24hr cycle ???

[AaronH]

i have had my tank filled up for 24 hours and am using my filter media and substrate from my old sw tank substrate was rinsed out before putting into the tank i am also useing the same tank from my sw days. i have just done a water test and have had readings on 0.25 amonia and 20 nitrate and 0 nitrite the nitrate and nitrite where a dip strip and amonina was a liquid test. does this mean that my cycle is almost commplete ?

 

[fort384]

How old was the filter media, was it kept wet, and did it have a source of ammonia to keep the nitrobacter alive?

Based on those readings, I don't think we could say the tank is cycled. The nitrate reading could be residual from the gravel and filter.

 

[TraceyB4602]

I would get a liquid test kit so you know what your levels "really" are. Those strips are way inaccurate.

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[fort384]

agreed on the water tests. The liquid reagent tests are far more reliable and accurate. The FW Master Kit from API is economical and plenty accurate enough to get get readings on your water parameters.

 

[AaronH]

i am changeing over to liquid kit atm reason for only haveing amonia is that run out of amonia strips before the other ones so when i run out of strips i will be byeing liquid kits. the filter media was not wet al the time it was out of water for about 3 hours same as substrate i sisnt think i would of been cycled. the only othere issue is that there seems to be alot of dead worms ontop of my substrate from when i had my sw setup they are bristle worms all are dead. should i leave them in and let them decompose etc to help with the cycle or should i go through the painstakeing proces of trying to get them all out. if i dont manage to get them all out then when it comes to adding fish etc will the fish eat them and could this harm them ?

 

[TraceyB4602]

i am changeing over to liquid kit atm reason for only haveing amonia is that run out of amonia strips before the other ones so when i run out of strips i will be byeing liquid kits. the filter media was not wet al the time it was out of water for about 3 hours same as substrate i sisnt think i would of been cycled. the only othere issue is that there seems to be alot of dead worms ontop of my substrate from when i had my sw setup they are bristle worms all are dead. should i leave them in and let them decompose etc to help with the cycle or should i go through the painstakeing proces of trying to get them all out. if i dont manage to get them all out then when it comes to adding fish etc will the fish eat them and could this harm them ?

I would probably get them out before the fish come. They're old and might hurt the fish.

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[fort384]

I agree, you don't want them decomposing in the water... this is why it is usually not a good idea to use substrate that was in a SW tank in a FW tank. Lots of organics, lots of ions, etc etc. It could end up causing some problems.

If the filter media was dry, it probably isn't going to do much good in terms of helping your cycle. I would say based on all of this, no, your tank is not cycled.

 

[AaronH]

cool i will go throught the painstakeing process of removeing unwated items lol and i will carry on waiting do u recomened doseing with a little pure amonia or just waiting the process out. do u recomend that i still have my light on like normall ???

 

[AaronH]

oh yea btw just bought a api test kit from ebay for £20.00

 

[TraceyB4602]

cool i will go throught the painstakeing process of removeing unwated items lol and i will carry on waiting do u recomened doseing with a little pure amonia or just waiting the process out. do u recomend that i still have my light on like normall ???

If you want to continue cycling your tank, yes add in the ammonia. I don't think having your light on or off would have an effect on cycling, but I could be wrong.

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[fort384]

Good call on the test kit.

The ammonia dosing may be required. To fishless cycle you want the tank to be 1-4ppm ammonia. The light won't matter... you can leave it off during cycling.

 

[AaronH]

cool i thought that leaving it on might of helpted the bacteria growth but if not then i will save a few pennys and turn them off. what do u recomend as pure amonia ?

 

[fort384]

ace hardware sells it... it needs to be "surfactant free". If you shake it and there are bubbles, it is a no go.

EDIT: My bad, I see you are in the UK... no ACE hardware . Look for the other 2 things... should be able to find it at a hardware store.

 

[AaronH]

ok i will try and find it lol i am a builder so am constantly in builder merchants and that so will ask around

 

[Katorin]

The light being on or off makes no difference on the cycle.

 

[AaronH]

yea i have removed all of the worms i could find (6 in total so far) and the lights are turnt off, i have also started to write down my test results that i will do every day

 

[Dissy]

i have had my tank filled up for 24 hours and am using my filter media and substrate from my old sw tank substrate was rinsed out before putting into the tank i am also useing the same tank from my sw days. i have just done a water test and have had readings on 0.25 amonia and 20 nitrate and 0 nitrite the nitrate and nitrite where a dip strip and amonina was a liquid test. does this mean that my cycle is almost commplete ?

I wouldn't do a dip stick test on anything you plan on putting anything live in to.. Spend the money on the API test kit.. It's *well* worth the cost in reliability alone...

 

[AaronH]

I wouldn't do a dip stick test on anything you plan on putting anything live in to.. Spend the money on the API test kit.. It's *well* worth the cost in reliability alone...

yea have done already

 

[AaronH]

ok done another test today and it is all the same except amonia is now 1.5mg/l so slowley going up