Need advice on new freshwater tropical tank cycle.

[theman1973]

I started a 135 L freshwater aquarium one week ago and it still in cycling stage (fishless cycle).

The question is should I using [FONT=&quot]bacteria in a bottle/supplement[/FONT][FONT=&quot] like[/FONT] NUTRAFIN CYCLE AQUARIUM SUPPLEMENT, ATM Colony Professional Grade Nitrifying Bacteria Freshwater Aquarium Supplement or API Quick Start Water Conditioner for Aquariums to cycle the tank to build the Bio filter or

I should go old the way using aquarium ammonia to start the cycle until it completed.

could I have some professions advise please.

 

[dalto]

Those aren't exclusive things.

If you want to do a fishless cycle you should use the ammonia.

If you want your cycle to happen faster you should use one of the other products in addition to the ammonia.

My experience is that bacteria in a bottle rarely instantly cycles your tank. It can, depending on the product, make the cycling process much shorter.

 

[theman1973]

Thanks for your reply, my tank already starts more than a week, and I am continually adding Nutrafin Cycle daily 35 ml. I purchased 50ml purl aquarium ammonia online it will arrive on Wednesday this week, I will start add it to my tank (it that to late or it is still ok).

Could please give some suggesting you how much I should add it to my tank, how to add it, one for all or every day add a bit . As you suggest I can add other bottled bacteria – which are you recommend API Quick Start or Colony Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria or any others.

 

[dalto]

You should stop adding the bottled bacteria until you get the ammonia.

The simplest way to look at it is that the ammonia is the "food" for the bacteria so adding the bacteria before the food will not do much to benefit you.

 

[theman1973]

02/09/2014 - finally got ammonia, added the 50 ml into the fishtank on the day.

03/09/2014 - bought a driftwood with 2 plants attached and put into the tank, test the ammonia it is look very high, the reading is 8.0+ppm. should I wait for few more days to see if its drop, or should I change water imminently. Also bought a bottle of COLONY Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria, should I start add it to my fish tank? - please advice.

 

[PB_Smith]

02/09/2014 - finally got ammonia, added the 50 ml into the fishtank on the day.

03/09/2014 - bought a driftwood with 2 plants attached and put into the tank, test the ammonia it is look very high, the reading is 8.0+ppm. should I wait for few more days to see if its drop, or should I change water imminently. Also bought a bottle of COLONY Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria, should I start add it to my fish tank? - please advice.

if there are no fish in there then there is no reason to do any water changes.
If you do a water change, you are just delaying the cycle.
I say just let it ride and cycle for the next 3 weeks, adding a bit of ammonia here and there to keep it going. You don't need to worry about it too much until you start to add livestock. Then after it is fully cycled, change about 80% of the water, let it run for a day or so and start picking out livestock.
The higher the initial ammonia levels, the more robust the bacteria colony will be.
just let it roll.

 

[dalto]

I would try to keep the ammonia in the 2-5ppm range.

There is a point where too much Ammonia can inhibit the bacteria growth. Unfortunately, good research data doesn't exist to show exactly where this point it. Anecdotally, some people believe this is at 8ppm. I am not sure exactly how much is too much but there is no real value in having ammonia that high so I would recommend keeping it in the range of 2-5ppm. I would do a water change to get your self down to that level.

After the water change I would start adding the COLONY

 

[theman1973]

should I consider to starting add some ammonia remover into the water to lower the ammonia from 8.0ppm to 4-5ppm.

 

[theman1973]

Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer & Phos-Zorb Filter Media

Hi everyone, i know there has 2 ways to have crystal clear water, one is using Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer other ways is have Phos-Zorb Filter Media inserted into filter.
Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer price b/w $60 to $200 depend on the brand. Phos-Zorb Filter Media will cost $30 per bag need replace every 2-3 months. from my knowledges UV Filter Sterilizer will kills some of both good and bad bacteria.
please can I have some recommendation.

 

[dalto]

should I consider to starting add some ammonia remover into the water to lower the ammonia from 8.0ppm to 4-5ppm.

No, just do a water change. The ammonia is in the water.

Hi everyone, i know there has 2 ways to have crystal clear water, one is using Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer other ways is have Phos-Zorb Filter Media inserted into filter.
Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer price b/w $60 to $200 depend on the brand. Phos-Zorb Filter Media will cost $30 per bag need replace every 2-3 months. from my knowledges UV Filter Sterilizer will kills some of both good and bad bacteria.
please can I have some recommendation.

You shouldn't really need to do either of those things. A UV sterilizer should only be needed in specialized circumstances and Phos-zorb I believe absorbs phosphates.

 

[PB_Smith]

you guys do realize that when doing a fishless cycle you don't really need to futz around with it every day, in fact doing so will interfere with the progress of the cycle.
Just let it roll, in my decades of experience that has always produced the best/fastest results.

 

[PB_Smith]

Hi everyone, i know there has 2 ways to have crystal clear water, one is using Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer other ways is have Phos-Zorb Filter Media inserted into filter.
Aquarium UV Filter Sterilizer price b/w $60 to $200 depend on the brand. Phos-Zorb Filter Media will cost $30 per bag need replace every 2-3 months. from my knowledges UV Filter Sterilizer will kills some of both good and bad bacteria.
please can I have some recommendation.

UV sterilizers are almost useless to the average home aquarist.
The only thing they will help with is bacterial blooms or free floating algae blooms.
Studies have shown them to be very ineffectual in parasite control/treatment, they are very inefficient in usually not being able to process the entire water volume or not doing so at the proper speeds for sterilization.

