Curious about my fishless cycle readings...

[IzzySuite]

Hi everybody. This is my first fishless cycle, and it seems my readings are a little weird. Some pertinent info:
It's a 10 gal tank, no live plants, it DID have fish in it a few months ago, but due to poor research on my part, they didn't survive the first week. Totally my fault. Thankfully I researched better this time and found out about the fishless cycling process. I emptied most of the water out of the tank, scrubbed most everything, refilled it with tap water, and while I researched, let it set several weeks (this may be pertinent as well). Considering the fish died the first time, I SHOULD have really scrubbed and disinfected everything, but I didn't.

Anyhow, FFWD almost a month, I've done a ton of researching and after a ton of hunting for the ammonia, started my fishless cycle. I dosed up to apx 4ppm of ammonia on day 1 (3 1/2 days ago on Friday evening). Checked on day 2 and still 4ppm. I let it sit through the weekend, checked the ammonia levels on day 3(yesterday), and they were less than .25ppm. For giggles I checked the nitrite level, and it was off the chart dark purple. Did an 80% water change! retested, still high! did another 50% or so, and got them down to under .25 ppm. Added more ammonia back to 4ppm.

Today, day 4, the ammonia was down to 1ppm, went ahead and tested both nitrite AND nitrate, and nitrite was off the chart and nitrate was somewhere between the 40 and 160ppm colors.

Now it seems like I have something happening, but after 4 days? That's what's got me curious. The only thing I can thing of is with the gravel, which I didn't clean out, I inadvertently seeded the tank. BUT I did add straight tap water to the tank, I'm almost certain I didn't treat it until after I filled it up. There was already a few inches of water left, so that MAY have protected the bacteria?

I dunno, I'm just curious what you guys think of my readings and if I should keep doing the water changes at this point or just leave it be for a bit.

Thank you for any advice!

 

[IzzySuite]

(The only exclamation point that is relevant is the very last one. I have no idea why it added them where it did. The water change was NOT that exciting, and neither was the fact that it was still high afterwards haha)

 

[threnjen]

What are your readings today?

 

[Caliban07]

If you had fish in your tank for a little while the nitrogen cycle will have started. If you didn't clean the gravel before restarting and the gravel wasn't allows to dry out then you will have still had Bactria in the tank. It doesn't matter if you dechlorinate the water afterwards if you did it's straight away. Once you dechlorinated the chloramines will have left trace parts of ammonia behind to feed the bacteria for a short time.

However, you left the tank running for several weeks without a food source for the bacteria. I don't know what happens to the bacteria if left so long without food. Some say it dies of and some say it goes dormant. Some say it goes dormant for a while before it dies off. I guess scientific evidence is the only way we can know for sure.

I believe that it goes dormant for as long as is possible before it has to die off in order to survive. There is no evidence behind this but I would like to think that bacteria is extremely adaptable with survival being it's number one priority. Since it's been around for millions of years surviving generation after generation I would hope would be able to survive a few weeks without food in a fish tank

Of course I could be wrong though. Your cycle was pretty quick though so there must have been some bacteria left right?

I would change out enough water now in order to bring all parameters to a readable level and start dosing 1ppm ammonia. Don't change water till you have 0ppm ammo 0ppm nitrite and a readable nitrate reading. Then slowly increase ammo dosing up to the level you want to go to.

My personal view on the 4ppm is that it is too high. If you start at a lower level you will not get of the chart readings. If I was to do a fishless cycle. Which I never will. I would get a pipette and put a drop in every now and then and slowly add more over time allowing the bacteria to colonise gradually. It would make for a much more efficient cycle.

 

[IzzySuite]

Thank you for the replies! That's all I can come up with is that I had plenty of bacteria that survived. It's the only thing that makes sense. I haven't checked readings this morning yet, but yesterday, my ammonia was 0, nitrites were off the charts, and nitrates were between 40-80 (hard to tell on the chart). I did a couple water changes until I got the nitrite reading back down to readable levels (took a 70% then another 50% wc to get it to .25ppm). Eatery morning I've been dosing back up to 4ppm on ammonia and every following morning my readings have been about the same. Day 6 nitrates were at 40-80, day 7, 8 they were under 5, and day 9(yesterday) they were back up to the 10-20. Thanks for the advice on the dosing. He come you'd never do a fishless cycle?

 

[IzzySuite]

Today's readings were the same, ammonia 0, nitrites off the charts, nitrates between 40-80

 

[Caliban07]

One reason is that I always have access to seeded media however, If you are sensible it's a much easier process to do fish in in my opinion.

I am currently cycling a 47 gallon using a bristle nose plec and media that only supported a single betta. It's just a matter if monitoring water levels very closely (as you do during a fish less cycle) and changing water whenever ammonia rises to or above 0.25ppm which it hasn't.

A bristle nose plec isn't an ideal fish to use during a cycle because of its bio load but the tank is large enough to sustain the plec as the bacteria is growing all the time at a rate equal to the demand of the fish.

If you put the same fish in a 5 gallon then there is not enough time for the bacteria to grow before toxins become to great because the body of water is much smaller. So you would use maybe 1-2 small fish instead.

There are lots of other things that come in to play too. More surface area will allow more bacteria to grow. Good filtration etc

 

[IzzySuite]

Thanks for the advice! Do you not have problems with the fish's health or is it done so gradual there's not much impact on him? I know it's been done that way long before the fishless cycle came to be lol. It IS a lot of work this way, but it's been a lotta fun just watching things happen and getting closer to the end.

Readings the same today, 0 ammonia, over 5 nitrites and 40-80 range of nitrates. I did a 70% WC which got the nitrites back to readable levels (but not zero). Bumped the ammonia back to 4ppm. (I know you think that's too high, but for my first time, I'm following the guide as close as possible since I have thus far lol).

 

[flitabout]

Yes dose back up to 4ppm anytime it drops to 1ppm or lower. Just keep watching the nitrites. If they get to high it can stall your cycle. Also keep any eye on you pH. pH crashes are fairly common towards the end of your cycle. If it gets under 6.5 it will slow the bb processing of the ammo and nitrite and at 6 and lower it completely stops and the bb starts to die. Once your ammo and nitrite hit 0 then do a 90% wc and you'll be ready to add fish.

 

[IzzySuite]

Awesome, thank you

Would you say even if every day my nitrite test reads over 5 I should wc it down or should I wait til it really gets high? It's generally reads a little darker than the purple on the chart, so I've been recording it as simply >5 and changing the water out every other day or so. I'll definitely start to keep a better eye on PH now also.

Thank you again!