Fishless cycle help.

[jimmyno13]

Ok I have been cycling my tank for two weeks now. I can dose my ammonia to 4ppm and with in 12 hours it is back to 0. Nitrites on the other hand I can not even get to move. I just did a 50% water change and then checked my Nitrites and they where still high. I have yet to see any movement with these. My PH is holding steady at 8.2ish. My nitrates are also pretty high some where between 80 and 160. So it looks like the Nitrites bacteria is kind of working just not at full strength. Should I keep the ammonia low around 1ppm as best I can or keep it at around 4? I guess I am not sure on this. I have never done a fish less cycle before.

 

[jjong4590]

Hey Jimmy!

Me and you are in the same position! I created a thread on here also if you want to check it out. It probably (or probably not) help you. Me and another guy are going through the same thing!
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-help-please-295521.html

 

[xsryman]

Hey Jimmy. I am the other person jj is talking about. Please keep posting your progress. I sure we aren't the only three and its might important for others to get an idea of how long this process takes. I have been fishless cycling for about 3 weeks. I have read alot of things and from what I gather this is a 4-5 week process. But every tank is different. Please post what you do from day to day or so just so we can collaborate what may speed things up or slow things down. Also if you have a minute do check out jj's thread. I am posting over there also. Cheers. X

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[jimmyno13]

Ok a quick shot of the empty tank.

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 5+
Nitrates n/a

Going to add enough ammonia to get it to about 1ppm just to keep them fed.

I have read that to high ammonia actually can stop the growth of the Nitrite bacteria also. Just a FYI.

 

[xsryman]

nice looking tank. do you start your cycle with any seeding material?

 

[jimmyno13]

I just dosed it with terra safestart. Had some I was going to use but the filter on my 30 gallon went out so I used it in there. Thanks. I want to do more but not sure what I can keep with Cichlids.

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[xsryman]

I just dosed it with terra safestart. Had some I was going to use but the filter on my 30 gallon went out so I used it in there. Thanks. I want to do more but not sure what I can keep with Cichlids.

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cichlids are pretty much all you can do. Most of the cichlids tear up plants and stuff. i have seen some cool stuff like broken terra cotta pots and rock caves. Or look in to some that do work with plants. I think the rams like a planted tank.

 

[jimmyno13]

I think I will be going with Mbuna. I might try a plant or 2 but I am sure they will just dig it up. I need some height to the tank. I saw on YouTube that universal rocks is making a rock shelf you can use a magnet and stick it to the back wall. Jaywilson is the one that was testing it on YouTube.

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[jimmyno13]

Ok once again checked my numbers and it is still the same. I dosed the ammonia up to 4 this time and will check in the morning. If it is at 0 again i am going to do a major water change like around 90% to see if I can get my Nitrites and Nitrates back into a readable area again.

 

[xsryman]

Added 5ml of ammonia last night at 10pm. Number today are this
Ammo- 0ppm
Nitrites- 5ppm
Trates- 40-80ppm cant tell
Numbers have been this way for a week now.


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[jimmyno13]

Yeah mine has been about the same. Gonna do a major if not total water change tomorrow and start with fresh numbers. Maybe nitrites are just to high to catch up.

 

[jimmyno13]

Ok I added about 20ml of ammonia last night and it is all gone today. I will add about 25ml this morning and see how it is after work. I will be doing about a 90% water change to get my numbers done to read again.

 

[xsryman]

Ok I added about 20ml of ammonia last night and it is all gone today. I will add about 25ml this morning and see how it is after work. I will be doing about a 90% water change to get my numbers done to read again.

20-25mL sounds like a lot? That is roughly 2 full API test tubes?

 

[Fishperson]

Jimmy, one thing that you can do is only dose up to 2 ppm ammonia until you get 0 ammonia and nitrites. Then you can dose it back up to 4. Dosing it to 2 ppm in the meantime will ensure that nitrites stay lower.

 

[jimmyno13]

Yeah I have gone about a week of keeping it around 1ppm does a day. To the point it would be back to zero in 12hrs so I would not be producing a lot of nitrites. At this point I think my nitrites are to far gone. I need to get them down low enough to get a readying them at all. For all I know my tank might be about cycled but nitrites are so **** high it is taking it longer to get them down. Also my nitrates are off the chart so can't hurt to get those down also.

 

[jimmyno13]

25ml in a 55 gallon tank with a ammonia that is 4% gives you about 4-5ppm of ammonia. I found a calculator some where that gave me those numbers.

 

[Fishperson]

But it isn't 100% ammonia, probably 3-10%. So it really depends on your brand. Unless you've already taken that into consideration?

 

[jimmyno13]

Yeah it is 4% by the MSDS sheet from the manufacturer.

 

[xsryman]

Oh yeah I see you are right. I am so caught up with my 20gal set up I just assumed. Lol. (Smacks forehead)

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[xsryman]

I forgot you are doing a bigger tank...lucky.

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