AdamHorton
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I've done a fishless cycle a couple of times before with some success, and I've been doing a fishless cycle on a 55G Freshwater tank for a few weeks now.
Here's my process, each day I perform whatever activity I do sometime in the evening:
DAY 1:
Add ammonia until 2 ppm. This was a little more than 5 mL.
Over the course of the next few nights I become sort of re-acquainted with my rough guideline for this bottle of ammonia that 1 mL of it will give 2 ppm to about 10G of water.
Each day after, measure the ammonia, and add ammonia (if needed) to bring the level back to about 2 ppm.
ABOUT 1-2 WEEKS IN:
Once I see my first zero ammonia reading, measure nitrites as well (it's a nonzero reading). Add 5 mL of ammonia to bring it back to 2 ppm.
NEXT DAY:
Measure ammonia and nitrites. Ammonia is zero, nitrites are growing.
At this point, my ammonia processing bacteria have been established.
NEXT DAY:
I don't measure ammonia every night anymore, I just measure nitrites and then add 5 mL of ammonia each night.
ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS LATER:
After seeing the nitrite readings to up for a while, and then decrease for about a week, I finally see my first zero nitrite reading. I check the ammonia level and it's also zero.
At this point, I'm thinking my cycle is done! Just to make sure, I add 5 mL of ammonia, and...
NEXT DAY:
Zero ammonia and nitrite readings, nitrates are maybe 5 ppm-ish, if that.
Awesome. I start making arrangements to pick up fish that weekend. Before adding them to the tank, I'll do a 100% water change. I have a few more days, so I figure I'll try and increase the bacteria population a little if I can. I've heard some people fishless cycle using up to 4 ppm of ammonia instead of 2.
THAT NIGHT:
I add 7 mL of ammonia to the tank instead of just 5 mL.
NEXT DAY:
The ammonia readings have barely dropped! Nitrites are zero, probably because whatever small of ammonia got converted to nitrite was taken care of. I don't add any ammonia.
THE NEXT FEW DAYS (about 4 I think):
I take ammonia and nitrite readings every night, without adding any ammonia. The nitrites stayed at zero, and the ammonia slowly drops a little each day until it gets down to zero. I add in 5 mL of ammonia that night, and I see the same deal over the next few days: nitrites are zero and ammonia drops very slowly down to zero over several days.
That's where I'm at right now. Did I do something that could have destroyed my ammonia-decomposing bacteria population? I'm not sure, I haven't touched the tank all that much since I started cycling it...
I think I know the correct course action: measure every night, then add enough ammonia to bring it up to 2 ppm, then wait until I see zero readings for both ammonia and nitrite.
I just want to know if I did anything wrong so I can prevent this from happening again.
Anything else relevant I can think of: I'm using an AC110 filter, a 75W heater, and my substrate is 40 lbs of Tahitian Moon Sand. The bags said it was live, but of course I know better than to believe that...
Here's my process, each day I perform whatever activity I do sometime in the evening:
DAY 1:
Add ammonia until 2 ppm. This was a little more than 5 mL.
Over the course of the next few nights I become sort of re-acquainted with my rough guideline for this bottle of ammonia that 1 mL of it will give 2 ppm to about 10G of water.
Each day after, measure the ammonia, and add ammonia (if needed) to bring the level back to about 2 ppm.
ABOUT 1-2 WEEKS IN:
Once I see my first zero ammonia reading, measure nitrites as well (it's a nonzero reading). Add 5 mL of ammonia to bring it back to 2 ppm.
NEXT DAY:
Measure ammonia and nitrites. Ammonia is zero, nitrites are growing.
At this point, my ammonia processing bacteria have been established.
NEXT DAY:
I don't measure ammonia every night anymore, I just measure nitrites and then add 5 mL of ammonia each night.
ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS LATER:
After seeing the nitrite readings to up for a while, and then decrease for about a week, I finally see my first zero nitrite reading. I check the ammonia level and it's also zero.
At this point, I'm thinking my cycle is done! Just to make sure, I add 5 mL of ammonia, and...
NEXT DAY:
Zero ammonia and nitrite readings, nitrates are maybe 5 ppm-ish, if that.
Awesome. I start making arrangements to pick up fish that weekend. Before adding them to the tank, I'll do a 100% water change. I have a few more days, so I figure I'll try and increase the bacteria population a little if I can. I've heard some people fishless cycle using up to 4 ppm of ammonia instead of 2.
THAT NIGHT:
I add 7 mL of ammonia to the tank instead of just 5 mL.
NEXT DAY:
The ammonia readings have barely dropped! Nitrites are zero, probably because whatever small of ammonia got converted to nitrite was taken care of. I don't add any ammonia.
THE NEXT FEW DAYS (about 4 I think):
I take ammonia and nitrite readings every night, without adding any ammonia. The nitrites stayed at zero, and the ammonia slowly drops a little each day until it gets down to zero. I add in 5 mL of ammonia that night, and I see the same deal over the next few days: nitrites are zero and ammonia drops very slowly down to zero over several days.
That's where I'm at right now. Did I do something that could have destroyed my ammonia-decomposing bacteria population? I'm not sure, I haven't touched the tank all that much since I started cycling it...
I think I know the correct course action: measure every night, then add enough ammonia to bring it up to 2 ppm, then wait until I see zero readings for both ammonia and nitrite.
I just want to know if I did anything wrong so I can prevent this from happening again.
Anything else relevant I can think of: I'm using an AC110 filter, a 75W heater, and my substrate is 40 lbs of Tahitian Moon Sand. The bags said it was live, but of course I know better than to believe that...
