My cycling experiences / guide.

[Pandicorn]

Please note, I am in no way a expert, I just want to share my 2 cents on fishless cycling. Items needed at bottom.

I started out small, with a measly 10 gallon. I had no idea about cycling, all my fish (2) died, one survived. After a long, sad 2 months without knowledge, my tank was cycled ( unknown by me at the time). Now, fast forward 1 year. I am currently cycling my 45 gallon!! My 10 gallon is thriving, and my one fish is still there .

Anyway, to the cycling.

Step 1) (Optional, but highly recommended!)

Find yourself some seeding material. Gravel (what I used) in a plastic baggy with holes or panty hose works fine, filter media works even better. Get this from an old tank. Put your seeding material in the tank/filter. Do NOT remove seeding material for 2+ weeks after your tank is cycled!!

Step 2) Get yourself some ammonia. PURE ammonia and water. No dye, or scents, or any other additives.

Step 3) Find the appropriate amount of ammonia needed.
Add 1 ml (or drop, or whatever amount you want) to 1 gallon of water. Let it settle for an hour. Test the water, and some simple math should tell you your dosage. The ideal amount is 3-5 ppm ammonia.

Step 4) Dose your tank
Simply add the amount of ammonia you added for the 1g, X ___ amount of gallons in your tank.

Step 5) Wait. Add a small pinch of fish food to speed up the process. Plants also thrive in these conditions... Remember do NOT add fish! Your seeding material (If you have it) should greatly decrease the waiting time.

While waiting, test at least 2 times a day.

First, your ammonia should spike (the 3-5 ppm you added.) Now, after a couple of days, (Or weeks, it varies!) nitrites should start to show up. In a few days, they will be off the charts. NitrAtes should not be present yet. (Low amounts from tap water does not count.) Now, give it some time, and your NitrAtes will be OFF THE CHART. You can do a water change to get it back to a readable level. When you reach this point, continue monitoring your water parameters.

All the while, your ammonia should be steadily dropping. This is because it is becoming nitrItes, the nitrAtes. Dose it up back to 1 ppm when needed.


*****Items needed*****
Heater (Keep at 80ish degrees f)
Seed material (Optional)
Pure ammonia (Try looking on amazon!)
Liquid test kit
Extra test tubes (Optional)
Test tube rack (Optional)
Pipettes (Optional)
Of course your tank too!

Buckets and siphon for water changes

How did I do? I'm sure I made some mistakes, but hopefully this can give any newbies a rough idea of what cycling is like.
Comment any questions or suggestions and I'll be happy to help!





Cycling 45 Gallon. ???

 

[Brookster123]

All I did was throw a 10" oscar in a 10 gal and fed it hotdogs... Man you sure know how to waste time...

 

[Brookster123]

Hehe sounds great pandi! Nice work!! That should ease the woes of some newcomers.. Doesn't sound all that bad after all..

 

[Pandicorn]

All I did was throw a 10" oscar in a 10 gal and fed it hotdogs... Man you sure know how to waste time...

Bahahaha! Lol this gave me a good laugh. Thanks for the feedback x)


Cycling 45 Gallon. ???

 

[Pandicorn]

Lol and to those who are wondering just how high the nitrates get, mine are 160ppm+ atm. Fishless cycling is much faster and easier than fish-in cycling.


Cycling 45 Gallon. ???

 

[Pandicorn]

Has this helped anyone so far?


Cycling 45 Gallon. ???

 

[trennamw]

That's great! But did you mean 1ml per 10 gallons of water? Not 1 per 1 gallon?

 

[Pandicorn]

That's great! But did you mean 1ml per 10 gallons of water? Not 1 per 1 gallon?

However much . I used this measured cycling ammonia off of Amazon xP


Cycling 45 Gallon. ???

 

[trennamw]

Lol. I didn't know there was such a thing!!

 

[mbrew345]

Great thread. Questions though.

1) As the Ammonia drops and the nitrites rise should I keep adding Ammonia to keep it at 4.0ppm until nitrates hit 40ppm?

 

[BBradbury]

The Fish In Cycling Method

Just couldn't resist the opportunity to "stir the pot" a little and put in a plug for fish in tank cycling. From my seat, fishless cycling doesn't provide a steady source of ammonia like the guaranteed source you get from the fish. The fish are way cheaper than the chemicals.

