Fishless Cycle Question

[uncgirl1]

I am doing my first fishless cycle on a 36 gallon bowfront. It is planted with about 14 plants. Two filters, Aquaclear 50 & 70. Bubble wand on high. Temp on 81. I am also using TSS. I'm only on day 6 and have a few questions. I added amnonia on day 1 to 4 ppm. Nothing on day 2. Day 3 ammonia was down to 1 ppm. Dosed back to 4 ppm. Day 4 ammonia was at 2 so I did nothing. Day 5 ammonia down to .25 so I tested nitrite and nitrate just for fun. No nitrite but maybe 5 nitrates. It wasn't yellow but had an orange tint. I dosed ammonia back to 4. Now on day 6 and ammonia is still 4 so no change. No nitrites and 10 nitrates. Does this sound like I'm on the right track? There are so many guides and they all are a little different! Also, I test at the same time every night so a full 24 hours. I guess I'm just trying to calm my nerves and have someone tell me I'm on the right track. I'm in no hurry and know this takes time and patience. I also had some filter sludge from my lfs that I added day 1 that I forgot to mention earlier. Thanks!

 

[DeeLee2013]

Hey there! Are you using a liquid test for your water parameters? If so, be sure to follow the nitrAte test instructions to the letter. I've found it is the easiest one to mess up.

I'm not sure you would be seeing nitrAtes if there aren't any nitrItes this early in the cycle, so I'm concerned it might be a false reading.

If you were cycled, your ammonia and nitrItes would be zero, and your nitrAtes would be measurable. Also, 24hrs after dosing ammonia to 4ppm, it would be back at zero if your beneficial bacteria were at full strength.

Just to be sure of your starting points, I would also test the water you're using for the tank before you condition it (ie: make sure the pre-conditioned water isn't skewing your readings).

Also, what is your pH?

Good luck!


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[uncgirl1]

Thanks for replying! I know it's not cycled. I just want to make sure I'm going in the right direction. I did a nitrate test on my tap water and it was yellow. So I feel confident that the test is right. I've read that with plants sometimes nitrites don't show up. Do you think that could have something to do with it?

I'm using the API master test kit. My ph is around 8. Hard to tell the colors sometimes.



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[ScotJudd]

You need a huge amount of plant for nitrate to be used up. Plants do help but average planting won't reduce nitrates to zero.


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[Linwood]

I think the descriptions of the cycle posted tend to be accurate but the emphasis on nitrates is a bit misplaced. While true that nitrates should be present, it's largely moot -- the practical definition is that ammonia added today will be converted through nitrites and (both) gone by tomorrow. If you have that consistently you're good.

I also think most instructions over-emphasize adding ammonia. Keeping it dosed up to 2-4ppm before nitrites appear is good (not that much each day, just enough to bring it up to that).

Once nitrites appear strongly just dose a bit of ammonia - just enough to keep the good ammonia-eating bacteria alive and healthy. Maybe enough for 0.5ppm every other day or so. Adding too much in this phase (where it is converted to nitrites very quickly) causes nitrites to rise far higher than needed.

The best thing you can do is be patient, and maybe skip every other day doing anything. The ammonia phase seems really slow, but the nitrite phase seems to take forever. Just set your expectations for a month or 45 days.

 

[TankinWithUs]

Good luck and keeps us up to date!!

 

[uncgirl1]

I'm 8 days in and happy to report that for the last 2 days I have dosed ammonia up to 3 ppm and 24 hours later I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 40 nitrates. This has been consistent for the last 2 days. I'm going to continue to do this for the next week just to be sure. I will do a massive water change Friday to lower nitrates and then add my first fish on Saturday provided all goes well this week!


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[TankinWithUs]

yessssss!!! Awesome!!!

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[Linwood]

I'm 8 days in and happy to report that for the last 2 days I have dosed ammonia up to 3 ppm and 24 hours later I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 40 nitrates.

That's impressive. I've never used TSS, but every tank I have cycled (un-seeded) took 30 days +/- 5, so maybe it gave you a massive head start.