So I would guess there has already got.to be the answer to this in here some where. But going to ask anyways. So my cycle has been seeming to go well, but the last three days my cycle has been able to get rid of 4ppm of ammonia within 24 hrs and my nitrites are at 5.0 or maybe a little higher but my Nitrates are not getting that high only around 80. Is it necessary for them to go off the chart?
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling
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eco23
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Big.Jon said:
Seems like everything is going perfectly. It might be a good idea to do around a 50% pwc to get your nitrItes to a level where you can easily monitor them. It will also restore the buffers and nutrients the water that the beneficial bacteria has used up during the cycling process to prevent a stall or pH crash.
After the pwc it is just a waiting game of continually adding 4ppm of ammo every 24 hours and waiting for the no2 to drop. Good job so far!
So far, so good....
Well after my cycle finishing on Monday morning, I added my first fish on Monday afternoon. 4 Clown Loaches & 2 Golden Gouramis. After fasting them for 48 hours, I started feeding yesterday and all are feeding well & seem happy. Took my readings tonight & I have; ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 & Ph 6.0, so all looking good.
Well after my cycle finishing on Monday morning, I added my first fish on Monday afternoon. 4 Clown Loaches & 2 Golden Gouramis. After fasting them for 48 hours, I started feeding yesterday and all are feeding well & seem happy. Took my readings tonight & I have; ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 & Ph 6.0, so all looking good.
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eco23
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tiguardo said:
Absolutely perfect
. Congratulations. It's a good feeling when you move your fish into a safe home you prepared for them isn't it?
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eco23
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And we want pictures!!!
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eco23
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tiguardo said:Pictures as promised. New residents added today. All doing well
As you said, it's good to give them a healthy home to live in.
Beautiful tank, beautiful fish and a beautiful job fishless cycling! BTW, judging by the reflection in the glass you've got some golf on the TV for the fish to watch too, lol.
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eco23
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Big.Jon said:
Throw them in! It'll give you something to look at and play with while you wait for your cycle to finish. They wont have any major impact on your cycle one way or another. If you add them straight in they can contribute some beneficial bacteria, but I'd recommend giving them a 30 second dip in pure hydrogen peroxide (followed by a thorough rinsing) to prevent bringing any pond snails, parasites or algae into the tank.
BTW...BARCA ARE THE CHAMPS!!! Looks like I'll have to update my Messi avatar
Ok, I'm a little frustrated and a bit nervous. I did a 90% PWC last night in order to fill the tank with non crushed coral altered water. I used plenty of Prime during the PWC and also had my filters turned off with the filter tubes removed. I planted several live plants at the same time. I was rooting around the PFS while planting. I finished up at around 10:30 last night. I decided to put in about .8ml ammonia just to give the bacteria something to munch on and also make sure the bacteria would still do it's job after the big PWC. It's now been 16 hours since I've added the ammonia and my nitrites are still between 2.0 and 5.0. Ammonia was already to 0 within 10.5 hours.
Any idea what caused the nitrite spike? Or does it just take a full 24 hours for the turn over? I wasn't expecting such high nitrite numbers when I added so little ammonia. I was really hoping to buy fish today. I'll have to wait until the nitrites are at 0 though so I know the bacteria is ok.
Any idea what caused the nitrite spike? Or does it just take a full 24 hours for the turn over? I wasn't expecting such high nitrite numbers when I added so little ammonia. I was really hoping to buy fish today. I'll have to wait until the nitrites are at 0 though so I know the bacteria is ok.
