Fishless cycling

[Elvis1970]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and have been out of the aquarist trade for 5 or 6 years but getting back into it now . I have set up my dream tank 90 gallon cichlid tank with a DIY 3d ledge background made with styrofoam and dry dock . The tank has a magnum 350 with micron filter and uv sterilizer ( currently unplugged during cycle) , and also a marineland 360-c canister filter . I also have a finnex digital heater and have been running a fishless cycle ( by the way never heard of this and have had tanks all my life ) . Since march 1rst , presently the tank is consuming 2-3ppm of ammonia every 12 hours , my nitrates however are at 10 ppm and my nitrates are at 40 ppm this has been for the last two weeks ? I also am not getting down to 0 with ammonia it goes to .25 which is my tap water reading with API master kit . And my ph is holding steady at 8.2 .. My question is , am I close to cycling in your opinion ? Is a water change necessary to bring the nitrite down with the ph steady ? Will I see that last .25 ammonia go to 0 once the nitrites drop or is that just my zero cause of my tap water ? The tank is crystal clear and growing some brown algae which I assume is normal during cycling without fish ... Sorry to be so winded ....

 

[Fishanatic]

Hello all I'm new to the forum and have been out of the aquarist trade for 5 or 6 years but getting back into it now . I have set up my dream tank 90 gallon cichlid tank with a DIY 3d ledge background made with styrofoam and dry dock . The tank has a magnum 350 with micron filter and uv sterilizer ( currently unplugged during cycle) , and also a marineland 360-c canister filter . I also have a finnex digital heater and have been running a fishless cycle ( by the way never heard of this and have had tanks all my life ) . Since march 1rst , presently the tank is consuming 2-3ppm of ammonia every 12 hours , my nitrates however are at 10 ppm and my nitrates are at 40 ppm this has been for the last two weeks ? I also am not getting down to 0 with ammonia it goes to .25 which is my tap water reading with API master kit . And my ph is holding steady at 8.2 .. My question is , am I close to cycling in your opinion ? Is a water change necessary to bring the nitrite down with the ph steady ? Will I see that last .25 ammonia go to 0 once the nitrites drop or is that just my zero cause of my tap water ? The tank is crystal clear and growing some brown algae which I assume is normal during cycling without fish ... Sorry to be so winded ....

If nitrites are that high, I suggest and immenent water change of 50-75 percent to make them drop a bit. You should be very close to the end of the cycle. As for the algae, might be because of poor lighting or sun light exposure? When was the last time you did a water change?

 

[Elvis1970]

I did a 30% change two days ago I also didn't dose ammonia yesterday to see if that would help , this mornings test is as follows

.25 ammonia
8.2 ph steady
Nitrites 10 ppm
Nitrates 40+ ppm



I dosed ammonia to bring back up to 2ppm this morning at 10

 

[Elvis1970]

Oh and as for lighting I have a beams work led light with moon light feature , the lights are only on for 8 hrs per day only for looks obviously tank has no fish .. It's also in a spot where sunlight is not an issue , this is a pic of the brown algae forming



I'm assuming once it cycles I can put in a cleanup crew of a couple bristle nose pleco to take care of the problem

 

[Fishanatic]

Aquarium Algae - Causes and Cures for Brown Algae
Should be very helpfull.

 

[Elvis1970]

Thanks so much

 

[Elvis1970]

Ok 9:46 less than 12 hours after dosing tank to almost 4 ppm ammonia
Ammonia .25
Ph steady at 8.2
Nitrite 10 ppm
Nitrates 160 ppm




I'm doing a 60% water change and then will check readings in am I hope I'm close

 

[Fishanatic]

Do a 90% water change instead. it looks like the end of the cycle is near. If that's too much then at least 75%

 

[Elvis1970]

Ok 75% water change last night results are better but still not there yet I'm gonna skip the ammonia dose and retest at noon

Ph 8.2 steady as a rock
Ammonia .25 will I ever see 0 ?
Nitrite down from 10 to 3ppm
Nitrate down from 160 last nite to 5ppm





I hope I'm almost there ...

 

[Elvis1970]

Ok retest

Nitrites down to about 1.5 ppm
Nitrates up to 10 ppm

It's dropping but slow , debating on wether to dose more ammonia or just let it be and retest tonight

 

[Elvis1970]

Ok testing tonight

Ammonia .25 ugh
Nitrite 2ppm double ugh
Nitrate between 5 & 10




To dose ammonia or to not dose ???? Let it go overnight and test in morning ?? Any thots would be appreciated I did dose yesterday morning up to 4 ppm

 

[Elvis1970]

Ok no dosing of ammonia yesterday this morning this is what I got ????

Ammonia .25
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 0
Ph 8.2 rock steady





I'm at a loss ? Am I cycled now ?

 

[Fishanatic]

Ok no dosing of ammonia yesterday this morning this is what I got ????

Ammonia .25
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 0
Ph 8.2 rock steady

I'm at a loss ? Am I cycled now ?

Dose ammonia. you would need to see a nitrate spike when you're almost cycled.

 

[Elvis1970]

I saw the spike 2 days ago when it was 10 ppm , look back on the thread , everything went to 0 around 10 with nitrates at 10 , just put a few fish in taking my chances seems to be going good so far

 

[Fishanatic]

I saw the spike 2 days ago when it was 10 ppm , look back on the thread , everything went to 0 around 10 with nitrates at 10 , just put a few fish in taking my chances seems to be going good so far

That's not a spike. It should go up to at least 50. Usually 80.

 

[Elvis1970]

It was at 160 ppm before water change

 

[mozzer]

I'm fishless cycling a bit behind you. Did you use any seed material from your LFS or anything?

 

[Elvis1970]

No didn't have any did use some fritzyme 700 at start i don't really know if it actually helped it along all in all it was still roughly 5 weeks

 

[Elvis1970]

All seem to be doing great ammonia and nitrite haven't moved from zero and nitrate steady at 10 ppm looking to stock the rest when order comes in from fish direct

 

[Fishanatic]

All seem to be doing great ammonia and nitrite haven't moved from zero and nitrate steady at 10 ppm looking to stock the rest when order comes in from fish direct

That's good news I would assume you're almost cycled if ammonia and nitrite stay at zero for at least a week.