Fishless Cycle Question - Where do I go From Here

[Boilerwxman]

I posted this in the wrong forum and I am sorry for breaking the rules. The iPhone app doesn't show the Forum topics very well.

I am fishless cycling a column 15 gal tank. Have seeding material in the tank and in my AquaClear 30 HOB filter. Heater keeps my water at 78 no adjusting and I have a bubble stone.

Tues Night I took out my carbon bag and replaced with a nylon of gravel from an established 5 gal tank. I tested this morning here are my results:

8.3 pH
80 ppm Nitrate
Off the chart Nitrite *note it has been off the charts for 2 weeks even after an 80% PWC last weekend gave up trying to bring that down.
0 ppm Ammonia

Did a 33% PWC then added my ammonia to 4ppm

The tested everything was about the same. It Nitrates were lower and pH want to 8.2 (out of the tap the pH is 8.1-8.2

Yes I'm using Top Fin water conditioner before putting water in the tank.

Then in 7 hours my 4ppm of Ammonia was back to 0 nitrites still off the chart and the Nitrates were well in the red around 80 ppm and pH 8.2

Where should I go from here. The last several days the ammonia from 4ppm has dropped to 0 in less than 12 hours. This is the first significant nitrate I have seen and I am assuming it is the seeding material in the filter.

Ok so where do I go from here? Should I do a significant water change? It is a 15 gallon tank should or can I do it 3 gallons at a time? Should I reduce the ammonia amounts? Should I alternate every other day? I really want to do this right. I want to control my numbers any help would be great thank you...

 

[jlk]

I answered your question on your other post- hopefully, a mod will see this & merge the threads so there is less confusion.

 

[Boilerwxman]

Thank you so much, what about doing it at 3 to 4 gallons at a time. Buckets are limited and I don't want anything to dry out?

 

[jlk]

I use a 5g bucket on my 20g- unless you take a lunch break while changing everything, you should be fine! You won't be able to get all of the water completely out but try to change as much as possible. The small changes will do little to drop your nitrites especially if they are really high.

 

[Boilerwxman]

I did a 90 to 95% PWC of my tank (I got the water down to the rocks) waited 30 min and tested my nitites and nitrates

Note I forgot to test my parameters BEFORE I did the water change I was in a hurry

Keeping the water at 78 degrees F

Nitites = 0 ppm (this shocked me)
Nitrates = 10-20 ppm (the color is that orange with a hint of red color.
Ammonia = 0 ppm

Now should I add anymore ammonia. I figure there is probably enough ammonia creating things in my tank since with most PWC I did I added a pinch of fish food, I have a good amount of gravel from a 5 gallon tank that has fish waste in it so there has to be small ammonia producing items in there.

Should I wait 24 hours or add a small dose of ammonia?

Thanks This is exciting if I am close

 

[jlk]

Thats an improvement! Ok, we are going to start slow & gradually increase the amm to keep your nitrites from going crazy & giving your bb some time to adjust upwards. Start with 1ppm amm today & lets see how things look in 24hrs. If your amm/nitrite zero, you can increase the dose to 2ppm tomorrow. Make sure your keeping an eye on your ph as well for any changes. Heres the amm calculator to figure out the amount in case you dont already have it- just make sure you change the 'pmm'. Keep us posted!

Calculator

 

[Boilerwxman]

I use the calculator because I found 28% ammonia at a drug store. That is some potent stuff. For my 15 gal tank 0.8 mL = 4 ppm and I did 0.2 mL after the water change. I will watch the pH but I can tell you haven't seen much flux in that... The only other thing I did was take out a big nylon of gravel out of the base of the tank. I still have a small bag of nylon gravel from an established tank in my filter where my carbon was.

So let's see what happens and how fast the ammonia drops. If the past performance is any indication to future events my 1 ppm of Ammonia will be down to 0 by the time I get home tonight