Weird Cycling Problem

[ESeck]

Let me preface this by saying that i have several tanks which I have done a fishless cycle on. I recently aquired a new tank and am going to use it for a breeding pair of angelfish.

I put a new sponge filter in the tank and got it running. I dumped in a bunch of flake food to start the cycle, let's not turn this into a debate about liquid ammonia vs food for cycling. However, the flake does not seem to be converting into ammonia. I have had the food in there for a few days now.

Has anyone ever had food that just refused to rot?

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[Mebbid]

Its likely that there just isnt enough food. Tbh, id skip the fish food and stuck a cocktail shrimp in a nylon stocking if you wanted to go with a more natural ammonia source.

 

[IllusionX]

If you have several tanks, why don't you seed your sponge in the old tank?

 

[ESeck]

If you have several tanks, why don't you seed your sponge in the old tank?

Seeding bacteria without ammonia doesn't do much good. I want the tank fully stable before i put angels in it.

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[ESeck]

Its likely that there just isnt enough food. Tbh, id skip the fish food and stuck a cocktail shrimp in a nylon stocking if you wanted to go with a more natural ammonia source.

I'm probably going to do that. Just thought it was weird since I have used flake food for cycling before.

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[Mebbid]

I'm probably going to do that. Just thought it was weird since I have used flake food for cycling before.

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*shrug* ive seen more problems happen with flake dosing than benefits. Its just not controllable enough imho

 

[IllusionX]

Seeding bacteria without ammonia doesn't do much good. I want the tank fully stable before i put angels in it.

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Seeded filter and old water, instant cycle?

 

[Mebbid]

Seeded filter and old water, instant cycle?

Not always. Theres a lot of bacteria that grows on everything in the tank. You arent going to pull all of it out wirh a seeded filter so it wont instantly cycle a tank. It will help though.


Old water is largely useless. Theres almost no bacteria living in the water, they stick to surfaces instead.

 

[IllusionX]

Yeah, but if you put tap water in the tank, you are just going to kill all the BB in your seeded filter. No?

 

[PassengerTN]

Yeah, but if you put tap water in the tank, you are just going to kill all the BB in your seeded filter. No?

Pretreat the water. But yes, straight chlorinated tap water will kill Bb

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah, but if you put tap water in the tank, you are just going to kill all the BB in your seeded filter. No?

If you're in the process of cycling, i certainly hope that youre not trying to do it with chlorinated water

 

[IllusionX]

No, but it never occurred to me to even treat the water before putting it in a brand new tank. I always do it after due to the large quantity of water required.

 

[jrc0528]

I use a 27 Gal plastic tote to pre-treat the new water and stabilize the temps & aerate it prior to adding it to the tank. This is also how I add the salt for the somewhat brackish water I use for the guppy tank. Any plant ferts go into the pre-treat as well.

 

[trennamw]

Seeded filter and old water, instant cycle?

The old water wouldn't have ammonia, just nitrates, if it's from a healthy tank.

Do you have all the settings for cycling? Higher temp, higher ph, lots of aeration, some phosphate ... ? I'm excavating an old memory here ... Just remembering it takes many more ingredients than ammonia and bacteria.

I don't think people use bottled ammonia because it's "better", it's just predictable.


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[ESeck]

Temp is 82. Ph is 7.4. I'm using a sponge filter and have the air turned up pretty high for now. Not sure about the phosphates. I ended up going with a piece of shrimp and have my ammonia up to 2.0 now.

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[cat8]

this is kinda a question and a log of what my 55g freshwater tank is doing during the fishless cycle w food Ive been doing.......here it goes,
Set-up---------

55g freshwater tank
Eheim 200w submersible heater
Marineland C360 canister filter(carbon in)
Air pump w bulb wand attached
Black epoxy coated gravel 40#( have 20# more that i havent added)
temp- 79.5f right now.
Food----
used wardley tropical flake for first 3 weeks, then switched to cichlid crisps these last 2 weeks(didnt document when i switched food type, oops!)((also didnt measure exact amount of food i was adding, just tapped some into the lid, probably a mounded dime size at first for the flake, then a mounded quarter size when i started adding double the amount of food-with the flake only)

Tank up and running 3/27 added dime size amounts of food everyday but didnt start testing till 4/3
4/3-1xfood, a-0.50. ni-0
4/4-1x food, a-0.50,
4/5-1x food,a-0.50, ni-0, na-0
4/6.......
4/7-2x food, a-0.50~1.0, ni-0
4/8-1x food, a-0.50~1.0, ni-0
4/9-2x food, a-1.0, ni-0
4/10-2x food, a-1~2, ni-^0
4/11-2x food, a-1~2, ni-0~0.25
4/12-2x food, a-2~4, ni-0.25?
4/13......
4/14.......
4/15-2x food, a-2, ni-0.25, na-0
4/16-2x food, a-2~4, ni-0.25, na-0
4/18-1.5x food, a-2, ni-0.25, na-0
4/19-2x food, a-2, ni-0.25~0.50, na-0
switched food somewhere close to here
4/20-2x food, a-2, ni-0.25, na-0
4/26-2x food, a-2, ni-0.25
4/29-0 food,a-2~4, ni-0.50~1, na-^0
4/30-2x food, a-2~4, ni-5
5/2-0 food, a-0.25~0.50, ni-^5, na-20

and that brings us to today. now do i need to do any pwc because im getting high amounts of nitrates now or what? i hope everyone can understand what ive wrote in my above testing log.I have also only tested my ph one time in the very begining and i never even recorded what it was.......help with advice on what to do now?????

 

[cat8]

using API master test kit

 

[ESeck]

Don't add any more food for 24hrs and test. If you read 0s for nitrite and ammonia you are ready for fish. Do a 70% pwc and put them in.

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[Mebbid]

Don't add any more food for 24hrs and test. If you read 0s for nitrite and ammonia you are ready for fish. Do a 70% pwc and put them in.

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The problem with that is, the ammonia production from a little tood is going to be less than fish. You would have ammonia spikes.

 

[ESeck]

The problem with that is, the ammonia production from a little tood is going to be less than fish. You would have ammonia spikes.

I'm not suggesting that he should dump 100% of his stocking in but it was up to 2.0 ammonia and down to 0 again. So if he's patient and adds a few fish at a time it should be fine.

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