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eco23
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royta said:
Most likely you're just watching the conversion of ammo > no2 > no3. I wouldn't get concerned unless you still have those readings after 24 hours. If you have chloramines in the water it's also possible the ammonia was dosed up higher than you thought. The same thing happened to me after my big pwc (my tap has 1.5ppm ammo), and I freaked out. All went back to normal after it was converted. Remember the fish put out a small, slow and steady stream of ammo as opposed to dropping a bunch in all at one time. Once you're stocked...you won't be able to track the conversion because it's happening constantly as the ammo is slowly added to the water. No worries
eco23 said:Most likely you're just watching the conversion of ammo > no2 > no3. I wouldn't get concerned unless you still have those readings after 24 hours. If you have chloramines in the water it's also possible the ammonia was dosed up higher than you thought. The same thing happened to me after my big pwc (my tap has 1.5ppm ammo), and I freaked out. All went back to normal after it was converted. Remember the fish put out a small, slow and steady stream of ammo as opposed to dropping a bunch in all at one time. Once you're stocked...you won't be able to track the conversion because it's happening constantly as the ammo is slowly added to the water. No worries
I'm still disappointed though, as I was planning on getting 6 tetras, 6 danios, and 4 cory cats today. The kids are bummed out.
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eco23
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royta said:
24 hours is the benchmark. That's how we measure if a tank is cycled...it's just how it works. Since you've already done your pwc...wait it out, when it hits 0, head to the lfs. Sorry the kids are upset...obviously cycling a tank takes some time and patience...you just need a little more.
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eco23
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Royta, what does .8ml equal in ppm for you?
eco23 said:
I'm guessing about 1ppm.
Do you think that stirring up the substrate had anything to do with the increase in nitrites? It just seems odd that for several days I was 0 and 0 on ammo and nitrites after a 24 hour period when dosing up to 4ppm...even after removing the crushed coral. Then I dose up to only 1ppm after a 90% PWC and I have 0 ammonia in 10.5 hours (may have been quicker, but I hadn't checked yet) but have 2.0 to 5.0 nitrites after 19.5 hours.
I did have my water level low for at least 60 minutes while I put in the plants and did some rock rearranging. The filters were kept full of tank water though.
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eco23
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royta said:
Do you know the ammo level of your tap water? Mine comes out at ~1.5ppm. If yours is similar, mixed with the addition of the .8ml, that could explain it. Also (potentially bad news), a dry surface = dead bacteria. 60 minutes is quite a bit of time to leave things exposed. If that is indeed the issue...it should bounce back rather quickly since the bulk of the BB is in the filter media...but I wouldn't doubt there was a degree of die-off on the surfaces left uncovered by the water.
eco23 said:
Ammo level of tap water is 0.
It's been 20 hours and I just rechecked parameters. PH is 7.6, ammo is 0, and nitrites are still 2.0 - 5.0.
I completely forgot about some bacteria being on surfaces of the tank and decorations. Although, I had no idea there would be enough to make such a significant die off of nitrite eating bacteria. Since the tank has obviously suffered a bacteria die off, I have three questions. 1) Should I bump temp back up to 85F to speed the bacteria growth? 2) Should I dose ammonia up to 4ppm again? I'm concerned the ammonia eating bacteria might starve by the time the nitrite eating bacteria builds back up. 3) I've had my light on 100% of the time since putting in the plants. I figured it could only do good, especially since I don't have any sleeping fish. Will the light slow down bacteria growth?
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eco23
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royta said:
Yeah, the bacteria can be sensitive little buggers. A few weeks ago I added a fish, replaced 3 fake plants with real ones and donated some filter media to a friend all over the course of a couple days. I had a fairly nasty mini-cycle for 3 days before the tank stabilized. (The tank has been established for quite some time, so this is not a reflection on the effectiveness of fishless cycling, lol)
A high temp will help, but I'm not sure it'll make a noticeable difference if you just need to bounce back from what is basically a fishless cycling mini-cycle (sounds silly, but technically that's what it is). Since you don't need to rebuild the entire bio-filter, I'd say bumping the ammo up to 2-3ppm is appropriate. I wouldn't imagine it taking more than a few days to be back to where it was.
That much lighting is asking for an algae problem IMO. I'd keep it at an 8 hour photo period. If you have a timer, lots of people also break up the lighting into two 4 hour periods which I've heard is beneficial to preventing algae outbreaks. The bacteria really doesn't care about the light, and the reason I mention leaving the light off during cycling is to help prevent any algae problems during the process. Algae tends to be very fond of the water conditions during a cycle.
Just keep the faith and you'll be right back into the game in no time
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