Bottom line, most UV sterilizers are junk and a complete waste of your money.
The only practical use for them is in multi-tank systems where the water is shared amongst all the tanks, then you actually need a rather impressive array to achieve good sterilization.
One lfs I frequent has about 60 24" UV lamps in-line on their setup.

There are two things that contribute to cloudy water; particulate matter and dissolved organics.
Free floating bacteria are considered particulate, and even if the sterilizer kills the bacteria, you still need good mechanical filtration to actually remove it from the water column. Same with free-floating algae.
So just utilize a good mechanical filter with something that can filter particles down to about 100 microns (filter floss can do this and there are many filter fabrics available), and particulate matter will be taken care of. Note it usually takes a few days/week before most types of mechanical filters begin to get the really fine stuff, so be patient.

For dissolved organics that can tint/cloud the water I strongly recommend Seachem's Purigen. I like it better than carbon because it induces much less changes to the water chemistry such as ph than activated carbon does and it makes the water amazingly crystal clear. Add to that the fact that it lasts 3-4 times longer and can easily be regenerated up to six times, it is also more cost effective.

As far as the Phos-Zorb goes, you can control phosphates in a freshwater tank in much better ways than using things like that.


seriously, don't waste your money on a UV sterilizer......

 

[theman1973]

Thanks datlo, you right.
I was foolish when I received my aquarium ammonia, I should do some research before I add it in.
Test water last night - Ammonia sky high 8.00+++ppm, the test water color is very duck green out off the color chart. I thing I was add far to much ammonia at beginning the cycle (50ml in to 135 liter water) I am foolish!!!

I had water changed - 85%+ last night add 5ml prime, 130ml Colony, Bio-Act. And I will test it gain when I get home today, if it still very high I will do water change again. questions I know there some bottle product are sales on the market - like "ammonia remover", "ammonia lock" it that going to help in my case. keep updates.

 

[dalto]

There is no need to use ammonia binders during a fishless cycle. You can just do a water change to remove ammonia. The ammonia is all in the water

 

[theman1973]

updates:

My tank still in cycle week 2. and I find there some black/brown spot on few Anubias leaves , and it is not as green as when I bought 5 days ago.

Test water - Ammonia sky high 8.00+++ppm, the test water color is very duck green. I thing I was add far to much ammonia at beginning the cycle (50ml in to 135 liter water) I am foolish!!!
water changed 85% add 5ml prime, 130ml Colony, Bio-Act. I will test water again when I get home, if it still to high I am going to change the water one more time.

Due to I was added far to much ammonia into my tank, 50ml in 135 liters water. and I changed 85% water last night try to lower the ammonia level to expected 4-5ppm. do I need to clean the filter and all the accesses to achieve the The results.

 

[PB_Smith]

do I need to clean the filter and all the accesses to achieve the The results.

NO!!!!
that would be one of the worst things to do.
Just leave it alone for a few days and then test the water again. You are worrying far too much about this. As I said before, add some ammonia and then leave it alone for a few days.

 

[theman1973]

There is no need to use ammonia binders during a fishless cycle. You can just do a water change to remove ammonia. The ammonia is all in the water

over 2 days Changed water 2 time each time again-approx 85%. test water one after first change ammonia still sky high the test water remained in very dark green.
Second change was happened last night, one hour after water changed, the reading is between 4ppm to 8ppm. I I will testing again to night to see is any changes on reading. I will consider other water change approx 50% tonight after testing.
Due to the ammonia was sky high last week, that has negative affect on the plant, the leave has black sport and falling. I had removed all the bed leaves and hope it can get back in future.

 

[theman1973]

water test:
ammonia: 4-6ppm
Nitrite 0.5-1.0ppm
Nitrate 0.0ppm
pH 6.5
add COLONY Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria 100ml
cross finger hope this time is okay, waiting to cycled.

 

[theman1973]

First time test KH, GH and Phosphate, please can anyone can interpret the result.
KH 4 odH = 71.6ppm
GH 8 odH = 143.2ppm
Phosphate = 1.0ppm

I current grave just stone, I am going to subdivided half the base for plant, approx 0.15 to 0.17sq. there so many aquarium soil sales on the market.
please I need some recommendations which one I should choice, my tank is a low tech tank and it will be for community tropical fish.
ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia (Normal) or (POWDER)
ADA Aqua Soil Malaya (Normal)
BENIBACHI Black Soil Fulvic (Normal) or (POWDER)
BENIBACHI Black Soil Fulvic Super Powder
MR AQUA Aquarium Soil
SEACHEM Flourite Black

Thanks.​

 

[theman1973]

updates, 21/09/2014 water test from 15/09/2014 to 21/09/2014
--------------------Ammonia---------- Nitrite
10/09/2014-------4.0-6.0----------- 0.5-1.0
12/09/2014 -------2.0-3.0----------- 4.0-5.0
15/09/2014-------0.0-----------------5.0+ add 5 drops ammonia & approx 1 ml next morning.
17/09/2014-------0.3-----------------4.0-5.0 add 10 drop of ammonia.
19/09/2014-------2.0-----------------2.0
21/09/2014-------2.0-----------------5.0

Ammonia stay same in last 3 days, but Nitrite has reduced to 2.0 the backup to 5.0 today. should I do a 50% water changes or wail 2 more days to see if it going down.
please give me some help reply.