Thoughts/musings on my 55 gal setup and fishless cycling

[laxpatrick]

Well, here I am at day 10 of fishless cycling. Long post warning - engaged.

Day negative 2 was exciting. My sparkling new 55 gallon tank was up on the stand, begging, wanting to be filled with water and goodies.

I'd done this fish thing for years - was up to 5 tanks when I was a teen, so I thought - heck, this'll be a cinch!

One news flash for those of us who've been away - Undergravel Filters either with powerheads or those delightful bubbling columns, once the mainstay of contemporary design and function - are no longer cool.

I'm ok with that. My kit came with a Top Fin 60 HOB - just perfect for my tank!

Started adding water. We get our water from a well, probably around 600 feet down here in western Wisconsin. Good news: it's clean and free of chlorine and other nasties. Bad news: It's cold. 51 degrees cold. Took me a bit to warm it up to the upper mid 70's.

Gravel and goodies rinsed - Check! Starting to look like an aquarium!

What's that noise? Grinding, humming splashing horror. Hmmm... Top Fin 60's do not belong in home office settings where conference calls and speakerphones are the order of the day.

Thankfully, with some advice from this board, I did my research and with fingers crossed, picked up an XP2 (yeah, most go with XP3 but I'm a rebel). Good news! It's quiet, seems convenient and very well designed. Starting to let go of missing my undergravel filter setup of years past. Fits nicely in my cabinet and honestly, it's quieter than either of my 2 computers.

Figured I'd give it a couple of weeks before I went fish shopping- wait, what's this fishless cycle thing that's all the rage? Ok - sounds reasonable. Only negative is the lack of near term/instant gratification...

Picked up some of the right kind of ammonia at Ace and looked ahead to my fishless cycle. I decided to also try using Seachem Stability - see if the stuff helps at all...

So - added the ammonia - WHOOPS - showing over 8.0. Oh well, let's change some water - ahhhh, that's better. So here I am at day 10 of my cycle. And nothing's changed. I was hoping to get some change in ammonia, some blip in the other measurements - but alas - nothing. Temp in the tank is a cosy 78 degrees and my guitars welcome the increased humidity in the office - a bonus I'd not considered.

Now I'm starting to get impatient. Any suggestions other than be patient? Ammonia is plateau'd at somewhere around 2/.0-4.0, using an API kit to measure.

Help me or I swear I'm gonna go buy a few danios at the store...

Long term I'll probably have a community tank - a couple of Kribs, haven't decided on the rest of the candidates...

Thanks in advance,

LAXPatrick

 

[joy13]

I really like the driftwood.

Amazing how things change I was at a thrift store looking around and I saw a 10 gallon and a little 2 gallon stainless steel frame tanks. I had to get the heck out of there before I found myself with a tank or 2. I remember the days where you got your tank setup and stuck fish in right away. Planted tanks meant hornwort and watersprite. Amazing how many times I fought with things like ich and popeye back then. I haven't had any of that happening since I started back in the hobby and cycled my tank.

Now repeat after me I am not going to buy danios when I go to the store I will check out the plant section, and check out a black background.

 

[ElvisMinnow]

musings back at ya....

It is not clear from the pic if those are real plants. Let me make a plug for real plants. They absorb nutrients of all sorts, take the edge off of chemical swings, and give good cover and varied environments for fish.

I don't know your filter. How much biomedia is in the filter? Bacteria need a home too. I would think about adding more if it is minimal now. This could be part of the problem. If your filter has one of those bags-on-a-frame like my Top Fin, I would guess that it cannot hold enough stuff, IMHO. The Aquaclear unit that I replaced my Top Fin with has a similar flow, but way more filtration capacity, for example.

As well, I would add tons of bacteria. A Lot. Daily. Into the filter in mass quantities. At this point, you cannot add too many--well, almost. Ideally, they will be so numerous that the overflow bugs will take up residence in gravel, on glass as well. If your ammonia is high they should knock it down readily. If I am reading your musings correctly, it sounds like you have not established a bio-filter in your tank.

I don't know what else to tell you...I did not have this problem, as my tanks came into full capacity to cycle Nitrogen in a very short time. Of course, I had lots of plants, lots of bio-media, lots of bacteria (from multiple products: Seachem, Hagen, Tetra, etc.) and only a fish or two at a time.

 

[laxpatrick]

I appreciate your posts!

Joy13 - totally can identify with where you're coming from. Background is definetly needed - the LFS only had 2 sections to fit my tank. At this point scrimping and having a seam seems... unseemly. Plants are a good call - have to do some looking around for a few live ones.

"I am not going to buy danios when I go to the store I will check out the plant section, and check out a black background..."

 

[fearlessfisch]

I have very little patience for doing the cycle from scratch, but I also want the tank cycled for the safety of my fish. When we moved to a new city, I contacted the local aquarium society and found the avid fishkeepers. One of them let me take a bunch of gunky filter floss from his tank, and I had an almost instant cycle.

The drawback to this is that you always run the risk of introducing any parasites or disease he may have in his tank....However, I trusted an experienced aquarist and did not have any problems from that floss. I only ran into trouble much later when I was stupid and did not quarantine a new fish from the LFS. Live and learn.

 

[laxpatrick]

Good news - I'd thought that the LFS (other than PetSmartCo) was closed, but he just moved. Got a big bag of gunky water from his cichlid tank, so that should fire up the process. Hope so, cause I've still got zero activity in terms of ammonia, nitrite and of course nitrate...

Also picked up a couple of plants.

 

[fearlessfisch]

Not trying to be negative, but....

