Fishless cycle

[ginty]

Right. I have a 110litre tank. Ive set up my fluval 206 filter. Ive added my spare internal filter to try and seed my new filter. (Ive had the internal filter in my other cycled tank for 2months).
Im doing this fishless. Ive added fluval cycle biological enhancer to it also, to help build up beneficial bacteria.
I hear people saying i need to add ammonia. What can i add as ammonia and where can i get it from in uk?

Any help anf advice is needed here please, so i can have a fully safe environment for my fish.

I was given the wrong info when i did my last cycle. And in the long run lost all fish to cycle my tank. (Curtesy of pets at home) i dont want to put this strain on any other fish now i know the stress it causes.

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[ScotJudd]

Hi Ginty.
I'm in the UK and use Jeyes Kleen Off Ammonia. It's 9% pure Ammonia with no added detergent. Amazon sell it for under a fiver with free postage - just checked.
I had to check dosage for tank but you will find its a matter of counting drops to raise your tank to 4ppm (my preferred cycling level). I have a small 25l quarantine tank and 5 drops raises ammonia by 1ppm.
Hope that's of some help.

 

[ginty]

Thanks for your reply. How long do i leave it until i check my ammonia levels after adding this?
Im new to this so all help is needed.


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[ginty]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=230928834948&alt=web

Is this the stuff?

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[yudhas]

You can check it everyday if you want but usually the ammonia will not start going down after a week. Then again every tank is different. If I were you, I will check every other day until you start seeing nitrites and then further down the track nitrates. That's when you really want to keep an eye on things to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi. Yes, that's the stuff.
Can't really say how long to wait to check your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels as there are too many variables.
I would raise your ammonia to 4ppm and check in a couple if days. If it falls to about 1ppm then raise it again. If not wait a couple more days. Repeat. Nitrites will peak and take longer for the nitrite/nitrate bacteria to establish. If your nitrite goes off the colour chart then dilute with conditioned tap water, until nitrite is mid chart and add ammonia to re-establish 4ppm. Keep dong this until your ammonia and nitrite fall to zero after 24 hours of raising ammonia to 4ppm. High nitrates are not a real problem but I still dilute to keep them at or below 80ppm.
When ammonia and nitrite are both zero after 24 hours then you are cycled and I then keep adding ammonia to 2ppm every day if no fish are added, this keeps the bacteria alive and active.
When you want to add fish the theory is that you can water change with 100% conditioned water and fully stock with fish. I am sceptical about this immediate high stocking and would add only 20% of your intended stock - introduce some of the hardier stock. Monitor the tank for a week or two to check all is going well and then add a few fish at a time. This is only my opinion but I prefer to be over cautious. I never add more than 10% of my total stocking level at a time. I now am at 75% stocking, the tank is wonderfully stable and stocking level looks good. I will maintain those levels rather than push my luck.
I will add that I run a very heavily planted tank and this has helped enormously with stability.
Be patient with your cycling as it is easier to fish less cycle than try to cycle a tank with fish in if you add stock too soon.
I've gone on a bit but I will add that I also keep a 25l quarantine tank for new fish before putting them into my main tank (260l). I paid dearly for not doing this and lost half my stock. Now, nothing goes into the main tank without a 3 week holiday in the 25l. When not in use I dose the QT daily to 1ppm ammonia to keep the filters alive. That maybe taking things too far but it's my hobby!
Best of luck with your tank.

 

[ginty]

No you havent gone on mate. This is the info i was after. Because i didnt know what to do. I ordered some kleen off from ebay so hopefully it will be here friday and i can get the ball rolling. Thankyou so much for all the info you have shared. REALLY APPRECIATE THAT.

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[ScotJudd]

You're very welcome

 

[ginty]

You're very welcome

One last thing. Sorry mate. I dont add water to this kleen off stuff? Just add it until my ammonia reaches 4ppm and dont mix it with anything??

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[ScotJudd]

Hi Ginty.
You just drop it directly into your tank. It disperses really quickly especially if your filter is running. Give it a couple of minutes before testing to ensure it's mixed in. I first added enough ammonia to raise the water to 1ppm. Then wrote it down. Then I knew how much to add if I wanted to raise the ppm by a set amount. Also 1ppm is easier to read on the chart than 4 because all the greens start to look alike at 4 and above. Hope that made sense.