My 40b fishless cycle log!

[FishN00b83]

Well I woke up this morning after dosing 1ppm and to my surprise nitrites didn't show up. I even tested it twice just to make sure I wasn't crazy. I doses it a little more then 1ppm on accident, but I guess I'll see what happens when I get home later on today. Could this mean I have a small amount of the nitrite to nitrate bacteria?

 

[FishN00b83]

Again I woke up to 0 nitrites this morning!!

I am being evacuated because of the hurricane, so I'm dosing up to 3ppm and hopefully my tank isnt in the street when I get back Monday. lol

 

[librarygirl]

Again I woke up to 0 nitrites this morning!!

I am being evacuated because of the hurricane, so I'm dosing up to 3ppm and hopefully my tank isnt in the street when I get back Monday. lol

Great, good luck!!

 

[FishN00b83]

Well, My levels were all dropping to 0 for the past few days so I got a little ballsy and tried to up the ammonia dose close to 4. Now the nitrites are 5+ again after 24 hours. Did I put the tank in a mini cycle? How long will it last if I did? Should I only put 1ppm tomorrow morning and let the nitrites catch up again?

 

[FishN00b83]

Nitrite dropped to 0 this morning. I dosed a full 4ppm and the plants should be at my door when I get back from work. My nitrates are through the roof, but I have to drain the tank for the plants today anyway.

 

[librarygirl]

Well, My levels were all dropping to 0 for the past few days so I got a little ballsy and tried to up the ammonia dose close to 4. Now the nitrites are 5+ again after 24 hours. Did I put the tank in a mini cycle? How long will it last if I did? Should I only put 1ppm tomorrow morning and let the nitrites catch up again?

The bacteria might just need to catch up again after dosing to the lower dose. I'd keep dosing to 4 and see what happens in a few days (unless Eco comes along and says something different, then listen to him lol).

 

[FishN00b83]

I got my plants in. What do you guys think?

 

[jetajockey]

looks fantastic, might consider something like pygmy chainsword or dwarf sag for the left side.

 

[FishN00b83]

Thanks! I have some dwarf sag in with the dwarf hairgrass...maybe the next time I do a water change I'll move some over to the left

 

[eco23]

Looks awesome...very clean and classy. I really wish I'd gone with a black substrate (currently trying to talk myself out of it, while at the same time trying to talk the wife into it, haha).

 

[FishN00b83]

Looks awesome...very clean and classy. I really wish I'd gone with a black substrate (currently trying to talk myself out of it, while at the same time trying to talk the wife into it, haha).

Thanks! I can't wait to see what it looks like all grown in.

I go back and forth with black substrate...some times I like it, sometimes I don't. I really like the sand look, hopefully I can do a 250g tank and I'll do a sand substrate for some cichlids.

 

[librarygirl]

Nice looking tank! Where did you get those branch pieces?

 

[FishN00b83]

Nice looking tank! Where did you get those branch pieces?

I found a link on AA for a place in california. You explain to them what your looking for and they send you a whole box of stuff for like 20 bucks plus shipping. I'll Try to find it again.

 

[FishN00b83]

Manzanita Burlworks - The Source for Quality Handcrafted Manzanita Products is the website I was talking about.

being that my tank is now dropping 4ppm of ammonia and nitrites dropping to 0 in 24 hours, I'm starting to think about what I should put in the tank first. This is what I want to have overall. What should I put in initially out of this list?

8 Neon Tetras
2 Marble Veil Angels
2 Gold Rams
2 Blue Rams
2 Badis Badis
3 Ottos

 

[FishN00b83]

The biofilter is still looking good. I think if it keeps dropping to 0 for the rest of the week, I might start stocking the tank

 

[librarygirl]

The biofilter is still looking good. I think if it keeps dropping to 0 for the rest of the week, I might start stocking the tank

That's great congrats!

As to your last post, you can pretty much add as much or as little as you want at a time (which is the benefit of a fishless cycle). If you wanted to be safe you could add one or two types at a time and test the water for a week or two and make sure it stays level before adding more. Good luck! Pics of your fish are required when you get them.

 

[FishN00b83]

New additions right before the GBRs get here!

 

[FishN00b83]

The third one is still in hiding.

After seeing them flash against the driftwood a bunch of times I turned the heat up to 86. Hopefully I caught it in time.

 

[eco23]

The third one is still in hiding.

After seeing them flash against the driftwood a bunch of times I turned the heat up to 86. Hopefully I caught it in time.

Man, those Rams have AWESOME color! Beautiful. Remember that if they do have Ich, the heat speeds up their lifecycle so the outbreak goes faster and the parasites don't (hopefully) have an opportunity to stick around long enough to do damage. So you may still see signs of it if it's there. There are other reasons for flashing though...so hopefully it's not a big deal. Did you acclimate them slowly? I've heard that pH changes can cause flashing (just something I've heard).

 

[FishN00b83]

Man, those Rams have AWESOME color! Beautiful. Remember that if they do have Ich, the heat speeds up their lifecycle so the outbreak goes faster and the parasites don't (hopefully) have an opportunity to stick around long enough to do damage. So you may still see signs of it if it's there. There are other reasons for flashing though...so hopefully it's not a big deal. Did you acclimate them slowly? I've heard that pH changes can cause flashing (just something I've heard).

Thanks, they are coloring nicely, I just hope they are really locally bred like the seller said instead of the hormone pumped Asian ones.

I've been through ich with my gold fish, hopefully they make it through if it is in fact ich.

I acclimated them for 3 hours I think it came to. I was told that maybe the water got too cold and that might have stressed them out and cause the ich outbreak. I was unaware that they could flash for other things besides ich, what else could it be?