I wouldn't add gunky water to the tank. First, the good bacteria you need live on surfaces, not in the water,....You may pollute your water with little actual benefit if you just pour it in.

I would borrow some used floss for the filter or gravel instead, because the bacteria live on surfaces...and, personally, I would get it from a private fishkeeper I trust rather than from an LFS. Fish stores deal with such high turnover of fish that they often have parasites or other nasties in the tanks.

 

[laxpatrick]

Agree - in an ideal setting, I'd have floss or similar from a private source. Hopefully between the couple of potted plants I bought and the gravel vaccum bagged water, I'll pick up the bacteria I need to get the cycle going.

 

[laxpatrick]

Early in week 2 - still no drop in Ammonia, still zero nitrites/ates.

 

[meegosh]

Whats your ammonia at? No chance of getting some filter media from a fellow hobbyist? I think everyone here at AA should start saving our old polyfiber for these new/old guys that are starting up new tanks. Buyer pays for shipping and you get an instant cycle. I'd say it would be well worth it. I guess shipping it submerged and keeping the bacteria fed would be the only problem.

 

[jonnythan]

What are you using to test?

 

[laxpatrick]

API liquid reagent test kit (the one that includes tests for hi/low pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites)

 

[laxpatrick]

HOLD the phone... Checked this morning, ammonia is still high but this is the first time I've seen any readings in the Nitrite zone. I may have a start... Will keep an eye on the ammonia and add if it gets to what, below 2.0?

 

[laxpatrick]

Nitrites finally on the rise!!! Just started yesterday at .25, now up to .50 by the color charts... Hopefully ammonia will start dropping soon. That's still nice and high - 4.0 or so

 

[addicted2fish]

you have started it . you would think' adding this nasty to your tank would somehow be had, I have also learned that my old way of keeping the tank clean and the new way which really works , is ALOT differant . clean tank means a nasty filter . If you keep up with your water changes , I know not somthing in the old days etheir but this WORKS < change 30% of the tank water straight from the top *( when your filter is full of nastys this works a dream as well ) and just pull the water out, does not have to be a gravel clean ' as you would think . the beneficial bacteria here is what you are looking for , and that is not cleaning it out . I had a hard time iwth this one . water changes every week, Not cleaning the filter all the way out . If you did change the filter media and did not have the bacteria in the gravel you cause a bloom, many people get one dont know why . IF they remeber all they did was put in new filter media . LOL ~
well your rena should get you were you need to be , but I also agree you should find some nasty . You have already gotton water out of this chiclid tank , what about some used filter floss, can you ask ? that would be super beneficial to your tank , and to be honest I dont know why the LFS guy did not tell you so the water is almost needless ' *( O, wait I DO know why he did not tell you so , he did not KNOW ~~lol ) some employees do not know or care to know , and some think they know it all , have tanks at home, and they dont know anything etheir . you will weed these people out as you progress in your learning . everyone does things differantly . But here in the forums and the right way ' is not that much differant . make sure your plants are true aquatic plants you can look them up at plantgeek.com because some of the big chain fish stores sell palderium plants AS aquatic plants . they will polute yoru water within the 3mths, and die. you can also find good plants from hobbiest here online . there are many swap&shops, classifieds . You can find someone doing a huge trim, there ya go , you can start alot of plants in , and IF you have the right lighting, co2, you can grow anything .


thinking of that , are you using your strip light that came with the tank ? if so there are not many plants that will even grow . I am guessing maybye swords, anabius, cyrpts, but honestly I dont belive that is enough light for them to grow .

Your filter is brand new, and super clean the faster it gets nasty, the better .
your def on the right path , your driftwood looks amazing !!! is it real ? or plastic ?

your tank looks good now, But if you want to jump intop the planted world , there are lots of friends that can help you do it !! ~~~~~~~~

post lots of pics, and is it time for fish yet > ? lol, I am impatient and its not even my tank ... lol ~~~~~~~~~~

 

[laxpatrick]

The structures are plastic - TopFin from the local PetSmart believe it or not.

I've got a sword and a rotala in the plant - they seem to be doing ok right now with the light setup. If not, no biggie for now. Main goal is to get through the cycle and stock with fish - still trying to decide what I want to go with theme-wise. If I go africans, I'll kiss those plants good-bye and do some more structure...

Alternatively I'll do a community with a pair of kribs...

Hoping I can go fish shopping in a couple of weeks.

 

[jonnythan]

Be patient. You still have another 1-2 weeks.

 

[laxpatrick]

Patience is being rewarded... I'm clearly in this for the duration. The good news is that I've just seen a significant drop in ammonia. So I added a bit to get the level back up and will continue to do so until the Nitrites hit the floor (right now as expected they're peaking out).

One thing's for sure - fishless cycling gives you gobs of time to plan your fish selection...

 

[addicted2fish]

Alternatively I'll do a community with a pair of kribs...

this sounds awesome .. but ethier way , I belive you have a great tank and it will look awesome . my home office sports a 45 gallon & a 5.5 gallon both planted. I am a planted tank freak !!! LOL I do really enjoy your tank , so I am subscribed and watching for the ultimate outcome !! keep up the great work .

the driftwood being plastic , WOW they look really good , do they look real up close ? you could probally tie some anabius to them esp close to the light, they should grow fine . and would make them look really good .
they look great ethier way thow .

 

[Dano01]

"Buyer pays for shipping and you get an instant cycle." Are you willing to guarentee that the buyer gets an "instant cycle"?.....Pehaps you would be willing to put up a $1K guarentee......Let me know when, and I will put in the first order.