Fishless Cycle

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fddlss

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
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209
Location
Hallandale, Florida
Hi guys,

After reading a lot and trying to be as informed as possible I finally started my cycle exactly a week ago.

My heater is steady at 86.6 F to encourage the bacteria's metabolism and I try to oxygenate the water as much as I can.

I started with 5ppm of ammonia (Janitoral Strength from ACE Hardware, 10%) and It took about 3 days to drop to 1 or 2 ppm, at that point I added enough ammonia to raise it back to 4ppm and now it takes less than 12 hours to drop 4ppm to 0.25 or 0 ppm. Nitrites are still high, dark purple, a little darker than what the API test kit can measure so it's more than 5.0 ppm. I'm at day 7 now and what I'm doing is adding ammonia everyday, enough to raise it to 3-4ppm, but my question is, being that it takes less than 12 hours for the bacteria to convert ammonia into nitrites, shouldn't I raise the ammonia to 3-4ppm every 12 hours instead of once a day? Isn't bad that the bacteria may be staying below 0.50 ppm for hours until I add more ammonia?

Thanks.
 
In my opinion you don't need to add but once every 24 hours...... The bacterias will be fine once a day. Looks like your cycle is moving fast. Just for curiosity, did you seed your tank? For just 7 days, and eating ammonia that fast, its a dream.
 
Yeah, without seeding material you must have added some magic beans or something, lol. Doing it every 24 hours is fine. If your nitrItes and nitrAtes get ridiculously high you can do a 50% pwc (remember the bacteria lives in the filter and tank surfaces, not in the water). A pwc will bring your levels into readable ranges so you can moniter them, and also restore buffers in the water to prevent a pH crash at the end of your cycle...happened to me.
 
This is how it went: It's a new tank (120 Gal.) with internal overflows and wet/dry filter using bio-balls.

I set up the filter and filled the tank with water > tank running for a few weeks > I bought 120lb of CaribSea African Cichlid sand and I added the sand to the bottom of the tank but without opening the bags because they say that that sand contains some beneficial bacteria and my water wasn't dechlorinated, probably the chlorine evaporated but not the chloramines > after a week or so I added dechlorinator, and opened the sand bags, it took about a week for the water to clear because of sand particles > then I bought some decorations: one small fake plant, lava rock, lace rock and another rock that I forgot the name. > Then I added a small air stone that I had laying around but I placed the air stone on the sump, right between the submersible return pump and the sponge that divides the sump's compartments. I did this as a guess to oxygenate the water for the bacteria. Then I got a 300W heater which I keep steady at about 86.6 F to stimulate bacteria's metabolism/growth and y move the return tubes so that water splashes to create more oxygen and a few days after I started the cycle as I described in my previous post.

I also think that It's going fast and hopefully that's the case and not that something is wrong. I don't know if it's the temperature, the air stone, the water splashing or a little bit of everything. It could also be the sand that they say it has bacteria, which I doubt because it can have bacteria but it will eventually die if there's no ammonia to "eat".

As far as pH is around 8.2 but that's fine because I will stock the tank with African Cichlids.
 
Just got home from work and my readings are:

Using API Master test kit.

I raised ammonia to around 3-4 ppm about 22 hours ago.

Day 7

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm

Nitrites: 5.0 ppm or more (the purple is very similar to the last purple on the chart but not exactly the same tone).

Nitrates: First time testing for Nitrates and the color is red but not one of the reds that are on the chart, is more like a "blood" red, very intense, and I can't match it against any color on the chart. If you insist and ask me which color is the most similar one I would say the one for 80 ppm.

I will add ammonia and check it again in 24 hours.

So far, you think things are looking good?

One thing that I don't get is why do I have nitrates if I still have high nitrites? Is it normal?
 
I would do a 50% pwc when you get a chance. The nitrItes and nitrAtes being that high can definitely disrupt your cycle. The pwc won't effect your progress since the bacteria isn't in the water, it's in the filter and tank surfaces.

The nitrAtes being high are good. The process...this will sound gross...is the first type of bacteria eats the ammonia and poos nitrItes. Then the second type of bacteria you want eats nitrItes and poos nitrAtes. When you do the big pwc I wouldn't be surprised if your cycle finished REALLY soon.
 
I respectfully disagree with eco23. I feel like the Nitrites are just going through their normal stage of the cycle, large spike then fall. JMO, but I'd wait and see if it drops before doing a PWC.
 
jenatronQT3.14159 said:
I respectfully disagree with eco23. I feel like the Nitrites are just going through their normal stage of the cycle, large spike then fall. JMO, but I'd wait and see if it drops before doing a PWC.

It's fine if you want to wait a while, but there is absolutely no harm done with a pwc. It also restores the buffers that are used up during the cycling process by the nitrifying bacteria. If you read the tips and tricks for your fastest fishless cycle article written by 7enigma (one of the most respected members here, and an actual scientist), he strongly suggests a large pwc at this point.
 
I'm not saying it's harmful, or not potentially helpful; I'm just saying typically it's not necessary. I have already read the article you mentioned, as well.
 
It's in the Q&A after the actual article. He said he would like to rewrite the article to include the pwc at this stage. I actually find the Q&A after the article more interesting than the guide itself...I refer to that guy as the mad scientist. :)
 
Hmm... Interesting. Whatever is the case the conclusion is that I'm close to being done? I will probably wait about 3 days and see what happens, if nothing changed I will do a PWC. Thank you both for your quick response. I will keep you guys updated.
 
I would say you're very close to being done, in fact if the nitrItes are super silly high it can actually hide the fact that the tank is already cycled. After reading the part of that article I mentioned, I did a big pwc to lower my nitrItes and within 24 hours it was cycle complete.
 
eco23 said:
I would say you're very close to being done, in fact if the nitrItes are super silly high it can actually hide the fact that the tank is already high. After reading the part of that article I mentioned, I did a big pwc to lower my nitrItes and within 24 hours it was cycle complete.

Sorry meant to say hide the fact that it's already complete.
 
Since your NitrItes have lowered I'd say you're close to being done.
 
And yeah, you're about to set some type of world record for the fastest cycle without seeding material. :)
 
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