laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
Huh? Not getting that one...
Thoughts/musings on my 55 gal setup and fishless cycling
- Thread starter laxpatrick
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laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
Well, we're in the home stretch. No turning back. Nitrites are droppin' - that's good news! Almost there...
Water's cloudy, but I'm not sweatin' it. Plan is to ride out the rest of the cycle, do the PWC, let it stabilize for a couple of days, then add a couple fish at a time.
Will post some pics. I've got a sword and a rotala that seem to be doing well in spite of my "stock" low level lighting. Talked to my LFS guy about getting a glass top and then adding a big double to get the watts up. Not sure how big into plants I'm going to go, we shall see! This site certainly enables, doesn't it?
Water's cloudy, but I'm not sweatin' it. Plan is to ride out the rest of the cycle, do the PWC, let it stabilize for a couple of days, then add a couple fish at a time.
Will post some pics. I've got a sword and a rotala that seem to be doing well in spite of my "stock" low level lighting. Talked to my LFS guy about getting a glass top and then adding a big double to get the watts up. Not sure how big into plants I'm going to go, we shall see! This site certainly enables, doesn't it?
betta4me
Aquarium Advice Activist
Congrats! When I seen my nitrites going down I litterally did a jig in my kitchen. 
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
That's what 3 plus weeks of staring at an empty aquarium will do to you. It's funny when people visiting see the tank and say wow, etc. And then notice the profound lack of fish. Seems crazy to the uninformed to be that patient.
Hopefully the payoff will be an increase in the entertainment value of my investment in the next week or two, fingers crossed...
Hopefully the payoff will be an increase in the entertainment value of my investment in the next week or two, fingers crossed...
I had my tank on my desk at work empty for about 2.5 weeks while it cycled.
Someone asked me why I hadn't put fish in yet. I told her "the bacteria colonies haven't finished building up yet." She looked at me like I was crazy and said "you WANT bacteria??"
Someone asked me why I hadn't put fish in yet. I told her "the bacteria colonies haven't finished building up yet." She looked at me like I was crazy and said "you WANT bacteria??"
betta4me
Aquarium Advice Activist
I agree with you two and then when you start explaining the process they quickly become disinterested, and their eyes get this hazey blankness regretting they ever asked, LOL.
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
Only thing that's bothering me at present is the cloudiness of the water - kinda greenish. Guessing it's algae in the water... Not going to sweat any of that til the cycle's done...
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
At 630 am in the home office... Doing the jig...
Ammonia zero, Nitrites zero, Nitrates sitting at between 10-20ppm.
Fed some more ammonia, will do a PWC tomorrow assuming we're stable.
After that, once things settle, we're goin' SHOPPIN'!
I'll post my data points below
Ammonia zero, Nitrites zero, Nitrates sitting at between 10-20ppm.
Fed some more ammonia, will do a PWC tomorrow assuming we're stable.
After that, once things settle, we're goin' SHOPPIN'!
I'll post my data points below
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
General thoughts - didn't add supplemental ammonia (other than 13 Jan) until 30 Jan. Did stability help? I remain unconvinced that it did anything positive. I believe that truth is that fishless cycling takes time, plain and simple.
Temp maintained at about 78 degrees. Higher temp could have sped up the process.
Still have green cloud in tank and some fair algae growth. Hopefully the PWC will take care of that. A clown pleco or some Otos will likely take care of the algae when they takes up residence.
Still pondering fish species to add. Right now thinking some tiger barbs, danios in the upper part of the tank, either bolivians or kribs down below. And a botia or two (clown loach or red tailed shark - couple of 'em).
Date Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Notes
12-Jan 0.00 Filled tank, added Stability
13-Jan 0.00 Added Stability, to continue daily, Added Ammonia
14-Jan 8.00 10 gallon water change, 5 gallon additional
15-Jan 4.00 0.00 0.00
16-Jan 4.00 0.00 0.00
17-Jan 4.00
18-Jan 2.00 0.00 0.00 15 gallon water change
19-Jan 2.00
20-Jan 2.00 0.00 0.00 This is getting old. And winter SUCKS.
21-Jan 2.00 Still getting old. Winter still sucks. Hope it thaws!
22-Jan 2.00 Nada, zip, zero change PM - cloudy water
23-Jan 2.00 0.00 Added 2 plants and a bag of poo water from LFS. One day near freezing was a nice break, back to the cold!
24-Jan 2.00
25-Jan 2.00 0.00
26-Jan 2.00 Still nuthin' - added a little more ammonia just for funzies.
27-Jan 4.00 0.25 0.00
28-Jan 4.00 0.50 HOLY &#!* I'VE GOT NITRITES
29-Jan 4.00 1.00 Keep 'em comin'!
30-Jan 4.00 high 0.00
31-Jan 0.00 high
1-Feb 0.00 high Nitrate coming up
2-Feb 0.00 Max'd out
3-Feb 0.00 Near max Nitrites take a while, go figure. Hard to believe I've waited over three weeks for a stupid fish tank
4-Feb 0.00 > 2.0 Still cookin', cloudy water
5-Feb 0.00 0.75 10-20 Cloudy water getting annoying, Nitrites comin' down!!!
6-Feb 0.00 0.00 10-20 WOOOHOOO!!! Nitrites at ZERO!!!
Temp maintained at about 78 degrees. Higher temp could have sped up the process.
Still have green cloud in tank and some fair algae growth. Hopefully the PWC will take care of that. A clown pleco or some Otos will likely take care of the algae when they takes up residence.
Still pondering fish species to add. Right now thinking some tiger barbs, danios in the upper part of the tank, either bolivians or kribs down below. And a botia or two (clown loach or red tailed shark - couple of 'em).
