The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

[royta]

It's funny how exciting / stressful / heartbreaking / joyful an empty fish tank can be, lol. Trust me, I know

Geez, you're telling me. I'm back to purple again, because of my flub up, and now I'm waiting for blue again.

 

[royta]

Well, the pH was dropping, so I had to put the bags of crushed coral back in. What a bummer. I went from completely cycled to crushed coral. At least I didn't convince myself that all was well and bought fish.

The crushed coral won't harm the plants will it?

 

[eco23]

Well, the pH was dropping, so I had to put the bags of crushed coral back in. What a bummer. I went from completely cycled to crushed coral. At least I didn't convince myself that all was well and bought fish.

The crushed coral won't harm the plants will it?

Nope. Lots of people use CC as their entire substrate

 

[Irish.OG87]

Well, the pH was dropping, so I had to put the bags of crushed coral back in. What a bummer. I went from completely cycled to crushed coral. At least I didn't convince myself that all was well and bought fish.

The crushed coral won't harm the plants will it?

all the CC is gonna do is keep ur pH high so you wont have a pH crash, it wont hurt the plants at all...and actually might help u finish ur cycle.

 

[royta]

all the CC is gonna do is keep ur pH high so you wont have a pH crash, it wont hurt the plants at all...and actually might help u finish ur cycle.

Yep, the CC is what helped me complete the cycle the first time. Then I pulled a bonehead move and pulled out the rocks and let the tank glass dry up during my final PWC. Oops. I'm hoping for fish on Saturday. We'll see.

The good news is that my wysteria, anacharis, amazon sword, and some other unidentified plants are all growing with just my single T8 15w fixture right up against the glass top of my tank that is only 18" tall (15" above substrate).

 

[Irish.OG87]

just keep addin the ammo, like 2ppm. since u removed the rocks u removed some of the bacteria, just add 2ppm ammo until u see blue on ur no2 test. You musta killed off some of the BB, so addin the ammo will create more to make up for what you lost. If the ammo test is turning yellow after 24hrs ur close.

 

[royta]

When I let the rocks and glass dry up, it must have only killed off the nitrite eating bacteria. Strange I know, but the ammo continued to read 0 after 24 hours.

Rocks and plants are in final resting spots, so no dumb mistakes on my part anymore.

 

[eco23]

When I let the rocks and glass dry up, it must have only killed off the nitrite eating bacteria. Strange I know, but the ammo continued to read 0 after 24 hours.

Rocks and plants are in final resting spots, so no dumb mistakes on my part anymore.

Where's your no2 hanging at? How quickly and how far is it dropping?

 

[royta]

Where's your no2 hanging at? How quickly and how far is it dropping?

I don't think it is dropping. It's hard to tell because the API color chart is kind of lousy. I've never seen a 0.25 or 0.50 according to the chart, and 2.0 and 5.0 are almost identical. On my tank I've seen dark purple working it's way to lighter purple and then just blue.

Today it was a lighter purple. The results today were different than I've experienced in the past. Whenever pH would crash, ammo wouldn't go 0 and nitrite looked like it was almost 0. But for the previous few days before pH started dropping fast, ammo would go solid 0 and nitrite 2.0 at best. Well today ammo still went solid 0 and nitrite 2.0 even though pH had dropped to 6.4. The only difference would be the plants, or maybe the rocks.

Anyway, I'm back with the CC and in the morning before work, I'll make sure pH has come back up.

 

[eco23]

I don't think it is dropping. It's hard to tell because the API color chart is kind of lousy. I've never seen a 0.25 or 0.50 according to the chart, and 2.0 and 5.0 are almost identical. On my tank I've seen dark purple working it's way to lighter purple and then just blue.

Today it was a lighter purple. The results today were different than I've experienced in the past. Whenever pH would crash, ammo wouldn't go 0 and nitrite looked like it was almost 0. But for the previous few days before pH started dropping fast, ammo would go solid 0 and nitrite 2.0 at best. Well today ammo still went solid 0 and nitrite 2.0 even though pH had dropped to 6.4. The only difference would be the plants, or maybe the rocks.

Anyway, I'm back with the CC and in the morning before work, I'll make sure pH has come back up.

