It's another Fishless Cycle question!!

[Rare]

Yes, you are correct that Nitrite are high; they have been for sometime. On 2-01-2013, I did 2 P.W.C. This dropped the Nitrite down to 2ppm & NitrAte to 5.0ppm after reading about 80+ppm that same day.

What the PWC did was change the Nitrite from that deep purple color on the first drop when it hit bottom to 3 drops that it took to make it purple. Also, wasnt dark purple after I started to shake the test tube for a few sec. Ammonia are converting to 0 after 24hr. Still have plenty of work to do so wondering if it's waiting on me to hurry up....lol

Ph leave have been at 8.0/8.2 & KH at 8. This is due cause of sodium bicarbonate that I added and have kept stable.

Hope this weekend I can get the stand done so I can start working on the refugium. Look at adding "growstone" vs "Matrix Bio-Media". Then come which filter to upgrade to as I'm looking at the ehiem/fluval big boys. The amount of information out there has been a great & an overload for me that's for sure, but mean that in a good way.

Reason to go big on everything now is cause the bug has kicked in and I'm looking at bigger tanks. Saw a nice 125g..lol But nothing for now till I get this up and running for sometime.

After dinner I will do another 50% water change & thanks for the advice. As I take a look through this I can tell you a few minor adjustment I would have done from what I know now. I believe that the filter is a small reason why maybe it's taking a little longer on my side for this tank, well the filter media at that. I have Marineland Emperor 400 & the filter cartridge carbon/ blue bonded filter pad on it. I fitted bio balls (25 I believe in each side) in the 2nd slot where the 2nd filter would have gone after more research on bio media, I should have bought fluval biomax bio media as it more for what I want to use it for & added thicker foam. Trust me guys i'm not in a hurry, but if you can take any of this information and use it, it was worth it on my part.

 

[Rare]

This weekend I got a good deal on a used Eheim 2080 filled with everything wont be here till Fri/Sat. I'm happy about that. Water test still shows pH stable. Nitrite high and Nitrate maybe be a little low due to what I started a few days ago. I dropped the hood and cracked the glass so I went to Home-Depot to get a nice glass and glass cutter. Started walking through and picked up some plants as well.

So...........We have this for now and will go into the refugium once it setup. Then I will put the glass back on the hood of the tank.

Pothos neon plant.

What I have to holding the plants up above for now. They are growing fast

Had a good deal on 3 nice Texas holey & from $ 50 went up to $100 in less than a min left for the auction..no thank you..lol

 

[Rare]

Got the sock..

 

[Rare]

The tank finally on the stand & it's raw for now. The eheim will be here on Wed & will get that going asap. I'm starting to dislike the bubbles/wands..lol. Also Going with the black background soon. Oh, today I missed out on two 125g for $75 each....pfff! With 2 overflows. Let me focus back on this tank first....

 

[Rare]

Just did a ASAP setup with the new ehiem 2080. Ive read over and over that you cant hear the filter running... Man, I really can't believe I cant hear the thing running and picked up the return hose to make sure it was running. That HOB filter has to go after a few month....way too noisy.

 

[Rare]

Moving along nice now. I will check where I'm at but more than sure I will need to do a PWC cause of the nitrite.

 

[Rare]

I did see a big change from the Wed when i got the Eheim & today when i tested for nitrAte. Looks like they are showing up in strong numbers now. Nitrite have been high & did a big water change this morning 99% went down to 0.25ppm-0.50ppm. It took all the nitrate out. Let see in a week from today how the tanks does.

Because nitRate were showing good numbers I didnt want to do a water change, but nirite been very high. I even did a week ago I did back "2" back"2" back WC to get them down because that's how high they were.

The ammonia dosing have been 2ml of Ammonia every 24hrs which is 1ppm. I believe I'm at the near end of it and now & know a few more things now that I would have done different from the start that may have helped alone the way. I might start another tanks with pretty much the same setup that I have to see how it would have turned out.

The plants are now out as the water is flowing strong and to many small piece of roots were coming off. Also, still not sure if I should add the big piece of driftwood, but I do like how it looks. I had it soaking and leaching out tannin. Also more rocks if I can get them at a good price & a good inline heater to clean up the tank a bit inside.

