new tank doing a fishless cycle - first time
- Thread starter HeatherW
- Start date
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jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Def keep an eye on your ph- conversion is happening so your buffers are getting used up. Ph crashes have a way of sneaking up on you- its easier to prevent them in the first place. Your nitrites look @2 but the purple colors are pain to differentiate esp once they get really high! Go ahead & increase the amm some though not all the way to 4ppm yet- use your discretionary judgement for the increase. Looks good!! 
jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Unfortunately, water changes are the only way to re-establish buffers to your water that are being used up during conversion. If it starts crashing on a regular basis, some cr coral will help to stablize it but this isnt the case yet. Lets see how your ph looks tommorrow!
so yesterday I added the 21ml of my ammonia.
today I tested the water:
temp - 86.9
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 2.0
PH - 7.4
so PH holding from yesterday. redosed the tank today with a little more ammonia. added 27ml of ammonia
think things are moving along nicely
today I tested the water:
temp - 86.9
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 2.0
PH - 7.4
so PH holding from yesterday. redosed the tank today with a little more ammonia. added 27ml of ammonia
think things are moving along nicely
I am adding more ammonia - the 27ml I added only got the tank up to 1.0ppm!!
jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ok! No big deal- dose your amm & make sure you start checking for nitrates as well to see if the nitrites are being converted. Looks good!
Ok! No big deal- dose your amm & make sure you start checking for nitrates as well to see if the nitrites are being converted. Looks good!
thanks! ok so I added 15ml more (total of 42ml) to get the tank up to about 2.0ppm. if it drops again tomorrow to 0 should i try and dose it up about a 3.0ppm? maybe another 15ml is what I am thinking.
should I test daily for those nitrates or more like every other day? I tested on 2/9 (thurs) and had Nitrates of 30ppm which is up from when I tested on 2/3 and had Nitrates of 5ppm. i will test them tomorrow and see how much more they are converting
jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Its fine to test your nitrates every other day-just keep track of increases. Go ahead & dose the amm up to 3ppm tommorrow if everything looks good!
Oh my goodness!!! I think I am cycled!!!
So... I dosed the tank yesterday to about 2ppm (put in 42ml ammonia). Today I tested and here are my readings:
Temp - 86.7
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates -120???
PH - 7.6
So what do I do now??? I know, add more ammonia to make sure it is really cycled, but how much? I didn't really get it up to the 4ppm so I don't know where I am or how many fish will the take accommodate now. Help!!!
I am do excited!!!
So... I dosed the tank yesterday to about 2ppm (put in 42ml ammonia). Today I tested and here are my readings:
Temp - 86.7
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates -120???
PH - 7.6
So what do I do now??? I know, add more ammonia to make sure it is really cycled, but how much? I didn't really get it up to the 4ppm so I don't know where I am or how many fish will the take accommodate now. Help!!!
I am do excited!!!
boadams87
Aquarium Advice Addict
HeatherW said:
Dose it to 2 and test after 12 hrs, then if zero do a big wc and ADD FISH
boadams87
Aquarium Advice Addict
HeatherW said:
Did u dose it up again? Whatcha gonna put in it?
yep! I added the ammonia. a little more than yesterday - hope that is going to be ok. we will see what I get tomorrow.
my stocking plan is:
2 german blue ram
2 powder blue dwarf gourami
2 molly
15 harlequin rasbora
5 bosemani rainbow
5 -7 zebra loach
what do you think? will my tank be able to handle all of them right now since I didn't get my ammonia up to the 4ppm?
I was also thinking if there is room adding more of the rainbow fish. saw some tourquoise rainbows. do I need another 5 of them or will they school with the bosemani?
boadams87
Aquarium Advice Addict
HeatherW said:yep! I added the ammonia. a little more than yesterday - hope that is going to be ok. we will see what I get tomorrow.
my stocking plan is:
2 german blue ram
2 powder blue dwarf gourami
2 molly
15 harlequin rasbora
5 bosemani rainbow
5 -7 zebra loach
what do you think? will my tank be able to handle all of them right now since I didn't get my ammonia up to the 4ppm?
I was also thinking if there is room adding more of the rainbow fish. saw some tourquoise rainbows. do I need another 5 of them or will they school with the bosemani?
When r u thinking about adding them? Idk much about what goes with what. But it doesn't look like to many to me for a 90.
jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Heather, this is GREAT!!! Cycled media really helped you out- even sooner than i expected! Ok- this is what i would like you to do- increase your dose of amm to @3 & lets see if this zeroes out in 24hrs. If it does, increase it the next day to 4ppm. Your 2nd option is to keep dosing it to 2 for the next few days (to make sure it steadily zeroes out) then stock but not at full capacity. Ill leave this up to you! Congrats!!!!
Heather, this is GREAT!!! Cycled media really helped you out- even sooner than i expected! Ok- this is what i would like you to do- increase your dose of amm to @3 & lets see if this zeroes out in 24hrs. If it does, increase it the next day to 4ppm. Your 2nd option is to keep dosing it to 2 for the next few days (to make sure it steadily zeroes out) then stock but not at full capacity. Ill leave this up to you! Congrats!!!!
good! that is what I was thinking I should be doing, so I added more ammonia (57ml) today. that is an increase of 15ml from yesterday which I hope is about 3.0ppm. we will see what it does tomorrow
this is so exciting!!!
OK, so I added more ammonia today - hopefully it is not going to be too much. yesterday I added 57ml at around 3pm. Today I added 81ml (at 1045am) and got a reading of 4.0ppm ( I think an increase of 15-18ml bumps me up 1ppm)
tested the water today:
temp - 87.3
ammonia - 0
nitrites - .15
PH - 7.4
so I think I am doing pretty well. if I had waited the full 24hrs maybe my nitrites would have been 0???
so I am going to assume that my tank will zero out tomorrow - what do you think? so if it does, then I should add the exact same amount of ammonia again right (the 81ml)?
so if after 2 consecutive days of getting zeros am I done and ready to do my big water change and get fish? or do I do a few more days than that?
tested the water today:
temp - 87.3
ammonia - 0
nitrites - .15
PH - 7.4
so I think I am doing pretty well. if I had waited the full 24hrs maybe my nitrites would have been 0???
so I am going to assume that my tank will zero out tomorrow - what do you think? so if it does, then I should add the exact same amount of ammonia again right (the 81ml)?
so if after 2 consecutive days of getting zeros am I done and ready to do my big water change and get fish? or do I do a few more days than that?
boadams87
Aquarium Advice Addict
HeatherW said:
Yes add the same amt to get it to 4. As long as ur reading nitrites ur not ready yet. Was that reading after u added amm?
jlk
Aquarium Advice Addict
Its just a trace of nitrites, so most likely it would have zeroed out in 24hrs but your bb also need to do a bit of catch up to go from 2 to 4ppm amm. You should be fine to get fish once your tank steadily reads zero for amm/nitrite for 2-3days!
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