Fishless Cycle Questions

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Yeah the 50% sounds smart since you probably started with 7ppm ammonia.

Sure looks like it is cooking along!


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http://www.aquariumadvice.com/the-almost-complete-guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling/ rereading the step-by-step instructions and i am a bit confused. When ammonia and nitrites drop to 0 I dose ammonia back up to 2ppm and if in 24 hours I am left with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites I am ready for fish? Of course before adding fish I will follow step 'N'

Edit: When the cycle is done and i can turn the ammonia to nitrates in 24 hrs I will add fish the following day hopefully. Should I still add the 1 ppm of ammonia for the BB or can they go a day without any ammonia?

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Yeah once everything zeros out you dose back to 2 to check that the cycle can handle it in 24 hours.

Then you do a huge water change to get nitrates down. Should be fine to wait a day for fish.

Some people do the huge water change then dose to 2ppm to check the cycle, since they'll be adding few fish and they'll catch the nitrates on the first water change.




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So when i get ammonia to 1ppm i will dose back up to 2 ppm. When that disappears in 24 hrs dose another 2ppm, and if i end up with alot of nitrates cycle is done. Drain water to ~2 inches above substrate. Add fish the next day without adding any ammonia for the BB.

When can I remove my old gravel in the filter bags?

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I think it's pretty safe to assume that most of the BB activity is occurring in the filter. Just to be safe, remove one or two bags of gravel now, wait a few days and repeat.


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Ok, I just tested and came back with 0 ammonia, .25 nitrites, 0 nitrates. I did a 50% wc yesterday to remove nitrites but I didn't think I took out that many. I added 2.5 ml of ammonia, amd will test again in an hour or so for ammonia. Going for 2ppm this time

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Yeah the 50% sounds smart since you probably started with 7ppm ammonia.

Sure looks like it is cooking along!


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I have a question on this .. if you do a 50% wc, I take it you add prime? will that not kill all the ammonia? do you have to do the wc w/prime, then dose w/ammonia again?
 
I have a question on this .. if you do a 50% wc, I take it you add prime? will that not kill all the ammonia? do you have to do the wc w/prime, then dose w/ammonia again?
It doesn't remove the ammonia, it just binds it temporarily.
 
Ok I keep reading about this Prime stuff. What is it exactly? I used the stuff in the picture below after adding tap water.

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Ok I keep reading about this Prime stuff. What is it exactly? I used the stuff in the picture below after adding tap water.
OK, now that I am done being amused that a bottle of dechlorinator has a label that recommends using it monthly, let me answer the question.

Prime is a competitive product made by Seachem, it is one that many of us have used for years and it just works in a large number of situations.

Also, remember, today is the first day of the month so don't forget to put some dechlorinator in your tank.......I guess I wasn't done after all. ;)
 
OK, now that I am done being amused that a bottle of dechlorinator has a label that recommends using it monthly, let me answer the question.

Prime is a competitive product made by Seachem, it is one that many of us have used for years and it just works in a large number of situations.

Also, remember, today is the first day of the month so don't forget to put some dechlorinator in your tank.......I guess I wasn't done after all. ;)

I didn't buy the bottle...my sister got asked to homecoming with a little fish. The guy have her the bottle and some food. Goldfish+1 gal bowl=dead fish. I was outa town when this happened so I couldn't save the fish :(

Will this bottle work in the place of prime though?

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I didn't buy the bottle...my sister got asked to homecoming with a little fish. The guy have her the bottle and some food. Goldfish+1 gal bowl=dead fish. I was outa town when this happened so I couldn't save the fish :(

Will this bottle work in the place of prime though?

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Ok that's adorable and tragic all at once.

There are lots of Dechlorinators on the market, many with additional ingredients.

Prime is a dechlorinator that has additional ingredients to detoxify ammonia and nitrite and nitrate. If I understand it correctly, it does this in a way that makes them harmless to fish but available to bacteria.

Lots of Dechlorinators have ingredients that supposedly help the fish's slime coat. The need for this is debatable in healthy fish, and there's some debate over natural vs synthetic slime coat helpers.

My personal choice is to use plain dechlorinator for cycling, to have Prime on hand for emergencies, and to use API Stress Coat for my water changes. There's some research on their website that impresses me, and since I'm a natural medicine nerd I appreciate that it has aloe, which is also well researched.

I'd suggest that for water changes you use up that bottle and then get whatever floats your boat ... If you don't have a toxic situation or injured fish the differences are negligible IMO. Many of the things we all do for our fish do more to make us feel like good fishkeepers, than to make the fish that much happier.


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I think somewhere you said something about leaving 2" of water when you do a water change. I don't think there is any need; better to change as much water as you can remove. Just keep the gravel and filter media from drying out.


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It will work as a dechlorinator.

Ok, I normally fill old milk jugs (well rinsed now) and let them sit open for a while. I have water to top off tank, amd some to refill from pwc. I will use this bottle for pwc mpst likely though. Thanks.

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I just tested my tap water without letting it sit and my tank water. They both came back as 7.8. The pictures show it as 8.2 though :mad:

Tank ammonia is .5 ppm. I'm going to add another 2.5 ml right now, and test again in 30 minutes
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Maybe if I read the nitrate test right then I would have some readings...test tube is nice and red now.

Nitrites where at 5ppm again today. Ammonia was 2ppm.

I have to wait for nitrites, and ammonia to dissappear before I can do the 24 hour test right? Is that disappearing without major water changes?
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You will continue to monitor the ammonia and add more as needed to keep it around 2 ppm (IMO). Change the water if the nitrite gets too high and possibly lighten up on the ammonia.
The 24 hour test is not something that you start doing when the conditions are right. Let's say that you add enough ammonia to get 2-4 ppm and it takes 48 hours for the ammonia to drop to zero. As the BB population increases, that time will decrease. When it gets down to 24 hours then it is considered cycled. However, nitrite conversion needs to be factored in as well.


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You will continue to monitor the ammonia and add more as needed to keep it around 2 ppm (IMO). Change the water if the nitrite gets too high and possibly lighten up on the ammonia.
The 24 hour test is not something that you start doing when the conditions are right. Let's say that you add enough ammonia to get 2-4 ppm and it takes 48 hours for the ammonia to drop to zero. As the BB population increases, that time will decrease. When it gets down to 24 hours then it is considered cycled. However, nitrite conversion needs to be factored in as well.


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Right.

Dose it back up to 2 and wait 24 hours and test.

If that test shows ammonia or nitrite, repeat.

If it doesn't show either, shows nitrate only, you're done.

It sounds like you may still be making it hard on yourself with too much ammonia. If you're at .5, add about 1.5ml not 2.5.


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Ok. If the nitrates are off the chart red should I do a 50% wc again or only do wc for high nitrites?

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