Cycling My 160 Litre Tropical Tank

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NewToFish1989

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
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112
Hi,

New here and new to the hobby. I came here for some advice from members who's been in the hobby for a long time and do my home work for my new 160 litre tank which is I orded Saturday and cannot wait.

Anyway, as with all newbies, I've fallen into that cycle of listening to pet stores and everything just going wrong and fish dying which isn't fun
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But wanted to ask, when cycling a new tank, what levels do I need to keep my ammonia at? Heard that I shouldn't let it go over 5ppm, is that correct?

Also do I need to add food every day or ever other day as I want to do a fishless cycle and having a hard time finding 100% ammonia where I am.

Should the heater be turned up to encourage the healthy bacteria and should I keep my aquarium lights off?
 
Hi. You want to keep ammonia below 0.25ppm not 5ppm that's way to high and will kill your fish. There are 2 other toxins that you need to check and these are nitrite and nitrate. You are aiming to have the following levels for all 3 toxins

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = <40ppm (ideally 5-20ppm)

You can test these with a test kit known as the API master test kit. But make sure you follow the instructions fully.

When you have achieved this then your rank is 'cycled'

If you want to complete your cycle without fish then fish flakes are fine. Just add a teaspoon every few days. You don't want to put too many flakes in because it gets real messy. Using PURE ammonia would be the best bet.

You don't have to increase the temp. The bacteria will grow and the lights can be on it off.
 
Also I'm not sure if a misunderstood but just to clarify. If you are cycling WITH fish in the tank you need to keep ammonia below 0.25ppm if cycling WITHOUT fish then generally people try to keep levels at 4ppm.

When you do come to add fish. Add only a few at a time and smaller the better. Leave a couple of weeks in between before adding more fish.
 
Also I'm not sure if a misunderstood but just to clarify. If you are cycling WITH fish in the tank you need to keep ammonia below 0.25ppm if cycling WITHOUT fish then generally people try to keep levels at 4ppm.

When you do come to add fish. Add only a few at a time and smaller the better. Leave a couple of weeks in between before adding more fish.

Want to cycle WITHOUT fish :)
 
Ok. I would really try and get hold of pure ammonia. I struggled to get it myself so just cycled with fish. I tried fish food first but it didn't half make a mess of the tank. Also you will have to wait for the flakes to decompose and I'm not sure how long that would take.

If you do get ammonia. I would dose 1ppm but more often rather than 4ppm all at once. Things run more smoothly that way as the bacteria are not overwhelmed.
 
Ok thanks, I'll see if I can get hold of pure ammonia. If I can't, do I keep adding flakes keeping it at 4ppm until a Nitrite and Nitrate spike occurs?
 
If I was to do it I would just add a couple of teaspoons of flakes then wait a week to let the decomposition take hold then just keep adding more flakes every other day.

Personally I wouldn't even test for ammonia or nitrite for a couple of weeks. I would test for nitrates. When I had a nitrate reading I would then try and get ammo up to 4ppm then see how long this is taken to 0ppm including nitrite to 0ppm.

I guess people does 4ppm so that they build up a sufficient amount of bacteria incase anything was to go wrong.

Remember. Any organic compound that decomposes in the tank will produce ammonia. This includes overfeeding. Dead fish, dying plants. Be sure to remove all of these at the first instance.
 
Some folks use raw shrimp as an ammonia source. Can get the room smelly. If possible, if you put the source (flakes, shrimp) in a nylon bag or hosiery it will make cleanup much easier when cycling is done.
 
Hi again,

Went to the store today and asked if they had pure ammonia without detergents etc and they showed me this.

18466773239ff1c0bb74a289255d9f98aa4a55ef.jpg


This is the ingredients listed from a seller on ebay.

INGREDIENT NAME
Ammonium Hydroxide
9 – 10%
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
None

--------------------------------------------------
4.PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

Appearance: Liquid
Odour: Pungent
pH: 11.6
Boiling Point/Range: 1390°C
Flash Point: N/A
Flammability: N/A
Explosive Properties: N/A
Oxidising Properties: N/A
Vapour Pressure: 115mm/Hg @ 20°C
Relative Density: N/A
Solubility: In Water
Partition Coefficient N/A
Specific Gravity: 0.958 – 0.960
Vapour Density: N/A
Evaporation Rate: N/A

So is this ok to cycle with instead of creating a huge mess with the fish flakes?
 
That's an excellent tip! Why didn't I think of that!?

Even better...tie the shrimp/flake filled nylon bag to a string for easy retrieval. Lift out of the water and put in a cup. No mess plus you are not siphoning out decomposed shrimp chunks and moldy fish food with your siphon and into the same bucket you are most likely doing water changes in.
Btw I went with the pure ammonia route. Better control of ammonia dosing IMO.
 
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