Fishless Cycling Help Please!!

[jjong4590]

Hello people!

This is my first time joining a forum like this and this is my very first post. First off, just want to say thanks to everyone who posted useful info on here. I have learned a lot!

Anyways, I have started my fishless cycling on a 29 gallon freshwater planted aquarium on January 10th, 2014. I have been using Ace's Hardware Ammonia and been dosing roughly around 4 ppm.

About a week later, my ammonia dropped to 0 and saw a nitrite spike later on. But here is the tricky part...I remember measuring my nitrates also when I saw a nitrite spike and I saw some nitrates also, but at low levels. I thought this was due to rotting plants in my aquarium..but I am not sure. I didn't think much of it and I kept dosing my ammonia at 4ppm until last week, where i started to dose around 1-2 ppm.

Now..my nitrites are 5+ppm, not sure how high they are and my nitrates are pretty high (can't tell if they are 80 ppm or 160 ppm; using API Liquid Test Kit).

I have been reading that my cycling might almost be finished, but then, I read elsewhere that I should do water changes so I can get my nitrite levels low. I read water changes might slow down my cycling and I also read that just let it go and keep dosing the ammonia until my nitrites level go to 0.

I don't know what to do..I'm don't want my cycle to be stalled or anything. I'm debating to do water changes or not. Any help will be greatly, GREATLY appreciated!

Sorry for the very long post, but thanks for the help!!

P.S. If this helps, I have brown algae EVERYWHERE IN MY TANK

 

[rhsoto94]

I would do a change maybe even more then 50%. You want no nitrite and nitrate under 40.

 

[gilpi]

Couple of things... I am not too familiar with the fishless since I have always done a fish in cycle but two weeks seems a little too fast for any cycle to finish starting from scratch.
You have no fish so I dont know why you would need a water change if its supposed to go through its cycle.
Brown algae is not a bad thing.

 

[jjong4590]

Thank you so much for the replies! I agree that it might be too fast but I did somewhat "seed" the tank by putting few pieces of seachem matrix rocks from my older tank into the filter of my 29 gallon.

I just wasn't too sure if I should do water changes or not because I read on other forums that you should and others said not to.

I also read that to stop dosing ammonia for a couple days so my nitrite eating bacteria can catch up.

There's just so many things that I'm not sure on since this is my first fishless cycling tank.

 

[gilpi]

I'm sure we all do things differently and can see why it can get overwhelming at times. Having already placed seeded media in your filter should work a lot faster, that is how I usually start a tank but I don't add anything to the tank other than a fish or two for the first couple of weeks, I don't over feed and just monitor the ammonia occasionally and do a few small water changes. After that I just keep slowly adding more fish and neither ammonia or nitrites has never been an issue doing it this way.

 

[xsryman]

Thank you so much for the replies! I agree that it might be too fast but I did somewhat "seed" the tank by putting few pieces of seachem matrix rocks from my older tank into the filter of my 29 gallon.

I just wasn't too sure if I should do water changes or not because I read on other forums that you should and others said not to.

I also read that to stop dosing ammonia for a couple days so my nitrite eating bacteria can catch up.

There's just so many things that I'm not sure on since this is my first fishless cycling tank.

Im in exactly the same boat as you. I have high nitrites for a couple of weeks now and nitrates appear to be 80-160ppm as well...I cant tell from the API test kit either. But I have heard to do exactly what you are saying. Cut back the ammonia to maybe 1-2ppm every other day to let the nitrite eating bacterias catch up. I have also heard that is impossible to stall a cycle. Threnjen has posted that other places here on this forum. If I can find them I will link them. But please keep posting you daily progress and I will try to do the same. Sounds like we are both almost there. Just need a little bit more ammonia and a lot more patience. Cheers bro. X


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[jjong4590]

Thanks for your reply xsryman!

Yeah it's very frustrating seeing that there's so many options you should/should not do during a fishless cycling. But yes I will definitely keep posting on what I will do from now until I am cycled!

To start of this morning, I did a 75%-80% water change. I have read a few forums saying that it is not necessary to do water changes and a possibility that it might slow the cycling process down. BUT there are many places on forums (including someone that replied to me!) saying that I should do water changes so I can keep my nitrate and nitrite to readable levels. Also, read that very high levels of nitrate and nitrite can slow down a cycle?? (correct me if I'm wrong)

So that's what I did for today. I also added some gravel from my older 10 gallon into the filter of the 29 gallon (hopefully speeding up the process).

After the water changes, I measured my nitrites and nitrates...STILL THROUGH THE ROOF. I was surprised how high they still are, even with the big water change.

I just left it alone and probably do a another water change tomorrow, either 50%-75%.

I debated if I should add ammonia or not...but eventually I added enough ammonia to where the levels were between 1-2 ppm. I'm scared to kill my ammonia eating bacteria LOL

I will keep posting until then!

 

[xsryman]

Im not sure what the high levels mean. I wished I did. I am taking a diff approach. I didnt add ammonia today. Im probably going to reduce ammonia to 1ppm everyother day. I've heard that the bacteria is pretty resilient. Once its alive it can go for weeks with out being "fed". My theory is to keep nitrite present but to let nitrates build up and hopefully over come. My thinking is more ammo equals more nitrite and the nitrates will never catch up. I really have no clue what I am saying because I have never done this before but it make sense on paper. Lol

Here is my tank. 20gal with play sand and a couple live plants. As soon as my water parameters level out I fully intend to plant alot more and make good use of those dual T5HO's. Possibly co2 later on down the road

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[jjong4590]

What a great tank xsryman! That sand looks awesome. I was debating if I should use sand in my aquarium. But decided to go with gravel (Floramax) since I am more familiar with them.