Man...you must have some LOW alkalinity water. There are people with Discus who would kill for your water...but in this case, it's a pain in the butt.

You're right about the no2 to no3 bacteria being the problem. The ammo to no2 nitrifying bacteria develops first, so you'll have tons of those little guys in there compared to your newly colonized no2 to no3 bacterium.

You're doing exactly the right thing with the CC and keeping your eyes on pH. I know it's frustrating and seems like everything happens at the worst times...but you're making a textbook example on how to deal with the issue. Keep us posted

 

[royta]

Man...you must have some LOW alkalinity water.

The pH starts out at 7.6, but it crashes after about four to five days after a PWC. I'm not sure if it will continue crashing after the tank is cycled and I have fish. I hope not.

I could probably give the water company a call. We live at 5100 feet in Northern Utah right below Snowbasin and the water comes from the springs on the mountain (Strawberry Peak) above us from our elevation on up to about 9000 feet. There's not a whole lot of time that the water runs across or through the rocks so I would imagine it is low in alkalinity.

That shouldn't be a problem once the cycle is complete, should it?

 

[eco23]

The pH starts out at 7.6, but it crashes after about four to five days after a PWC. I'm not sure if it will continue crashing after the tank is cycled and I have fish. I hope not.

I could probably give the water company a call. We live at 5100 feet in Northern Utah right below Snowbasin and the water comes from the springs on the mountain (Strawberry Peak) above us from our elevation on up to about 9000 feet. There's not a whole lot of time that the water runs across or through the rocks so I would imagine it is low in alkalinity.

That shouldn't be a problem once the cycle is complete, should it?

Shouldn't. Cycles can cause crazy things with pH. Have I already gotten you to leave a glass of tap water sitting out and test it after 24 hours? It'll give you a good idea of the actual pH compared to what the cycle is doing to it.

 

[royta]

Shouldn't. Cycles can cause crazy things with pH. Have I already gotten you to leave a glass of tap water sitting out and test it after 24 hours? It'll give you a good idea of the actual pH compared to what the cycle is doing to it.

I guess you did just now. I set out a glass so I can test tonight and tomorrow morning.

My pH did not improve over night so I changed out to fresh CC

 

[eco23]

I guess you did just now. I set out a glass so I can test tonight and tomorrow morning.

My pH did not improve over night so I changed out to fresh CC

If you can squeeze a bit of the coral (in a mesh bag) into your actual filter, it should help buffer the water a little more efficiently.

 

[Irish.OG87]

Sorry I haven't kept up to date with my cycle, but my tank has been officially been cycled for about 5 days now WOOHOO!!! I have been talkin to eco23 directly to try so i could try and get my cycle done a little quicker since my patience is horrible. My cycle took just about 2months to complete, but maybe have been done quicker if it wasnt due to the fact i under rated the pH and rarely tested cos i was so fixated on the ammo and no2 tests. Since my ammo was converting to no2 in 24hrs regularly and couple of days later it would have a pH crash due to the fact my tank was super close to been done which brought my pH down super low like between 6-5pH, did about a 70-80% pwc to get the buffers back into the water and to increase the pH, the crash wud set me back a couple of days. Then about 2 weeks ago my tank had its 2nd pH crash when i was on vacation for 3 days...not a nice thing to come home to!! But the 2nd pH crash wud kill some of my no2 bacteria but everything else was great ammo was covertin regularly. After learning my lesson the 2nd time round I went out and bought a bag of CC, but after consulting with the Dr. (eco23) lol i found out that my no2 bacteria was not in fact dead but "sleeping" maybe due tot eh 2nd pH crash i honestly dont know, still a mystery. So last Thursday night, my no2 decided to wake up and now my tank is officially done. My tank would not be where it is now if it wasnt for my man eco23, every event that my tank was involved in that was bad, he came up with a solution to fix it, before i did my cycle i knew absolutely zero about cycling and aquarium keeping. But the last 2 months I have learned so much from this bloke. Thanks eco and thanks whoever contributes to this thread.

FYI: anyone who decides to cycle a tank i wud automaticaly get a bag of crushed coral, it will eliminate the chance of a pH crash.

