pp! :s so I did about a 30 percent water change. My other test results were done with a test strip (I know that's not as accurate so am going to buy the API master test kit when I have money) the results were. -
Cl2. - 0
Ph- 7,6
Kh- 15d
Gh- between >14d and >21d
No2 - just below 5
No3 - 100

The water hardness around here in england is really high apparently so I'm gonna get some RO water for my next water change and hopefully mixing with that will bring down the KH and GH cos they're quite high in all of my tanks.

Sorry for such a long post but basically I want to know where to go from here and how much first test results are? Thanks x
 
What does your ammonia level read right now? A 30% wc with 8ppm of ammonia likely didn't drop your level very much and a bigger wc will be necessary.

Otherwise, you have quite a bit of nitrite and nitrate present (assuming the strips are correct) which means your cycle is progressing nicely. No need to use RO or worry about your GH or KH either. Strips are the worst for reading these, so I wouldn't trust your results anyway. Just make sure you keep a close eye on your numbers as your cycle progresses. :)
 
I'm not sure, I will go and do another ammonia test now. What percentage water change would you advise to bring my levels down a bit? Ah okay thanks. Going to check my bank and hopefully order my api test kit today, should make things a lot easier :) x
 
Just did another test and its on about 4pp now :) just realised though, although I only took about 30 percent of water out I must have added about 40 percent cos my tank wasn't full up and now it is so maybe that's why it made such a difference?
 
You should do another PWC (maybe 50%). I only did one PWC when I cycled my 55 gal. I take it you've been dosing ammonia to 4 ppm? Your cycle is looking great. I wouldn't bother with GH and KH at this point. Just measure NO3, NO2, pH, and NH3/NH4.
 
Okay thanks :) erm yeah I think the calculator was working out how much I'd need to get it to 5ppm.
Yes first water change since adding the ammonia x
 
And I just ordered my api test kit :D is it sad that I'm excited about that? Haha. £20.85 on ebay, £35 in shops around here!
 
One question: You said you're moving fish over. Is this a tank upgrade? Do you have a cycled tank currently with fish and a filter and you're moving them over? If so there's no need to cycle this tank; you can just move the fish over with their current filter and it'll be all set. Of course you can cycle this one fishless if you wanted; it would allow you to add more fish right away at the end of the cycle. I just thought I'd mention another option.
 
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Basically I have 3 tanks at the moment. A cold water tank (not sure of the size), a 50 litre tropical tank and a. 138 litre tank which is the one I'm doing a fishless cycle in. I'm moving my tropical fish from the 50 litre to the 138 litre and moving the cold water fish into the 50 litre until I can get them something bigger (hopefully soon but I can't have more than 3 tanks set up at one time so need to move the tropicals first) the filter from the tropicals current tank is staying in the 50 litre cos ihave a bigger filter already in the 138 litre. I'm moving the ornaments from the 50 litre to the 138 but not the filter. If that makes sense?x
 
Yep. What you could do is move the filter media from the 50 to the 138's filter; this should instantly cycle the new tank for the current fish in the 50 assuming that tank is cycled already. Then move the media from the cold water tank into the filter on the 50 and move the coldwater fish to the 50 which again should keep the 50 tank cycled for the coldwater fish.
 
Okay I think I understand. So I take out the current filter media to put in the next tank (upgrade) and replace it with a new filter media just until I've moved the fish over? Only problem is I put a new filter media in my cold water tank last night :/ **** it. I forgot about that x
 
Oh so you replaced the media on the coldwater tank? You never want to change out media unless it's literally falling apart and even then change out a small portion at a time. When you remove media you get rid of the bacteria which helps keep the tank cycled. Move the 50's media to the new tank's filter (as much as will fit; all of it if you can; if there's space left you can add new media), then move the cold water's media (even if it's new) to the 50. Move the fish to their respective tanks, test daily for a week or so to make sure everything stays stable. I think for the coldwater tank (which would now be the 50) since you replaced the media you may go into a mini-cycle so keep an eye on parameters and do water changes as needed.

This is up to you of course. If you want to fishless cycle the new tank you can, but if you're moving fish over there's no need unless you just want to do it for fun. :) I've upgraded tanks a few times by just moving the filter media over with fish and I've never had a problem.
 
Oh okay thank you! Shall I put a sock thing of gravel from the cold waters tank into the 50 litre to help? And what about the ammonia that I put in the 138 litre?x
 
The seeded filter media should suffice. You can also mix the established tank media with your new gravel to jump start the colonies in the substrate.
 
By the way, you should only dose to about 4 ppm ammonia and this is for when you plan on having a heavily stocked tank. Cycling to this bioload your tank system should be able to handle any reasonable amount of stock.
 
Oh okay thanks very much. I thought I was aiming for 5ppm of ammonia at the beginning. One question - surely putting my tropicals in the 138 litre tank when they ammonia level is currently 4ppm will kill/harm them? Or would a huge water change reduce this enough for them to be added with their current filter media? Sorry I'm getting a bit confused :s
 
You will not put in your fish until your tank is able to convert 4 ppm of ammonia to Nitrites and all of your Nitrites to Nitrates within 24 hrs. Your levels would be:

NH3/NH4- 0 ppm
NO2 - 0 ppm
NO3 - 100+


These are your goals after dosing to 4 ppm but after waiting 24 hours. You are adding the ammonia to feed the Nitrosomonas bacteria, which create Nitrites. The Nitrites then feed the Nitrobacter bacteria, oxidizing the Nitrites into Nitrates.

Here is what my cycle (using seeded media) looked like:


image-2440498305.jpg

Ammonia at any level will harm your fish causing burns and eventually death. You would add your fish once the levels above are reached. :)
 
Yes, if you want to move your tropicals & media over, you need to do as close to a 100% wc as possible (temp match & properly condition). Wait 1/2hr and retest your numbers. You want your ammonia & nitrite to be zero and your nitrates under 20ppm. If they are not there yet, do another 100% wc, wait & retest. Once your tank reads these numbers, its safe to move your fish. If your tap water has ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, then what your tap reads will be the lowest numbers you will be able to reach with wcs.
 
Oh brilliant thank you. Imthinking that if I'm moving the fish and filter media over instead of doing a fishless cycle I may need to wait a couple of weeks for more good bacteria to form because I changed the cold waters media completely last night and I just found out my friend washed the tropicals filter media in tap water. Didn't know you weren't meant to do either of these things :s thoughts please?
 
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