Your approach sounds very logical. I think I should also dose my ammonia every other day like you, but hopefully I can get my nitrite and nitrate levels to readable levels first! Just checked my ammonia levels not too long ago and its at 0 ppm; so my ammonia-eating bacteria are doing fairly well! It's just this nitrite-eating bacteria.. lol


Here is a picture of my tank. Pardon the brown algae..It's literally EVERYWHERE on my tank, on my driftwood, plants, glass, etc..
Other than that, my plants are doing fairly well, dosing daily with Flourish excel and once weekly with Flourish.

Wished I could have picked a better substrate color. Really wanted the black Floramax substrate, but they did not have it here

 

[xsryman]

The brown looks nice. ( the substrate not the alge...lol) I think maybe the flourish is the culprit for your alge. It may early to start dosing ferts. Between the chemistry going on in your tank along with the floramax your plants have plenty of nutrients. The alge growth could be due to too much food. Alge will grow if there are extra nutrients in your tank that your plants aren't using. I have my 55gal under T8 lighting without using any ferts doing pretty good. Also I just used plain gravel. You might try playing with ferts until you find that proper balance between what your plants can use and what starts alge. Here is my 5 5...

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[xsryman]

Update! I got bored and did a 20% water change. I will post water parameters tomorrow.

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[jimmyno13]

Ok guys going to add my daily info on my post as to not clog this one up to much. Will make sure to post here every couple days with info or any break threes.

 

[gilpi]

What a great tank xsryman! That sand looks awesome. I was debating if I should use sand in my aquarium. But decided to go with gravel (Floramax) since I am more familiar with them.

Your approach sounds very logical. I think I should also dose my ammonia every other day like you, but hopefully I can get my nitrite and nitrate levels to readable levels first! Just checked my ammonia levels not too long ago and its at 0 ppm; so my ammonia-eating bacteria are doing fairly well! It's just this nitrite-eating bacteria.. lol


Here is a picture of my tank. Pardon the brown algae..It's literally EVERYWHERE on my tank, on my driftwood, plants, glass, etc..
Other than that, my plants are doing fairly well, dosing daily with Flourish excel and once weekly with Flourish.

Wished I could have picked a better substrate color. Really wanted the black Floramax substrate, but they did not have it here

I have to say, I love your substrate, looks very natural.

Some brown algae is ok. Whenever I start a planted tank it seems to go through a process of brown to green algae, with the green algae growing a lot faster.

This is where there has to be a fine balance between how much lighting and how much plant food is used. Algae loves Flourish and any type of plant food.

 

[Caliban07]

It sounds to me like both cycles are complete. I would change enough water to bring nitrites and ammonia to 0 ppm then add 4ppm ammonia and leave it for 24 hours then test. If both ammonia and nitrite reach 0ppm then it's completed. Do a huge water change to get nitrates under 20ppm then you are good to go.

 

[xsryman]

It sounds to me like both cycles are complete. I would change enough water to bring nitrites and ammonia to 0 ppm then add 4ppm ammonia and leave it for 24 hours then test. If both ammonia and nitrite reach 0ppm then it's completed. Do a huge water change to get nitrates under 20ppm then you are good to go.

I will try that tonight when i get home and post results in the next day or two. Thanks Cali.

 

[jjong4590]

Thanks for the reply gilpi! Yeah I found out that I shouldn't really add Flourish as of yet since my substrate is pretty rich in nutrients (Floramax). I just hope this brown algae goes away soon..It's making my tank bad lol

Thanks for the tip Cali! This is very exciting news. I'll definitely do that and I will post in a couple of days or so. Thanks again!

 

[gilpi]

I also add something similar to Flourish in my planted tank and had to cut back a lot in order to keep the green algae under control. Also I had to cut back the hours of lighting.
Good luck!

 

[jjong4590]

Hey guys,

So as of right now I am doing a HUGE water change (>90%) so I can get my nitrite levels to 0 and my nitrate levels around 20 ppm. I'm going to dose it to around 4 ppm ammonia and going to check the next day if both ammonia and nitrite is 0. (Really hope it does!!)

Yesterday I also did another water change (50%) and checked my nitrite and nitrate levels. Both are still sky high after I read them. So I read them again this morning. But it took a little while longer for the colors to show the true measurement, whereas before, the colors appeared almost instantly. I guess this is telling me that my cycling process is working fairly well.

But won't for sure until tomorrow! I am pretty excited!

 

[xsryman]

I dont think the water changes make a big difference. I haven't unless things are way out of wack. I checked mine to day and I have 0 ammo 0 nitrites and around 80 nitrates. I am going add a bit more ammonia and see if it will convert in 24hrs. We are very close...just try to be careful not to overdose on ammonia. Maybe try adding just 2ppm and see how long it takes. If it takes 2-3 days then at least you have a gauge to go by. Then just slowly increase the ammount of ammonia. But dont re dose until nitrites are back to zero.

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[Manic Fury]

Basically in the same boat as both of you. I did an 80% PWC yesterday to bring my ammonia and nitrite levels down to 0, dosed to 2 ppm, then waited 24 hours. Checked them and Ammonia is 0 while Nitrite is through the roof. I'm going to wait until mid-day tomorrow and test again. If Nitrite is still through the roof, I'm going to do a water change or 2 in order to get my Nitrite levels down to readable levels. I then plan to dose about 1 ppm and wait ANOTHER 24 hours to see if it can convert to Nitrate.

I wish this would just end! I've been doing this cycle for about 5 weeks now (partly due to my lack of effort). Trying to stay patient...

My Nitrite-eating bacteria need to hurry up! I want my fishies!