FISHLESS CYCLE - Am i on course or do i need to intervene?

[towno81]

Hello everyone, just hoping for a little advice. I am "FISHLESS CYCLING" a new Juwel Vision 180, which i started on 23rd Dec. I attached my water test figures since 1st Jan. The reason i am curious is because my filter is demolishing Ammonia to zero within hours which is great, but my nitrites seem to be staying high (too high to add fish at least). The nitrates have taken 2 weeks to get to 100ppm and i did a 80% water change when they reached that level. The live plants are going great guns with all nitrites/trates which is a bonus but just want to know if i should do anything to help the nitrite eating bacteria along or just sit tight and keep going as i am. I have put a large piece of bogwood and half the filter media from my established 60l tank in over the past 2 days to help.
My first post so many thanks in advance for any help.
Mark

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[Caliban07]

I would just stop adding ammonia now. Let the nitrites come down naturally.

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[towno81]

Oh ok thanks. I was only adding it as i didnt want the Ammonia chomping bacteria to die. How long can they survive without "food" for?

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[Caliban07]

Oh ok thanks. I was only adding it as i didnt want the Ammonia chomping bacteria to die. How long can they survive without "food" for?

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Studies show quite a while. Months in fact. Don't worry about them. When you get nitrites to come down to 0 you can dose 4ppm for good measure to see if both come down within 24 hours. Then it's just a case of removing nitrates down to around 5-10ppm then you are ready.

 

[threnjen]

I figure a second opinion doesn't hurt, and my second opinion is just to agree with Caliban entirely
Cycle is looking great!

 

[molliwopp]

I would still feed ammonia at a lower level and preform a water change if youre worried about the increased nitrites. What are the parameters of your tap water?

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[The Trooper]

I would do the following.

Continue dosing with 1ppm ammonia until the nitrites disappear.

Once no nitrites does with 3-4ppm ammonia and test 24hr later to see if the ammonia and nitrites have cleared.

If they have 90% w/c then stock.

 

[M8D]

I've read you should keep ammonia topped off at about 4ppm. With no fish in there, there is nothing to worry about. Once the bacteria 'get strong enough', as you could say, they'll be able to eat through 4ppm of ammonia and all those nitrites within 24hrs. You don't have to worry about overwhelming the bacteria. Let the ammonia drop down to 1ppm and then dose it back up to 4ppm. Let it drop, redose, let it drop, redose. Rinse repeat until both ammonia and nitrites reach 0 in 24hrs. Then you can do a large waterchange (or 2) to get the Nitrates down to <20ppm

 

[towno81]

The water comes out the tap at about 7.8ph and is a hard water area. Havent checked for exact hardness but i have never had any buffering problems, it's only my kettle that doesnt like my water

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[molliwopp]

I have to say M8D has the same method as all my tanks were cycled at. But depending on your parameters at resisting a ph drop it could create more water changes for you. Overkill is better than under but i wouldnt risk the nitrites becoming exceedingly high but i would continue to dose ammonia at a decent level.

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[towno81]

The ammonia goes from 5ppm to nil in under 24hrs so those bacteria are very efficient. Just got to be patient for the other bacteria i guess. The nitrates seem to go up and down and took a long time to get to 100ppm despite the dosing, which i assume is a good thing, is that because my plants are consuming the nitrates as i dont do anything else to reduce it?

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[molliwopp]

No plants would touch a reading of 100ppm. Didnt you say you did a water change to bring them down?

Fresh water will only help, me personally i would consider doing a nice large water change for some freshly buffed water and add more ammonia. This wont effect your bacteria and will only aid the growth of the nitrite bacteria.

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[towno81]

No i wasnt saying the plants will bring it down instead of water changes, i just noticed that the nitrates were fluctuating up and down (unfortunately this is before i started recording the figures). I did a 90% change a few days ago and the nitrates are still pretty low at around 10ppm so will keep topping up with ammonia and wait for the nitrites to disappear. Thanks for all the advice, i'll give an update in a few days to keep you posted.
Cheers

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[Fishperson]

I agree with caliban and threnjen that you should not add any more ammonia for a while. If it makes you feel better, dosing to 1 ppm won't hurt but it isn't necessary. You definitely don't want to dose up to 4 ppm, because that will just keep raising nitrites. You don't want to do that, it will just take longer. I would add fish food every now in then because of nutrients in it that the bacteria need (don't really know much about it but that's what threnjen said lol).

 

[towno81]

Ok peeps, less than 48hrs after i last added Ammonia to approx 2ppm (i compromised on both opinions), Ammonia AND Nitrites are at 0ppm. Have dosed to 4ppm Ammonia now and will see if it's all back to zero again tomorrow evening. Cheers for the help so far, i shall keep you posted.

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[towno81]

So close...yet soooo far
Ammonia completely gone but Nitrates still at 2.0ppm. More patience required i suppose

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[Rivers2k]

or you could do a water change and then add a few fish. oh no he didn't!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

 

[molliwopp]

Dont give in now! Youre almost there.
Do a water change and dose ammonia again. Another week and youll have finished your fishless and youll feel better for it! and youll earn respect from me at the same time!
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[towno81]

Dont worry i'll stick with the fishless method. Do i still need to do a water change even though the nitrates are nowhere near 100ppm (50ppm ish)?

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[towno81]

Latest, everything at zero, 9ml Ammonia added to bump it to apprpx 5ppm, will see what it's at tomorrow night. Plants definitely consuming Nitrate, they've trebled in size in 3 weeks!!

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