Date Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Notes
12-Jan 0.00 Filled tank, added Stability
13-Jan 0.00 Added Stability, to continue daily, Added Ammonia
14-Jan 8.00 10 gallon water change, 5 gallon additional
15-Jan 4.00 0.00 0.00
16-Jan 4.00 0.00 0.00
17-Jan 4.00
18-Jan 2.00 0.00 0.00 15 gallon water change
19-Jan 2.00
20-Jan 2.00 0.00 0.00 This is getting old. And winter SUCKS.
21-Jan 2.00 Still getting old. Winter still sucks. Hope it thaws!
22-Jan 2.00 Nada, zip, zero change PM - cloudy water
23-Jan 2.00 0.00 Added 2 plants and a bag of poo water from LFS. One day near freezing was a nice break, back to the cold!
24-Jan 2.00
25-Jan 2.00 0.00
26-Jan 2.00 Still nuthin' - added a little more ammonia just for funzies.
27-Jan 4.00 0.25 0.00
28-Jan 4.00 0.50 HOLY &#!* I'VE GOT NITRITES
29-Jan 4.00 1.00 Keep 'em comin'!
30-Jan 4.00 high 0.00
31-Jan 0.00 high
1-Feb 0.00 high Nitrate coming up
2-Feb 0.00 Max'd out
3-Feb 0.00 Near max Nitrites take a while, go figure. Hard to believe I've waited over three weeks for a stupid fish tank
4-Feb 0.00 > 2.0 Still cookin', cloudy water
5-Feb 0.00 0.75 10-20 Cloudy water getting annoying, Nitrites comin' down!!!
6-Feb 0.00 0.00 10-20 WOOOHOOO!!! Nitrites at ZERO!!!
addicted2fish
Aquarium Advice Regular
WOW where are you now, how is it going >?? any new pictures ??
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
Been pretty much in stasis mode. Had to do a business trip this week. Had my wife keep adding ammonia and she went WAY overboard the other day. So - did another water change.
Water is pretty cloudy still - not sure if its algae still blooming or what. I rinsed gravel, my decorations are top fin and all I've got in in now are plastic plants until my new glass top comes into the LFS so I can up the wattage....
But the good news is - picked up a half a dozen tiger barbs at the shop. My wife likes the green ones (I don't really care for them) but got a couple of those in the mix.
Will be adding more over the coming weeks - will post pics when it's more interesting to look at!
LAXPatrick
Water is pretty cloudy still - not sure if its algae still blooming or what. I rinsed gravel, my decorations are top fin and all I've got in in now are plastic plants until my new glass top comes into the LFS so I can up the wattage....
But the good news is - picked up a half a dozen tiger barbs at the shop. My wife likes the green ones (I don't really care for them) but got a couple of those in the mix.
Will be adding more over the coming weeks - will post pics when it's more interesting to look at!
LAXPatrick
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laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
...and 5 of the 6 tiger barbs are dead.
This is not fun. 1.5 months of painstaking cycling and now this... Ammonia near zero, nitrites zero, nitrates near zero after water change. Temp 78.
Water is still cloudy, greenish tint. Think I'm going to let it sit for a while before adding more fish and turn the lights off for a few days...
Thoughts? Kinda frustrated. I'd feel better if I were brand new to fish, but as a teen I bred cichlids, had 6 tanks going, etc...
This is not fun. 1.5 months of painstaking cycling and now this... Ammonia near zero, nitrites zero, nitrates near zero after water change. Temp 78.
Water is still cloudy, greenish tint. Think I'm going to let it sit for a while before adding more fish and turn the lights off for a few days...
Thoughts? Kinda frustrated. I'd feel better if I were brand new to fish, but as a teen I bred cichlids, had 6 tanks going, etc...
Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
That's funny, I went through the same thing. My last tank was set up in 2000-2001, here I go again 8 years later and I can't even find STAND TUBES!! 4 stores didn't have them, one guy looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to continue to use my UGF. Had to go to local long-term LFS that does just about every tank with UGFs and they basically told me that every method works, you just have to know how to maintain and you're fine.
I decided to stick with my 20-year-old Penn Plax Undertow fitler and power heads that are not quite so old. Mainly because I didn't have the $ to pop for a canister or HOB, but also because I fear change.
As for the cycle, glad you got through yours. I got a bag of dirty water from the same LFS I got the stand tubes from - squeezed out sponge filter, looked like sewage - which is really what you wanted instead of just suctioning the gravel, whoever said 'get gunky water' I'm sure that's what they meant, and whoever said 'bacteria grows on surfaces' that's right, I'm assuming that squeezing out a sponge filter will indeed transfer the bacteria needed.
I had a max 0.5 ammonia (which is just over the tap ammonia around here anyways) and max 0.25 nitrites on 7th day, which dropped to 0.1 2 days later. My cycle was effectively complete in 2 weeks with no fish killing spikes. My tank is 6 weeks old (55 fresh community) and has 29 inhabitants, 3 of which just got moved to a breeder tank (preggers)
Not that any of this helps you now.....
But as a fellow aquarist that learned of the drastic shift from 'UGF is the best!' to 'UGF is soooo last decade!' I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject. I started a thread on this but it has not sparked the interest I had hoped for...
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/filtration-method-debate-112098.html
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
So far so good - darkened tank, ammonia and nitrites at zero two days in a row...
laxpatrick
Aquarium Advice Activist
...and my profound lack of patience rears its ugly head.
10 danios added last night, readings all looking great, they're very active, ate this morning, etc. - hopefully in the home stretch!
10 danios added last night, readings all looking great, they're very active, ate this morning, etc. - hopefully in the home stretch!
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