Hooray, I am fishless!

[TankGirl]

Nope - this tank is not cursed (having seen cursed tanks... *crosses self*)

I'd stick another shrimpy in there to get more ammonia going, or just toss in some fish food. If you think the decay is being hampered by being in the bag then go ahead and set him free, assuming you will be able to vacuum out the pieces parts down the road. Might as well crank up the ammonia as long as there are no fish in there. Don't let it get too high - 3-5ppm max - or it will stall.

 

[An t-iasg]

Good luck, carpediem! Are you getting another heater?

pieces parts

I thought I was the only one who said that! Wasn't that phrase from some commercial -- chicken maybe -- a long time ago?

 

[carpediem]

Yup, An t-iasg, I already have a 100 W that the lfs owner gave me in exchange for my 75 and it works "mighty fine" and keeping 83F steady.

I think, I might set fuzzy free. Poor little thing, all scooped up in the bag... Can you tell that the cycle is taking long? All I have left is my humor and it is getting pretty bad....

 

[carpediem]

Day 6: Temp 83F, Ammonia 1.5 (so I have decided to leave fuzzy in the bag, because I think,
I have a trace of nitrite!!!!!!!!!
I could not believe my eyes. Yes, it definitely has a tint of purple. I cannot call it .25 yet, but I checked against my tap water and there is a big difference between those two samples.

Yahooooooo! I am on my way!!!!!!

 

[carpediem]

Day 8: I have 1.5 ammonia and .25 nitrite. Gettting there. I am probably the only one out there who (at this point) is really happy about nitrite in the tank.

 

[An t-iasg]

Wow! Yes, you're getting there, and on Day 8 too, so it's moving right along!

 

[TygGer]

Interesting, I think I started a fishless cycle on a 46g tank on the same day as you. I'll have to go home and check my calendar.

I also used a raw shrimp, peeled from it's shell. I just dropped it into the water and let it go to work.

Just so you can compare where your cycle stands, I started to get nitrate readings a few days ago.

Two days ago, I took squeezings from a foam filter pad from a healthy tank along with some java moss to help seed the tank.

My temp is set to 82 and when the water started to run low, I just left it alone and let the filter (AC300) create bubbles from the fall. Right now, there are no decorations in the tank other than the gravel as the parts have yet to come in the mail.

Hang in there...

 

[carpediem]

Two days ago, I took squeezings from a foam filter pad from a healthy tank along with some java moss to help seed the tank.

Now, that is cheating! LOL

You can tell, my humor is getting bad from all that looking at fuzzy!

All the best to you too!

 

[TankGirl]

"Fuzzy" is your best friend right now - all hail Fuzzy!

 

[carpediem]

Thanks for your cheer, TankGirl. For a moment there, I thought I lost it.

 

[TygGer]

Quick question...

As long as the shrimp's body is still existing, is it producing ammonia?

 

[carpediem]

I just "freed" my fuzzy out of the zip lock. As of last night, I still had 1.5 ammonia and .75 nitrite. I hope to increase that with more fuzzy out in the open water...
In general, as long as there is decomposing matter (actual shrimp left) there should be ammonia. Was that your question

 

[TygGer]

As long as there is decomposing matter, then it should still be releasing ammonia...

Yup, you answered it. Thx.

 

[carpediem]

life with fuzzy

Hi there,

Yupp, still there. Now ammonia free for 2 days and nitrite at .5 for 2 days. Have not been able to visit with my fish at the lfs yet, but plan to do that tomorrow to test my nitrates. I figure, I must have nitrates by now.
Just thought, I'll let you all know, that me and fuzzy are chugging along. Temp is steady at 83F.
Humor is gone by now, which is a good thing since it was pretty bad lately.
All cyclers, hang in there.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi carpediem,
Wow! That's great! Was it three weeks this time before the ammonia went to 0? My nitrite phase was 2 days. Hopefully your cycle will be done soon and you'll have your fish back in no time!

 

[carpediem]

So, here are the stats: ammonia 0, nitrite .5, nitrate 5 and pH above 7.8 (just a bit more), temp 83F.
Nitrites are .5 now for 3 days. Since I have nitrates, I figure with a bit more patience I should be getting there, or will the pH be a problem now that it got higher?
My plan is:
to leave everything as is, to take fuzzy out once ammonia and nitrites are 0, to do a 50%water only change (no filter or gravel vac), to wait a day and to start then with my 3 platies again. Is there any objection to that?

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm not sure what relationship a cycling tank has to pH. I do know that an established tank usually drops a bit in pH. For example, the water that I add to my tank for water changes has a pH of 7.4. When I test the pH of the aquarium, it's 7.0 or 7.2. Since your pH isn't really out of the range of an aquarium (not like, say, 9.0) then I wouldn't worry for now. Maybe someone who's a little better with pH will come along!

What you can do in the meantime, if you haven't already, is to pour a glass of tap water, if that's your source water, and test the pH. Let that glass sit for about 24 hours and test again. When I do this, my pH drops. It's 8.2 right out of the tap and 7.8 the next day. I mix with some RO to get a pH of about 7.4 for my water changes.

When you take fuzzy out (Good job, fuzzy!) I would do the 50% water change. But then I wouldn't even wait a day to add your platies. I wouldn't want that bacteria that you grew to be without an ammonia source even for a day. So do your water change, get the platies, and acclimate them to the new tank. Take some of the water out of the main tank and use that to acclimate them, then just do a top-off to fill the main tank again. Whenver I acclimate a betta, I just use about a half a gallon. So I don't think you'd need more than a gallon or two to acclimate the platies. Good luck!

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

Well if you know what PH is best for each bacteria you can speed up their growth. sounds like your doing fine so far adding some ph down to about 7.4 will help speed up the process normal PH down has phosphates in it the bacteria love these when they are multiplying. Nitrobacter growth is best a 7.3-7.5PH


heres some facts you might find interesting.

http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html read through that you'll learn more.

 

[carpediem]

Hooray, my nitrite is going down!!!!! Yesterday still .5 and today .25 ppm. I better put a bottle of champagne in the fridge or I will have to end up drinking it warm.

The end is near.......

For all of those with a good imagination: I am doing the dance.....(What a lovely sight)

 

[TankGirl]

Keep in mind that while you have nitrIte you cannot accurately measure nitrAte, so wait until you have no nitrite before you test it. The nitrAte test converts back to nitrIte and measures that (thus, two reagents) so if you already have nitrite in the water you won't get good results.

(did that make sense?? :? )

Glad to see things are progressing