Fishless cycling questions

[Bruna75]

I started cycling 9 days ago with some help from my established tank (2 baskets full of grAvel, some deco rocks) and I thought things were moving along fine but now nothing seems to be happening. Dosed with ammonia on the 29th well kind of over dosed but I did 90% water change and bought it down to 4 and my nitrites showed up right away. Ammonia went down to 1 and so I dosed it to 4 again and now my nitrites are 8 and ammonia still 4. Ammonia has not gone down in the past 2 days but my nitrites have gone up. I don't know what is going on. Is it normal for nitrites to go up and ammonia to stay put? My other 2 tanks did not do this during their cycle:/

 

[jlk]

What are you using to test your parameters? Overdosing ammonia has likely affected your bacteria- I would double check your ammonia level & make sure its not higher than 4ppm. The api test for nitrites has a limit of 5ppm- I am not sure where your getting a reading of 8ppm for nitrites but I would suggest doing another water (atleast 50%) and waiting 1/2hr & retesting your amm & nitrite. Let us know how this looks!

 

[Bruna75]

Thanks for the reply I am using the API liquid kit, sorry my nitrite is 5 not 8 I knew it was the highest this morning and when I wrote the post I thought 8 was the highest. My bad. I was worried the high ammonia might have harmed it I just don't understand why after the water change things seemed to be fine then now this. I will do another water change when the husband gets home. He refused to by a water changer since he likes to make things and so he has some funky thing with 2 hoses one from the sink to the tank and one from the tank to the outside. Anyhow it's a lot of hose and I don't want to flood my house. Lol so I will see how it goes from there thank you!

 

[Bruna75]

Oh yeah and I have more than double checked the ammonia. I have been testing the water 4 times a day. Lol. At this rate I am going to need another kit  I know I don't need to test it so much but I am crazy and hoping to see something change.

 

[jlk]

Relax! Your husband sounds like mine (lol!). Lets see how things look after a 50%wc and go from there.

 

[Bruna75]

Lol I know I need to but ok I will let you know what happens after the water change. Hopefully he gets home early today

 

[Bruna75]

Ok, I did the 50% water change and now my readings are
ammonia 1.0
Nitrite between a 2.0 and a 5.0:/
Nitrate 5.0
ph 7.8 (as usual)
So should I test again in the morning or re-dose..I am kinda afraid of redosing..lol, I don't want it to stick again, and I thought one of the benefits of a fishless cycle is not to have to do so many water changes...:/

 

[jlk]

No need to redose right now. Add few pinches of crushed fish food and wait. You really don't need to test again until tomorrow evening- give your tank some time! Let us know how things look tomorrow night & we can go from there!

 

[Bruna75]

Ok thank you

 

[Illetrop]

Hi. I'm about to start a fishless cycle myself on a 90 gallon. Anyone no how much ammonia I should put ? I've read somewhere I can put plants right away as well. Is this accurate since ill be using pure ammonia? Thanks

 

[Botanica]

Hi. I'm about to start a fishless cycle myself on a 90 gallon. Anyone no how much ammonia I should put ? I've read somewhere I can put plants right away as well. Is this accurate since ill be using pure ammonia? Thanks

Here is a link to the calculator they have on this site to help you figure that out. Make sure it's pure ammonia without additives (ie fragrance)...ace hardware sells it I know.


http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

I just did a fishless cycle on a 135 a few months ago and we added plants almost right away...it was all good. I added pretty hardy low light plants tho...but I'm pretty sure I've read it's okay.

 

[Bruna75]

Ok so nothing has changed since last night:/ ammonia still 1 and nitrite between 2 and 5. Should I do another water change to get the nitrate down? Or dose ammonia again?

 

[Bruna75]

Sorry I meant nitrite down.

 

[Botanica]

Do you know the pH?

 

[Bruna75]

The ph is still 7.8 all the tests came back the same as last night. Nitrate is still a 5.

 

[Botanica]

Honestly...and JLK would know better...but I think I would wait it out. I had a few days like this during my fishless cycle...it's hard to just wait. I'd add a bit more food and hold. However..............I don't see how a water change would hurt as long as you treat the water and temp match. Then re-dose ammonia...but prob only to 2. Thing is...even a 50% water change will only bring ammonia down to .5...so take that into account when re dosing.

 

[jlk]

Waiting is always the hardest part! Ok, if you want to do wc, there's no harm in doing one at any point in a fishless cycle. If you do one, add back a low dose of ammonia.

Ok, this is going to sound very scary so brace yourself... I would just wait out a bit longer though before doing another wc. Put your test kit in a drawer and ignore your tank until Sunday and test it at the time you normally test. Worrying doesn't make things happen any faster. Nothing is going to crash or die if you ignore your tank for 48hrs because this is fishless cycle. If there is no change in 48hrs, then its time for a big wc & you can redose. If you don't think you can bare not testing tomorrow, this is ok, too!! Keep us posted!

 

[Bruna75]

Honestly...and JLK would know better...but I think I would wait it out. I had a few days like this during my fishless cycle...it's hard to just wait. I'd add a bit more food and hold. However..............I don't see how a water change would hurt as long as you treat the water and temp match. Then re-dose ammonia...but prob only to 2. Thing is...even a 50% water change will only bring ammonia down to .5...so take that into account when re dosing.

Thanks. I am just being crazily impatient I know. I am going to wait it out till Sunday and see what happens then

 

[Bruna75]

Waiting is always the hardest part! Ok, if you want to do wc, there's no harm in doing one at any point in a fishless cycle. If you do one, add back a low dose of ammonia.

Ok, this is going to sound very scary so brace yourself... I would just wait out a bit longer though before doing another wc. Put your test kit in a drawer and ignore your tank until Sunday and test it at the time you normally test. Worrying doesn't make things happen any faster. Nothing is going to crash or die if you ignore your tank for 48hrs because this is fishless cycle. If there is no change in 48hrs, then its time for a big wc & you can redose. If you don't think you can bare not testing tomorrow, this is ok, too!! Keep us posted!

Lol! Yes it it did sound scary:0 but I will wait it out no guarantees I'm not ganna test that water though! Lucky I have a busy Saturday ahead of me so I will not be staring at the empty tank all day I will keep ya updated! Thanks again for the help

 

[Bruna75]

So I tested my water this morning and this is what i got
Ammonia .50
Nitrite 5+ again
Nitrate between 10 and 20 (they look the same to me)
Ph 7.8 still
So my nitrates have went up a lil nitrite went up again and ammonia down a little. Should I do that big water change again?