starting a fishless cycle

[awilson133]

You will get the hang of it pretty quickly & then you can advise me if i decide to switch to a dirt planted! lol

haha yup! you need to check out dustins fishtanks on youtube. his channel is fantastic. he is what got me into planted tanks.

 

[jlk]

Will do! I love planted tanks but i keep goldies who arent exactly plant-friendly but i have been managing to keep somewhat moderately planted tanks with them for for almost a year now. Still learning about plants and what ones will be eaten! Trial & error.

 

[awilson133]

yeah thats a downfall cause my angels in my 55 will destroy plants. thats I also why I dont keep silver dollars :/

 

[awilson133]

ammo .25
nitrites 0? there blue but the have a slight tint nothing major.
ph7.5
nitrates 40..or 80 the colors look exactly the same lol
am I cycled??
I did do a 50% water change though before I tested..that couldnt effect it could it?!?

 

[jlk]

Do you have ammonia in your tap? I dont think your quite there yet because the water change affected your levels- the nitrite may have been .25. Dose your amm & test tommorrow because i think your just about cycled!

 

[awilson133]

ill check.my tap and should I redose to 4.0?

 

[jlk]

Have you been dosing to 2 or 4 the last few days?

 

[awilson133]

2 ppm for two days

 

[jlk]

Dose it to 2ppm again & lets see how things look tommorrow (fingers crossed!)- we can increase it a bit over the next few days.

 

[awilson133]

is it okay to redose to 4ppm now?..i wont be home tonight and I get home at 12. so can I just do now?

 

[jlk]

You should be fine to dose!

 

[awilson133]

alrighty big water change to remove the tannis colored water lol..
ammo .25
nitrites .50
ph 7.7
nitrates 20

also added more used filter media from my 55 gallon into the 29 gal

 

[librarygirl]

Looks good. Are these results before or after the water change?

You've been dosing to 2 for a bit so with the increase in dose it isn't suprising to see some nitrite, hopefully you'll see a blue tube soon. Also with the ammonia test, are you sure it's .25 and not 0? At first I found it hard to tell the difference between 0 and .25 on the API ammonia test. You can test some spring water (or tap water if you know it has 0 ammonia) and compare that test with your tank's ammo test and see if they match. If they do, the tank's ammo is really 0. Don't forget to redose again if you haven't already.

 

[awilson133]

it was after. but the ammo before was 0 or .25 and the nitrites were violet pink. I redosed to 4.ppm last night..ill go ahead and redose!

 

[jlk]

Sounds good!

 

[librarygirl]

Yep sounds good. You'd ideally want to test before a water change too to get an idea of how much conversion is happening.

 

[awilson133]

I believe im cycled!!
ammo 0
nitrites 0
ph 7.6
nitrates 80.
I added a some used filter media last night and I think that kicked things up a notch:3

 

[awilson133]

OH IM SO HAPPY. XD (ron burgandy voice)

 

[jlk]

YAY!!!! Ok-keep dosing your amm for another 2-3 days to make sure it keeps steadily zeroing out & you should be good to go! On the day you want fish (or night before), skip the amm, do a 100% (or couple big wcs) to lower your nitrates as low as possible (level of your tap) and adjust the temp to an appropriate level for your fish if it was cranked up. Make sure you use temp-matched, properly conditioned water for your changes. If your not familiar with 'drip acclimation', check out U-tube for how-to videos. Congrats!

 

[awilson133]

YAY!!!! Ok-keep dosing your amm for another 2-3 days to make sure it keeps steadily zeroing out & you should be good to go! On the day you want fish (or night before), skip the amm, do a 100% (or couple big wcs) to lower your nitrates as low as possible (level of your tap) and adjust the temp to an appropriate level for your fish if it was cranked up. Make sure you use temp-matched, properly conditioned water for your changes. If your not familiar with 'drip acclimation', check out U-tube for how-to videos. Congrats!

okay I will ) can I go ahead and turn the temp down a little ? do I keep the media in the tank a while? I am familiar but its so confusing to me.. I couldnt of done it with out your help and others! thank you so much!!!