Newbie just starting fishless cycle on new 25 gal tank

[cwmont13]

If your going to do a wc, do a big one (close to 100%). Angelsplus sells active, cycled filters. I'm going to try to post the link but I'm not at home & don't have my links. If it doesn't work, send Librarygirl a MSG & she will give it to you.

http://www.angelsplus.com/FiltersSonge.com

Thanks I found the sponge filters. I'll have to wait a day or two for the WC and I'll post back when done. Thanks much again!

 

[cwmont13]

jlk I got to thinking that with an almost 100% WC I'm going to be pretty much starting my cycle again correct? Dosing to 2 ppm to see if of drops quicker? Just want to be sure where we're going.

Thanks

 

[jlk]

You won't be restarting anything with a water change so don't worry! Yes, what we are hoping for is the lower amm dose will get things progressing at a quicker pace & then we can work on increasing it without an issue.

 

[cwmont13]

jlk. Got it thanks for the quick response. Going to try to do that water change tomorrow if not I'll have to wait for the weekend.

 

[cwmont13]

Okay I did my 100 percent water change tonight my tap water is very warm tank temperature is 94 degrees. Should I go ahead and dose the ammonia to 2 ppm or wait till tomorrow after the water temp to drops a bit?

Edit went ahead and dosed to 2 ppm figured I better keep ammonia going in there just in case there's any bacteria growing. I'll post tank readings in the morning.

 

[cwmont13]

OK let's hope we get going quicker now

Morning readings July 3 rd

Tank temp down to 86 degrees and holding steady

ph 7.6
hph 8.0
ammonia 2 ppm
nitrItes 0 ppm
nitrAtes 5.0 ppm

As an aside, after the 100% WC it's nice to see the tank water clear again (at least for a time anyway).

Hoping things get moving better now.

 

[cwmont13]

ping - jlk OK here's the latest info where to now ?

7/2/2012 did 100% WC and dosed to 2 ppm

Readings today as of 6:54 PM AZ time

ph 7.6
hph 8.0
ammonia 0.50 ppm
nitrItes 0 ppm
nitrAtes 5.0 ppm

So I'm guessing dose back up to 2 ppm and see what happens? Also I'm seriously considering getting some of the active sponges from Angels Plus.

Any experience or advice on those? Not really sure which ones to buy or how many? I was thinking possibly two, one in the tank and another to cut up and put in the filter.

 

[jlk]

Sorry, Ive been on vacation! For the active sponges, look for the smaller pore size (believe its 15-30ppm) because they will have more bb. Two sounds good though more is always better! Numerous members on here have used them to successfully (and quickly) cycle their tanks & they come highly recommended. They can be either cut up & stuffed in your filter or run with an airpump- up to you. Please ask if you have any questions!

 

[cwmont13]

Sorry, Ive been on vacation! For the active sponges, look for the smaller pore size (believe its 15-30ppm) because they will have more bb. Two sounds good though more is always better! Numerous members on here have used them to successfully (and quickly) cycle their tanks & they come highly recommended. They can be either cut up & stuffed in your filter or run with an airpump- up to you. Please ask if you have any questions!

jlk

Hope your vacation was good

The more I think about it the more I'm inclined to get the active sponges. I'm assuming I would still continue dosing the ammonia after getting the sponges to feed the bb? Proceed till the tank can process 4ppm in 24 hours with 0 nitrItes and nitrAtes < 40 or lower, correct?

So I would need to keep one of the sponges running off my pump all the time? Or just till the tank is fully cycled? I'm assuming I can pull the cut up sponge out of the filter once the tank is established?

 

[Silthrim]

Until someone more knowledgeable chimes in:

The sponges could work. You would still need to add ammonia to feed the bacteria otherwise they will die. Also, I would think you would leave the sponge in your filter because a lot of your bacteria will live on that sponge and if you take it out you could have a mini-cycle while the bacteria regrow to make up for you removing the sponge.

 

[jlk]

Silthrim is correct- if you remove the cycled media from your filter, you will be back in a cycle.
There's really no reason to remove the media once your tank is fully cycled. If you are also running an active filter in your tank, I honestly would leave it be- it will provide an easy source of filtration/bb in the event you need to set up a qt tank quickly or want to seed a new tank.

You will still need to dose amm for a couple of days once you get the filters into your tank- I would start at 2ppm until they are in full gear & then you can increase the dose over a few days.

