Fishless Cycle--Done

[SparKy697]

We're all watching

Everybody wants to see your tank with fish i it!

 

[neilanh]

Yeah, by the way, where's today's update. It should include moonlight pics, right?

 

[Marconis]

Day 5.

Same.As.Yesterday....

Sorry, no moonlights. Idk why but my dad's camera just can't capture a good moonlight pic. It's very dark and you can barely see any blue. So, I am goign to try and borrow a friends camera.

 

[neilanh]

Had that problem. Had to borrow a friends digital SLR. Set the fstop to wide open, shutter speed to 1sec, and use a tripod (actually I just set the camera on the kitchen table and used the timer)

By the way, have you (or are you planning to) added any pH down to supply phosphates? I'm thinking that might have been my problem.

 

[Marconis]

Would some fish food work?

 

[neilanh]

That's the theory, that most fish foods contain enough phosphates to do this (in addition to the other trace elements of stuff you want too).

 

[Marconis]

Day 6

Ammonia- 2 (I dosed a tiny bit in last night)
Nitrite- 0
pH- 7.2


Should I add more ammonia to get it back around 3 or 4? I think I should've had some nitrites by now.

 

[neilanh]

I think at this stage, I would push it up to 4-5ppm personally until you start to see NO2. I'd also measure the NO3 just to give you a basepoint of where you are on those. It was day 6 that I started to see NO2 as well, but I heavily seeded, I don't know how much buildup you would've gotten from having those fish in for a week to get you a jumpstart.

 

[Marconis]

Day 7

Ammonia-2
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
pH-7.2

I can say this a million times..."Same as yesterday."

 

[SparKy697]

It took me about a week until I started seeing life in my 29G. I had no seed material to start with and thought it would never get going.

 

[Marconis]

I forget, did you do your entire cycle without seeding?

 

[neilanh]

I'm surprised you didn't see anything today. I can feel it, tomorrow is the day.

Just to double check, have you raised the temp in your tank? Aerator(s) on full and/or water level lowered so you get splash from your HOB? Added fish food and/or pH down yet? If not, I'd go ahead and do these things, might speed things up a bit.

 

[Marconis]

Temp is 84 in morning (due to cold air at night) then for rest of day it's 85-86. My room is the only room in the house without heat so it takes very long to heat the water up, so going any higher I think would be too difficult.

My water level is lowered, and I have added fish food.

 

[neilanh]

84-86 is right where you want it. I should've known you were on top of things.

But did you give them a pep talk yet?

I run my heater on the highest setting, which gives me 85-87 degrees, and the heater stays on pretty much of the time.

 

[Marconis]

Lol, yes, try about 16 pep talks.

My heater is on almost all the time to keep the temp at that degrees. When it goes off, it only goes off for about 3-5 minutes.

I am really hoping I see some nitrites tomorrow.

 

[Marconis]

Ammonia-2
Nitrite- 0??? I am seeing a purplish tint, but it could be my mind playing tricks on me.
Nitrate-0

 

[neilanh]

haha been there, that's when I called in the wife.

You'll see it tomorrow I bet.... Of course, I said that yesterday

 

[Marconis]

Yup lol, time will tell.

I have to sleep in the den until my cycle is done because I can't take the loud water sound anymore from my low water level.

I am curious to know how long a cycle took for those who didn't seed. My parents are going away on vacation until next Monday so my aunt is going to watch me and I doubt I'll be taking any trips to the store to get cycled substrate and what not (I am also pretty lazy ). My dad said that if I had fish in the tank by the time he got home he'd give me $20. Yeahh right lol.

 

[neilanh]

Do they have to be real fish? Did he specify? You could get an ornament of some kind and put in there.

 

[Marconis]

Hahahaha, good idea.