New 29 - Cycle Question

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jessebs

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Messages
47
Location
Manitou Springs, CO, USA
I'm new to aquariums, and am in the process of setting up my new 29 gallon tank, but I have a question about fishless cycling.

A lot of the posts I have read mention having an airstone for a fishless cycle. Is this necessary? I don't really want to go out and buy a stone and pump just for the cycle process.
 
I'm new to aquariums, and am in the process of setting up my new 29 gallon tank, but I have a question about fishless cycling.

A lot of the posts I have read mention having an airstone for a fishless cycle. Is this necessary? I don't really want to go out and buy a stone and pump just for the cycle process.

I don't think its a necessity but someone else may offer their opinion in favor of. I think the airstone is to help circulate/oxygenate the water better as when doing a fish LESS cycle the tank temp is usually about 84-85F & when water is warmer there is less oxygen exchange.
 
Ugh, I'm starting to get some algae grown, and I just wrapped up my first 24 hours of the cycle. I'm assuming it probably tagged along on the plant.

Is there anything I can do to stop it from taking over? I can't leave the light off because of the plant.
 
You can turn off the light at night i think. I am pretty sure plants don't need 24/7 lighting.
 
Well did you test your tap water for nitrates? More algae when theres lots of nitrates.
 
An air stone isn't necessary, no. As long as there is sufficient surface agitation from the water flowing into the tank from your filter it should be enough.

What kind of algae? What does it look like?
 
After more research, it looks like it might be a bacteria colony. Has anyone seen this before? Is it a problem for my cycle? Since it seems to be thriving, my good bacteria will have to compete, correct?
 
I'm now on day 14 of my Cycle and it doesn't look like anything is (or really has) happened. See the cycle log.

Any advice. The tank is pretty dark with tannins. Could that be causing an issue? I also have a live plant in there, although it doesn't look too happy.
 
I've been testing Ammonia every couple of days. On Sunday I tested, and it had dropped from 4 to 3. Today (Tuesday), I tested again, and no ammonia. Nitrites are high (5), and nitrates are off the scale. I guess it's time for a pwc and add more ammonia. Hopefully the nitrites will vanish soon.

All that worrying for nothing. It turns out the tannins didn't hurt things one bit. I think the thing that sped up the cycle the most was I asked the LFS for something I could use to seed with, and they gave me a bucket of vacuum waste from one of their tanks. I dumped it in (picture really gunky water), and let my filter clear it all up.

Also, a note about the white things I saw before. They disappeared one night, and then I started noticing pond snails. I think they were snail eggs.
 
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