Fishless Cycle Issue

[ADW76]

Hey, I know this has been discussed to death, but I've got an issue I need some advice about. I've done some reading, and I've been trying to do a "fishless cycle".

Firstly, I bought a big bottle of Nutrafin Cycle (which I've used before with fish back in the day). I've been dosing the tank every day with Cycle at the same "loading dose" of 25mL/10G and have been testing every day.

I started doing this on 9-Nov. I understand cycling the tank takes time, but I've got some confusing results. I've been testing the water every day for Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate.

As expected the Ammonia was rising steadily from the dosing and Nitrate as well (because I think Cycle has nitrate bacteria also). I expected these numbers to keep rising until I get a reading for Nitrite which would indicate the cycle is beginning and ammonia would start to decrease.

Last night, my Ammonia reading went from 2.0 to 0.8, and my Nitrates jumped from 10 to 20. What is confusing to me is I still have ZERO Nitrites.

I think it's too early for the Ammonia to be converting to Nitrate already, so where did the Ammonia go? I don't have anything live in the tank - no fish - no plants.

Any suggestions??

Andrew

 

[Aiken Drum]

How are you dosing ammonia?

 

[ADW76]

My understanding was that ammonia was in the Cycle -- it was at zero before I started putting Cycle in. Maybe this is incorrect?

 

[Aiken Drum]

I believe Nutrafin cycle is the same product as Fluval Cycle but in a different package. There is no ammonia in there.

Your initial ammonia could be from a few sources. Substrate can give out ammonia for a short while until its leeched out. Could be from some plant melt if you planted the tank. If your tap water is chloramine rather than chlorine treated your tap water will be an ammonia source.

Whatever the original source of your ammonia is, its been cycled out. You need to redose it back up to 2ppm. Every day when you test your water, if your ammonia is below 1ppm, redose it back up to 2ppm.

When you can dose 2ppm and 24 hours later see zero ammonia and zero ammonia you are cycled.

I would recommend getting an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product like Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride to redose your ammonia.

 

[ADW76]

I honestly don't know what I'd do without this forum. I'm still a bit surprised at the ammonia "spike" I got in the first place as I don't have any plants, I just confirmed that my water source uses only Chlorine, and I rinsed the substrate sand before I put it in the tank.

No matter -- its now going down fast - so I'll get an ammonia product from my LFS and get the ammonia going that way.

Thanks so much!

Andrew

 

[Aiken Drum]

What these products like Cycle are good at is releasing bacteria into the water which consume ammonia to fuel their growth. They arent the traditional ammonia to nitrite to nitrate bacteria that establishes on filter media. This is what the bacterial bloom is. Its the growth of bacteria, consuming nutrients in the water, to the point where you can see the cloudiness. But its the wrong type of bacteria.

This is why many people dose these products, see quick results, add fish, and then wonder whats happened to their cycle. It never established, because the ammonia was being consumed by the wrong type of bacteria, and this bacteria doesnt establish in filter media.

 

[ADW76]

This is all coming together for me -- I'm really thankful for the explanations.

I did have some cloudiness that has (as of last night) dissipated, which makes sense as the ammonia has been consumed.

I managed to find Dr. Tim's Ammonia Chloride online at my LFS, so I'll pick some up and start using that tonight.

Andrew