You heavily plant the tank with Hornwort or Anacharis. These plants are "nitrogen hogs" and help keep the tank water semi stable.

You select hardy fish that have no trouble tolerating the less than perfect water conditions that come with the cycling process. 3 to 4 small fish for every 10 gallons of tank water. I used female Guppies and had fry during the process, so the water chemistry wasn't too bad. Rasboras, many of the Barbs, White Clouds, Zebra Danios and Platys are all good choices for those that like livebearing fish or egg layers.

You set up the tank and let it run a day or two. Then, in go the fish. You start testing the water the following day. It takes a couple of days for the fish waste to start the cycle. You test every day for traces of ammonia or nitrite. When you have a positive test, you change 25 percent of the water, but no more. You're growing the good bacteria too.

You simply test every day and remove the water when needed. When several daily tests show no traces of the above toxic forms of nitrogen, the tank is cycled. The cycle takes about 30 days. From then on, you change half the tank water every week or two to maintain stable water conditions.

Now this is relatively simple.

B

 

[Pandicorn]

Great thread. Questions though.

1) As the Ammonia drops and the nitrites rise should I keep adding Ammonia to keep it at 4.0ppm until nitrates hit 40ppm?

Ah, keep adding about 1-2 ppm ammonia. My tank just finished cycling!!!


Cycling 45 Gallon. ???

 

[mbrew345]

Awesome thanks

 

[Sk3lly]

Just couldn't resist the opportunity to "stir the pot" a little and put in a plug for fish in tank cycling. From my seat, fishless cycling doesn't provide a steady source of ammonia like the guaranteed source you get from the fish. The fish are way cheaper than the chemicals.

You heavily plant the tank with Hornwort or Anacharis. These plants are "nitrogen hogs" and help keep the tank water semi stable.

You select hardy fish that have no trouble tolerating the less than perfect water conditions that come with the cycling process. 3 to 4 small fish for every 10 gallons of tank water. I used female Guppies and had fry during the process, so the water chemistry wasn't too bad. Rasboras, many of the Barbs, White Clouds, Zebra Danios and Platys are all good choices for those that like livebearing fish or egg layers.

You set up the tank and let it run a day or two. Then, in go the fish. You start testing the water the following day. It takes a couple of days for the fish waste to start the cycle. You test every day for traces of ammonia or nitrite. When you have a positive test, you change 25 percent of the water, but no more. You're growing the good bacteria too.

You simply test every day and remove the water when needed. When several daily tests show no traces of the above toxic forms of nitrogen, the tank is cycled. The cycle takes about 30 days. From then on, you change half the tank water every week or two to maintain stable water conditions.

Now this is relatively simple.

B

I like fish in cycling too. Just need to be diligent on water testing and water changing when required

 

[Pandicorn]

I like fish in cycling too. Just need to be diligent on water testing and water changing when required

Nothing wrong with fish-in cycling just takes longer and it's more work...


45 gal to be:
2 Bolivian rams
8 Rummynose tetras
5 corydoras
5 guppies

 

[Sk3lly]

Nothing wrong with fish-in cycling just takes longer and it's more work...


45 gal to be:
2 Bolivian rams
8 Rummynose tetras
5 corydoras
5 guppies

Not necessarily true

 

[Pandicorn]

Not necessarily true

How so? You have to do maybe 2 WC's in fishless, 10+ in fish-in...

 

[Sk3lly]

How so? You have to do maybe 2 WC's in fishless, 10+ in fish-in...

Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 24hours. Can let the levels build up a little more than usual. If you only have a small bioload you may get away with just one water change a week.
You can also alter temperature and pH to make ammonia less toxic to fish.

Search through the 'getting started' pages and look how many people struggle with stalled fishless cycles or complain about them

 

[Pandicorn]

Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 24hours. Can let the levels build up a little more than usual. If you only have a small bioload you may get away with just one water change a week.
You can also alter temperature and pH to make ammonia less toxic to fish.

Search through the 'getting started' pages and look how many people struggle with stalled fishless cycles or complain about them

Meh they complain due to lack of knowledge and patience. 1 WC a week vs 1 WC a month most people don't realize it takes a good 1-3 weeks for nitrates to show up...

 

[mbrew345]

So my ammonia .25ppm, nitrites 5.0ppm, nitrates are 20ppm currently tank is running at 94 degrees. I will be adding more ammonia in the morning to bring it back up to 2.0ppm while I wait for the nitrite bacteria grows more.