Cycling question

[Corbo]

So... I think I'm almost done with my fishless cycle. I tested water today and here were parameters after I added 6-7 drops of 10% ammonia to my tank last night.

Ammo-1-2ppm

Nitrite-5ppm

Nitrate-10-20ppm

My tank is well planted. Once my nitrites go down I think I'll get a pwc performed and add fish by this coming weekend. My theory is that my seachem prime is keeping that last bit of ammo untouchable by my bacteria because when i added it it converted the ammonia into ammonium?

Is this ok? Just add enough ammo to keep my bacteria alive until this weekend?

This is my first fishless cycle and the algae is driving me crazy. I need some algae eaters.

 

[eco23]

Sadly, there's a lot more to it than that. To make a long story short, the tank isn't cycled and ready for fish until you're readings say Ammonia-0, nitrItes-0 and nitrAtes- (could be anywhere after the cycle is complete). And those paramaters have to be attained within 24 hours of dosing your tank up to near 4ppm of ammonia.

The ideas with the Prime converting the ammonia is understandable but not what's actually happening. Prime converts it to a less toxic form, but it is still consumable by the bacteria.

How long has your tank been cycling? How big of a tank? What level are you dosing your ammonia up to before it drops down? Did the plants come from and established tank and you're using them as seeding material?

Check out this article from this forum- http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...ks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/Page1.html
This article is like the bible for fishless cycling and tells you everything you need to know. I'd be happy to give you plenty more advice and I'm sure others on this site will too, we just need to know a little more info about your process.

 

[Corbo]

Those levels I posted are within 24 hours. I dose my tank up to 4-5 ppm ammonia and let it go down to about 1 and dose back up. It's a 29 gallon that's been cycling about 2 weeks now. The plants are from different places. I don't have any access to other seeded materials unfortunately. :/ I'm just so frustrated haha

 

[eco23]

Good news, bad news.

The bad is that you're absolutely not finished with your fishless cycle and adding fish right now would be the end of the line for them as this is the stage of the cycle where it can be the most toxic.

Good news? You're probably 70% of the way there! The fact that there are nitrItes means you're absolutely on the right track and to keep doing what you're doing. All you have to do now is keep dosing the tank up to 4ppm. You'll see the nitrItes spike (usually way off the chart) and the nitrAtes will also really start climbing. Then one day, all of a sudden you'll check your levels and the nitrItes will have vanished and you'll be cycled! At that point you just need to do a massive water change to get your nitrAtes down to safe levels and add your fish (slowly still).

It is puzzling as to why you have a good level of nitrItes but the tank isn't completely gobbling up the ammonia. Are you using pure ammonia? Make sure it says "no perfumes, dyes, surficants,etc..."

 

[eco23]

I REALLY recommend reading that article I linked to you before. Also read all the Q&A at the end of it as it addresses virtually any question you could ever think of. The guy who wrote must be some sort of mad scientific genius.

To me it sounds like everything is going according exactly to plan as 2 weeks seems way too fast for a tank to cycle without seeding material. However, it is possible that a cycle can stall for several reasons at the stage you're at right now and the article will cover them all. A lot of people will add a tiny bit of fish food or a couple drops of PH down to add phosphates and other nutrients to the water that the bacteria you're trying to colonize needs to develop. Keep us updated and feel free to ask any questions or PM me. Also, it's great you're doing it fishless as not only does it develop a stronger, healthier tank, but you're not torturing the fish to get the tank cycled.

 

[eco23]

Oh! One more thing I didn't see in your first post. Keep the lights off! Algae love the levels of nitrItes and nitrAtes you've got in there right now. The bacteria you're trying to grow doesn't require light and can actually be slowed down by it. Also, crank you're heater up to around 84 to help the bacteria grow.

*Edit... apparently I can't read tonight. With plants I guess you don't want the lights off. I'm not super familiar to fishless cycling with plants. You might either want to wait around for an experienced planted tank expert to check in here or maybe start a new thread about fishless cycling with plants.

 

[Corbo]

Haha no biggy. I will just have to wait this out. I use the pure ammonia from ace hardware. No additives. Many people have recommended it on this site. I actually have had this tank up for close to a month now... At first I had no test kit and then realized my ammonia was off the charts when I bought my AP kit. So I fixed that and got a nitrite level not long after. Which was followed today by some levels of nitrate. My bacteria is making a noticeable dent in my ammonia daily though.... This is all so confusing for the first time

 

[eco23]

You sound like you're exactly on the right track. Just keep doing what you're doing and hold out patience a bit longer. What's cool is that once the nitrItes start dropping it happens almost overnight and you're done. Good luck!

 

[Corbo]

Alrighty! So the anticipation of waiting for my nitrites to bottom out is killing me! but once they do, i still need to "feed" my tank a bit of ammonia until i get fish.... Right?

 

[eco23]

Alrighty! So the anticipation of waiting for my nitrites to bottom out is killing me! but once they do, i still need to "feed" my tank a bit of ammonia until i get fish.... Right?

Yep. They can go quite a while without eating, but to keep it in top shape you want to keep feeding it the same 4ppm. What most people do is keep feeding the ammonia daily, then the night before you get fish do a huge (85-90%) pwc to get the nitrAtes down. Remember that the more ammonia it eats, the more nitrAtes it's going to end up with as the end product... I think that's the part your plants will help with though.

 

[Corbo]

Yeah. I've read nitrates are beneficial for plants! And I'd bet that if I had no plants in my tank that it would look like algae soup right now haha. I just need to relax and wait for my tank to balance out. Whew. Stop panicking. Haha! Thank you so much for the help Eco

 

[eco23]

Hey man, no problem. I've been addicted to this site since I discovered it and it's cool that if you take a couple minutes to answer somebody's questions you can save the life of a living creature