 

[cwmont13]

Until someone more knowledgeable chimes in:

The sponges could work. You would still need to add ammonia to feed the bacteria otherwise they will die. Also, I would think you would leave the sponge in your filter because a lot of your bacteria will live on that sponge and if you take it out you could have a mini-cycle while the bacteria regrow to make up for you removing the sponge.

Thanks that makes sense.

 

[cwmont13]

Silthrim is correct- if you remove the cycled media from your filter, you will be back in a cycle.
There's really no reason to remove the media once your tank is fully cycled. If you are also running an active filter in your tank, I honestly would leave it be- it will provide an easy source of filtration/bb in the event you need to set up a qt tank quickly or want to seed a new tank.

You will still need to dose amm for a couple of days once you get the filters into your tank- I would start at 2ppm until they are in full gear & then you can increase the dose over a few days.

jlk

Thanks again. I'll get the active sponges and see how everything goes. In the meantime I'm continuing to dose back up to 2 ppm after I did the 100% water change we talked about on 07/01

 

[jlk]

Ok! Keep us posted!

 

[cwmont13]

HELP I'm getting nowhere fast !

OK I need some help and advice here.

I did the 100% WC on 07/02 and dosed ammonia to 2ppm, by 07/06 I was down to 0.50 ppm. I redosed back up to 2 ppm.

So now it's been around 7 days and nothing. My ammonia hasn't dropped from the 2 ppm dose on 07/06. I can't figure out why it's not dropping. I did notice that my PH is raised up up a bit.

ph color is darker than the 7.6 on the chart so I have no idea what the true reading is.

hph is looking more purple now. not brown like the 8.2 but not as dark purple as the 8.4 on the chart.

I'm starting to think my tapwater might be suspect, but not sure.

So where to go now?

 

[jlk]

Thats a bit odd. No chance of adding too much ammonia with the last dose? Just had to check! Its probably worthwhile to double check your taps ph to see if this is behind the higher numbers. Set out container of tap atleast overnight (preferably @24hrs) with an airstone or bubbler. If you dont have an extra, just give the water a good stir every so often to help release dissolved gasses & let us know how this looks. The wc seemed to jumpstart things. You can try another wc (@50%). Did you wind up purchasing any cycled media?

 

[cwmont13]

jlk here's the latest thanks again

Thats a bit odd. No chance of adding too much ammonia with the last dose? Just had to check!

There's always a chance but I don't think I overdosed it. I use the ammonia calculator in the link you gave me and I also use a pet syringe marked in ml so the dosing is fairly accurate.

Its probably worthwhile to double check your taps ph to see if this is behind the higher numbers. Set out container of tap atleast overnight (preferably @24hrs) with an airstone or bubbler. If you dont have an extra, just give the water a good stir every so often to help release dissolved gasses & let us know how this looks.

Working on that right now. Have a bowl of water out and stirring it about every hour. We'll see tomorrow how that looks.

The wc seemed to jumpstart things. You can try another wc (@50%). Did you wind up purchasing any cycled media?

I'm going to sit on it over the weekend and see if it starts dropping. Tonight it looked like it might have dropped a bit. The green was a bit lighter in color so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Haven't got the media yet. I'm going on vaca the 19th for about 4 days. I want to be sure I'm here if I get the media shipped. I need to call them and ask if the extreme heat here in AZ will be bad for shipping. I know that UPS doesn't hit my neighborhood till late afternoon and the stuff sits in the way HOT truck all day.

I called a couple of the LFS's (not big box stores) in the area today and they don't sell any active media. They both suggested using Tetra Safestart or an equivalent product. They said it was a good way to jumpstart the bacteria production in the filter. They said it was OK even though I'm doing a fishless cycle. They said add the ammonia, wait an hour add the bacteria, and then start checking levels the next day. Then continue my cycle adding ammonia till it turns 4 ppm in 24 hours with no nitrItes and nitrAtes shoot for <20 ppm.

Not sure on that. Any thoughts?

 

[cwmont13]

jlk. Just wanted to add that so far I'm not getting a bacteria bloom on the tank like I was before. Since I did the 100% WC the water has been clear. Is that because of the smaller 2 ppm ammonia dose?

 

[jlk]

Whether the safestart works or not is debatable. Some people swear by it! Theres no harm in giving it a try. If you do, please let us know how this product works for you! Not having a bacterial bloom is not of any concern. I have never had one fishless cycling & have only encountered them doing a fish-in cycle. Dont worry about it!

 

[librarygirl]

Just to play devil's advocate here: you did remember to add dechlorinator with the water change, right?