Fishless Cycle for Axolotl

[Tomdb88]

My son wants a axolotl. I'm new to this and have done a bit of research and we are going for fishless cycle with Dr Tim's ammonia chloride. I dosed it to 2-3ppm 4 days ago levels of ammonia is still the same.
I'm going to wait for ammonia levels to drop to almost zero and nitrites go up then I'm going to keep ammonia at 2-3ppm daily until ammonia and nitrites go to zero in 24 hours then do a water change to bring nitrates down.

I have 95 litres in a 105 litre tank , fluval 107 canister filter , API master test kit , prime , Dr Tim's ammonia chloride , seacham stability (decided not to use)
My ph has stayed around 7.4-8.0

This is the plan am I doing it right?

[Aiken Drum]

That's a good plan.

You a 4 days into what could easily be 8 weeks of fishless cycling, so dont expect to see much progress for a while.

The best way to speed things up is to introduce a little filter media from an established filter into your filter, or squeeze out a sponge from an established filter into your water. Perhaps you have a friend who keeps fish who could let you have some? Another option is a bottled bacteria product like Seachem Stability. I would use that, it may help. Products like this are hit and miss whether they work but as you have it may as well use it. Dr Tims One and Only is the best of these products ive used.

[Tomdb88]

I was thinking about getting one and only. Would it be ok to add that Tomorrow? Or is it too late?
I visited the pet shop on Monday and told him what I did and he was under the impression my tank would be cycled by Saturday but everything I've read says it takes weeks so I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. Thanks for the advice

[Aiken Drum]

You can add these bacteria booster products anytime you want.

You have learned an important fishkeeping lesson early on. Fish store employees often know no more than you do and even when they do know more, their job is to get you to buy stuff.

[ColdKoi]

You may see signs of the cycle starting within a week but at the very least you’re looking at several weeks to fully establish a cycle

[Tomdb88]

Hi I put bacteria in and I wanted for ammonia to drop then I've been dose it to 2ppm every other day the ammonia is dropping in 24 hours but the nitrites went up to 2 ppm but has slowly dropped to 0.25 I have started to feed ammonia daily since Friday but nitrites are not moving. Are things still going ok?

[ColdKoi]

If you are still dosing ammonia, and the ammonia is dropping, then all is good. Are you seeing any nitrates? I assume there would be some if the nitrites spiked, then dropped

Home test kits aren’t exactly lab results so take those results with a grain of salt. But if you went from a strong indication (2ppm) to trace (.25ppm) the only way that happens is a water change or the bacteria has started processing it into nitrate

[Aiken Drum]

That sounds really positive.

If you are dosing 2ppm ammonia and 24 hours later you are seeing 0 ammonia and nitrite you are cycled.

It looks like your nitrite isnt quite dropping to 0. Test some bottled water and compare with your tank water test result. You know the bottled water will have no nitrite in it, so if they look the same your tank water will have no nitrite either.

[Tomdb88]

I tested nitrites before I put ammonia in and it was blue 0ppm then after the first lot of ammonia was gone the nitrites went up to solid purple 2.0ppm then it slowly went down to 0.25 I dosed ammonia 7 hours ago and it's gone already I put a heater in there at the start and haven't done any water changes but I've lost about 8 litres of water through condensation I think

[ColdKoi]

Evaporative loss is fine, it will not effect the test results as the water that evaporates is pure water and the impurities stay in the tank.

Pretty safe to say you can add the axolotl any time now if the ammonia drops that fast. Just remember to keep dosing ammonia until you do add the axolotl or you run the chance of starving the beneficial bacteria and they start to die off. Basically bad news, you’d be starting over again!

[Aiken Drum]

Do a big water change before adding livestock. Your nitrate will likely be quite high. Get it down to 10ppm if possible.

[Tomdb88]

I did ammonia, nitrites and nitrates test a hour and a half after feeding ammonia.
Everything I've read and you guys have said that nitrates will be sky high but it seems only to be 5-10ppm.
But on this Dr Tim's chart it says add fish then do a water change.FishlessCycling_prescription_recipe.pdf

Would I still need to do a water change?

Would I be ok to top it back up to level of water from before I started fishless cycle?

[Tomdb88]

[Aiken Drum]

It will take 30 minutes to change half the water, just do it.

If you have been adding 2ppm ammonia daily for days/weeks on end without water changes your nitrate should be sky high. Every 1ppm ammonia comes out at 3.6ppm nitrate. Even if you have only been adding ammonia for 1 week that should be around 50ppm nitrate.

Are you sure you have been dosing 2ppm? For your size tank thats around 100 drops of Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride.

Are you sure you are doing the nitrate test correctly? Gotta really shake the heck out of bottle #2.

[Tomdb88]

I started first dose 2 ppm ammonia then that took about a week it dropped to 0.25 ammonia then I dosed again then I was dosing every 2 days and now I'm dosing daily at the start I added 2.5ml then when it dropped I put 15 or 25 drops then I have been putting in 2.5ml every time

[Tomdb88]

I have only been adding ammonia daily since Friday before that it was Every other day for about 2 weeks and before that I just added it when it dropped

[Tomdb88]

Yeah I have 105 litre tank filled with 95 litre of water I calculated it to be 90 drops witch then I calculated to be around 2.5ml

[Aiken Drum]

Originally Posted by Tomdb88

I have only been adding ammonia daily since Friday before that it was Every other day for about 2 weeks and before that I just added it when it dropped

Thats still a lot of ammonia gone in there. I would expect higher nitrate, but if you are sure you did the tests correctly.

I would still do a water change before adding anything. There are other reasons to do them other than controlling nitrate.

[Tomdb88]

Ok thanks guys you've been great.

How much % water change should I do?

[Aiken Drum]

If you are confident you did the nitrate test correctly, a small amount, say 20 to 25%.

Ongoing, if your nitrate doesnt get higher than those levels, then fortnightly 20 to 25% water changes will be fine. If they creep up, then do them weekly. If they keep getting higher then increase the amount you change weekly.