With the PWC I will be getting a small pump. I have a 35g trash can I bought a few weeks back for this. The pump will help empty out the tank water and the trash can for new tank water. Before it was easy because I was near the kitchen sink so no problem fulling and taking out water.

 

[Rare]

Well, Nitrite was slowly changing back to 5.0ppm after 3 mins of the 5 mins. I really can say for the first time I believe it's at 5ppm or a tab bit higher. NitrAte 20/40ppm had a slight tint of red.

I feel I should wait a week and test where I'm at after the week. Or do you think another BIG water change for good measure for the nitrite?

 

[Rare]

Well, today was a good morning. I tested for Nitrite after 24 hrs and they are dropping. From 5.0ppm yesterday to 0.50ppm today. Like I said that tfor the first time yesterday I could say it was a 5.0ppm. The Nitrite BB are growing! Now I have 40PPM of NitAte and yesterday they did have a tint of red to them were as today it 40ppm

I tested twice to make sure I did it right..lol

 

[Rare]

Nitrite now dropped to 0.25 from 0.50. So, I think by tomorrow morning it should be 0. NitrAte at 40/80ppm. Once Nitrite hit 0 I will bring up the ammonia a little by little to build up the BB. I got a few more Texas holey rocks heading my way to make the cichlids feel at home and enough to hide if needed

 

[jlk]

Looks great!!! Your just about done! That pothos plant is growing like crazy!

 

[Rare]

Been out of town since Thursday, but still had the tank dosing up to 2ml of ammonia. On that Thursday morning before I left that Nitrite were at 0. I came back home just a few hrs ago and still looking great!

A very special tks to "jlk" for helping me along the way I will now slowly bring the ammonia up to 2.5, 3.0. 3.5 & finally 4ppm, I will be over stocking with A. Cichlids & want to make sure it's ready for them . Again, tks JLK

I can finally say it's OVER!!

 

[jlk]

Congrats!!!

Just take your time gradually increasing the ammonia. Increase it by .5 a day but only increase it if its zeroed out in 24hrs. So, say you increase by .5 and the next day theres some nitrite present. Just dose the same dose again, dont increase it until you see zeroes. Your bacteria should multiply and adjust to the increasing ammonia doses fairly rapidly but you may see a one or two day lag as they do. It shouldnt take more than about week to go from 2 to 4ppm. You can even go uo to 5ppm as you plan on overstocking the tank.

 

[Rare]

Got it!

Now, should I still do a PWC not to let the NitRate get so high? I know I dont have fish, but still want a blances tank till it's time to put them in. Just enough to keep the Nitrates on check-

 

[librarygirl]

You can if you want to, just to keep nitrates from getting sky high. You'll still have to do some large water changes to get them down again before you get fish though as they'll continue to climb as you add ammonia.

 

[Rare]

Correct, librarygirl & thanks! Once I get the fresh water refugium I hope to keep the nitrate down enough every week, but still doing PWC every week as well. Do I really need it, no, but like to try it.

 

[Rare]

Added a few more rocks...Still need more!

 

[jlk]

Your tank is going to look spectacular when your all done!

 

[Rare]

Fishless cycle/d is doing very well & no problems with the Ammonia/Nitrite=0 after 24 hrs. I just dosed with 9ml this morning which puts me just a bit under the 5ppm mark.


I contacted the fish store here in Florida that has all the cichlids I was looking for. Waiting for an e-mail back & around this week or next week I should have them. The only problem is that I will get them very small where I can't tell if it's male/female & won’t be able to mix the right ratio, so I will work with what sex I have till the time comes for the next tank project & getting the right mix. Yep, the 125g/150g is not to far off.


For those who are starting & are looking at this thread it took me 2months to get here. Don't go crazy & take your time & get it right & don't worry about how long it takes as long as you are doing it right. Buy the biggest filter you can & make sure you dosed the ammonia right and keep a good record of everything you are doing from keeping tabs on your pH/KH etc. It's been a fun ride....

 

[Rare]

Come on FED EX & hurry up already!!!