Since Friday, i have added all my fish i wanted in my 36g bf. reason i can add all these fish all at once is because over the course of cycling I have built a ungodly amount of bacteria which will eliminate all the ammo the fish produce even if its a alot of fish too.
Anyways the fish i added:
8 x Glowfish
2 x Blue Longfin Danios
6 x Harlequin Rasboras
6 x Peppered Corys (Friggin love these guys)
1 x Bolivian Ram
3 x Otos ( adding hopefully friday)

 

[Deckape]

Sorry I haven't kept up to date with my cycle, but my tank has been officially been cycled for about 5 days now WOOHOO!!! I have been talkin to eco23 directly to try so i could try and get my cycle done a little quicker since my patience is horrible. My cycle took just about 2months to complete, but maybe have been done quicker if it wasnt due to the fact i under rated the pH and rarely tested cos i was so fixated on the ammo and no2 tests. Since my ammo was converting to no2 in 24hrs regularly and couple of days later it would have a pH crash due to the fact my tank was super close to been done which brought my pH down super low like between 6-5pH, did about a 70-80% pwc to get the buffers back into the water and to increase the pH, the crash wud set me back a couple of days. Then about 2 weeks ago my tank had its 2nd pH crash when i was on vacation for 3 days...not a nice thing to come home to!! But the 2nd pH crash wud kill some of my no2 bacteria but everything else was great ammo was covertin regularly. After learning my lesson the 2nd time round I went out and bought a bag of CC, but after consulting with the Dr. (eco23) lol i found out that my no2 bacteria was not in fact dead but "sleeping" maybe due tot eh 2nd pH crash i honestly dont know, still a mystery. So last Thursday night, my no2 decided to wake up and now my tank is officially done. My tank would not be where it is now if it wasnt for my man eco23, every event that my tank was involved in that was bad, he came up with a solution to fix it, before i did my cycle i knew absolutely zero about cycling and aquarium keeping. But the last 2 months I have learned so much from this bloke. Thanks eco and thanks whoever contributes to this thread.

FYI: anyone who decides to cycle a tank i wud automaticaly get a bag of crushed coral, it will eliminate the chance of a pH crash.

Since Friday, i have added all my fish i wanted in my 36g bf. reason i can add all these fish all at once is because over the course of cycling I have built a ungodly amount of bacteria which will eliminate all the ammo the fish produce even if its a alot of fish too.
Anyways the fish i added:
8 x Glowfish
2 x Blue Longfin Danios
6 x Harlequin Rasboras
6 x Peppered Corys (Friggin love these guys)
1 x Bolivian Ram
3 x Otos ( adding hopefully friday)

Congrats! Good show and I am proud of ya

 

[Irish.OG87]

Congrats! Good show and I am proud of ya

thx deckape...i hope ur tank is getting better after eco gave u that filter media.

 

[Deckape]

thx deckape...i hope ur tank is getting better after eco gave u that filter media.

Oh yea Dr Eric fixed me right up

 

[eco23]

Thanks Liam (Pigeonfood). You're a perfect example of how a fishless cycle can always be successful with patience, perseverance, commitment and sometimes a bit of problem solving. Believe me when I say how happy I am you have some beautiful fish swimming around in the perfect little home you've built for them.

You make a great point about the CC. It is always an available tool and I highly recommend it to anyone with low alkalinity to their water. In fact, I intend on revising the guide listing it as a good optional item to ensure a fishless cycle is fast and efficient.

Congratulations, and as much of a pain it the butt it was for you at times...I'm glad we went through it. I've made a good friend in the process

 

[Irish.OG87]

Thanks Liam (Pigeonfood). You're a perfect example of how a fishless cycle can always be successful with patience, perseverance, commitment and sometimes a bit of problem solving. Believe me when I say how happy I am you have some beautiful fish swimming around in the perfect little home you've built for them.

You make a great point about the CC. It is always an available tool and I highly recommend it to anyone with low alkalinity to their water. In fact, I intend on revising the guide listing it as a good optional item to ensure a fishless cycle is fast and efficient.

Congratulations, and as much of a pain it the butt it was for you at times...I'm glad we went through it. I've made a good friend in the process

Agreed