Fishless cycle question What next?

[novaheat]

I am in the process of my first fishless cycle and I am wondering if things are proceeding correctly. My original ammonia count was 5. ppm. Ammonia is now down to .25 and my Nitrites are over 5. Ppm based on the color of the test. They appear to be a little lower than last night but still over 5.0. My Nitrates are 40 ppm. Do I need to add more ammonia or just wait for the Nitrates to consume the Nitrites?



Thanks for your help
NovaHeat

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Keep adding the ammonia as even if you get your nitrite eating bacteria up there you don't want the ammonia eating ones to die off!

 

[novaheat]

Thanks for the reply Mark.

That is what I was thinking. I added just enough ammonia to keep things going. I took the accelerated method of fishless cycling, Dr Tim's one and only. The 120 gallon tank has only been cycling since Sept 19th. His product has definitely speed things up.

Thanks again,
NovaHeat

 

[novaheat]

Water change tonight, it appears the excessive nitrites have stalled the cycling process. I received an email from Dr. Tim's Aquatics.

 

[novaheat]

And the water flows on. After water change the Nitrites dropped much lower than Dr. Tim's expected (less than .25ppm) ammonia at 0ppm and Nitrates looked like 0ppm or just above. They were expecting a couple of water changes to drop the Nitrites. Added just enough ammonia to notice a reading. (I hate trying to match colors.) Ammonia at 0 the next morning and Nitrites still showing 0ppm and Nitrates just off of 0ppm. Added ammonia to 2.ppm last night. Ammonia at 1.ppm this morning with Nitrites still a little below .25ppm and Nitrates at a little over 10ppm.

Everything was following right along with another post concerning Dr. Tim's One and Only until the Nitrites got too high stalling the process. I am guessing due to too much ammonia being added. Hopefully by tonight or tomorrow the cycle will be finished.

Plants going in tonight.

NovaHeat

 

[novaheat]

The tank has cycled. Fish are now enjoying their new home with no Ammonia or Nitrites. Nitrates are around 20. Fishless cycling is far better than adding chemicals to reduce ammonia or doing frequent water changes hoping everyone will survive.

Two thumbs up for fishless cycle.

NovaHeat

 

[novaheat]

Nitrates are down to 5 and everything else is still 0. Employees at the LFS are starting to take a look at the fishless cycle process after they have seen the success with mine.

NovaHeat

 

[Stickleback]

That's brilliant!

I'm glad I went the fishless route myself, definitely worth it

 

[Marconis]

Yeah, fishless cycling is definitely the way to go. The best thing is when you have an established tank, and you just use filter media to seed the new tank. One time I cycled a 72 gallon in I think 2 weeks. Some people do it faster.