Fishless Cycle - Advise Please!

[guppy grandma]

Hi, doing a fishless cycle on my friend's tank. Started with loads of medium a week ago, for 2 days now ammonia has dropped to 0 within 24 hrs, PH is 7.6(normal for our water), but Nitrite has stayed at 1 and Nitrate 80. Should we continue feeding ammonia on a daily basis. Any advise would be appreciated

 

[librarygirl]

Hi! Yes, you definitely want to keep dosing ammonia every 24 hours if it drops below .5. Your nitrite may rise or it may drop; with enough seeded media it's common for nitrites to not show at all or to show slightly and then drop faster. It's too early to tell, so keep dosing and see what the nitrites do. Good luck!

 

[guppy grandma]

Thank you

 

[ejaramillo01]

Hi, doing a fishless cycle on my friend's tank. Started with loads of medium a week ago, for 2 days now ammonia has dropped to 0 within 24 hrs, PH is 7.6(normal for our water), but Nitrite has stayed at 1 and Nitrate 80. Should we continue feeding ammonia on a daily basis. Any advise would be appreciated

If after three more days the nitrite is still high, my opinion is to do 50% PWC, some times the PWC speed up the Nitrite cycle. Don't know why but works!
Good luck

 

[guppy grandma]

Thank you to both of you. Tonights parameters were good, nitrite down to 0 and nitrate 10, so its big water change and the fish can re home on Tuesday....

 

[librarygirl]

Thank you to both of you. Tonights parameters were good, nitrite down to 0 and nitrate 10, so its big water change and the fish can re home on Tuesday....

Sounds good! You must have used a lot of good media! If you can test it for a couple of more nights with ammonia and make sure nitrites stay at 0 just to be safe, it might be a good idea. Then a large water change the night before, don't dose ammonia and turn down the heat (you probably know the drill lol). Good job!

 

[guppy grandma]

Hi, yes I take grundgy noodles out of my drip filter and put them in the fishless cycle filter, seems to work. I have started putting extra noodles in the corner of my filters so new people can have them. Fish keeping is really taking off again in my part of UK.