PWC during a cycle.

[Guest]

Just wanted to clarify something here. If you are cycling, the fastest way to cycle is to not do ANY water changes during the cycle. Because doing water changes reduces the ammount of ammonia and nitrate available for the bacterial colony to establish itslef. (basically you are removing the food for the bacteria to grow)

The ONLY reason to do PWC during a cycle is if you have life inhabitants in the tank. This is to ensure the safety of the tank inhabitants. HOWEVER... this will make the cycle very slow and may take a very very long time to complete!!!

FOR EXAMPLE... in my 10 gallon tank i had a seeded filter and i stocked it right away. I then had a mini-cycle and i continued doing daily water changes and i kept having the same readings come uip again day after day after day. Finally i stopped doing water changes for a week and i tested the water daily and it FINALLY cycled... WHY??? Becuase i stopped removing the food source for the bacteria and it was able to grow a large enough bacterial colony to consume the wastes produced.

 

[Macrosill]

100 % accurate.

Good idea to post it, in plain english, so everyone can read what sometimes seems obvious to some.

 

[Purrbox]

There is one other time that you should do a water change.

When doing a fishless cycle it is possible to get really high levels of Ammonia and/or Nitrite. This can be due to an accidental overdose of Ammonia or following older instructions that instruct you to dose a certain amount everyday instead of dosing to a specific level. When this happens, it can stall your cycle because there is simply too much Ammonia and/or Nitrite. In this case a water change is the fastest way to get things back on track.

 

[mdl76]

when you say add Ammonia, do you mean the stuff you buy at the store?

 

[rich311k]

Yes it has to be pure no surfacants or fragrance or color. Ace Hardware sells a brand of janitorial strength which is 10% pure ammonia.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yes, but make sure it has no detergents or scents. Some are labeled as Clear Ammonia. Just read the ingredients. If it has any detergents, don't get it. Also, if you shake it and it foams or bubbles, you don't want it. Straight ammonia won't foam.

 

[mdl76]

this is odd, but can I use human urine? that would be really cheap.

 

[YuccaPatrol]

this is odd, but can I use human urine? that would be really cheap.

Yes you could. The urea in urine breaks down into ammonia by bacteria. It would certainly be a safe and natural source of ammonia. It is clean and sterile enough to be used as an antiseptic in many cultures. The US Army special forces suggest using it to sterilize a wound before field surgery if nothing else is available.

I think a lot of people just generally consider it to by very yucky and would rather drive all over town looking for pure ammonia even though they have a natural and pure source sitting in their bladder all the time.

Only difficulty would be knowing how much ammonia you are adding since it will be in the form of urea.

 

[mdl76]

Only difficulty would be knowing how much ammonia you are adding since it will be in the form of urea.

i think its time for me to Experiment

 

[SCFatz]

The ONLY reason to do PWC during a cycle is if you have life inhabitants in the tank. This is to ensure the safety of the tank inhabitants. HOWEVER... this will make the cycle very slow and may take a very very long time to complete!!!

This is where I'm stuck....and a tick confused.....What ammonia level is ok if you have fish in the tank?I understand it has to be present in order to eventually generate nitrites but its bad for the fish.

I've doing a 50% water change whenever I see it over 1 ppm.

 

[Purrbox]

The exact level that you should do a water change will vary slightly depending on who you talk to. Some will say when Ammonia is over 1ppm, while I've seen .5ppm listed by some others. I think that it's pretty safe to say that you should definately do a water change if your Ammonia level goes over 1ppm, and you may want to consider a water change if it's between .5ppm and 1ppm. Using the lower number would be especially advisable if you are dealing with more sensitive species or any of your fish are having problems.

 

[Guest]

Ammonia is the waste source produced by Fish waste, or any other decaying material in the water. IT can also be added directly as pure ammonia.


Also you say you do a water change whenever you see it go over 1ppm which is fine and dandy to keep the level down for the fish's safety... but in a regulary cycle where you do no water changes the Ammonia will peak all the way to the top and then drop to zero while the nitrite spikes. This can happen in a week if you LEAVE IT ALONE. If you constantly do water changes, it could take months or it may never happen becuase you are constantly removing the food source and that bacterial colony is NEVER GETTING ANY BIGGER. IT IS STAYING THE SAME SIZE.

better to lose a few fish and complete the cycle than to constantly tortue the fish with the ammonia exposure.