Fishless Cycling - Day 19 - What's my next move?

[JackiFaye]

Day 19 of fishless cycling. My reading is:

o pH – 7.6
o Ammonia – 4.0 possibly 8.0 ppm?
o Nitrite – 0 ppm
o Nitrate – 0 ppm

What’s my next move? Been using API stress coat and quick start. Feeding the tank fish food daily. 20 gallon. TIA!!

EDIT:

ALSO, this is a tank I've set up at work. I take care of mentally/physically disabled individuals. I put one of the ladies in charge of feeding the tank everyday, and she ended up putting half a jar of fish food in the tank in about ten days. We did two 50% water changes and did a gravel vacuum twice to remedy that, and now these are my numbers four days after the last 50% water change.

 

[Aiken Drum]

First off, dont put any more fish food in the tank.

Your cycle hasnt even started yet, so adding more food is simply adding more and more ammonia into the water, which isnt being cycled out, and has now built up to a point where the levels of ammonia is maybe too toxic for the bacteria you are trying to grow.

After that i would really have a think about how you want to cycle the tank. We get a lot of traffic on this site with people having trouble cycling tanks and by far most of them have issues doing fishless cycles. They dont understand how to do it, or expect it to run to a timetable etc. Everytime someone is having trouble doing a fishless cycle it gets resolved by properly doing a fish in cycle. Is there a reason for the fishless cycle?

If you do want to continue with fishless, ditch the fishfood. Its very difficult to know how much to feed to put in the correct amount of ammonia, uneaten food goes mouldy etc. Use an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product like Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride so you can accurately dose the desired amount of ammonia needed. Expect it to take another 2, possibly 3 months, to get the tank cycled this way.

Either fishless or fish in i can post a process that works and is safe if you let us know which way you prefer.

 

[JackiFaye]

Thank you for your feedback. All my research has said fishless cycling is the way to go, but if you think maybe fish in cycling is better, I’d definitely like to hear about it. Would it be possible for you to explain both ways? Also, this is for a 20-gallon tank, so any fish suggestions with a fish in cycle would be much appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Im not saying one or the other is the way to go. Pros and cons with both.

I personally prefer fishless cycling, i know how to do it, im not going in with an expectation of it being complete to a timescale, importantly i have some big filters that i can take a little filter media from to speed things up in a new tank. For example i just completed a fishless cycle in a 15g tank in 3 weeks, compared to 8 weeks if doing it from scratch.

I will say that a fish in cycle gets you where you want to go more consistently.

Ill post my pros and cons list.

 

[Aiken Drum]

To cycle a tank you need to grow denitrifying bacteria to consume ammonia and nitrite that your tank produces. The bacteria needs an ammonia source to grow colonies sufficient in size to consume all the ammonia and resultant nitrite and turn it into nitrate which typically you remove through your regular water changes.

Two commonly used methods to cycle a tank are called a “fish in” cycle and a “fishless” cycle.

A fish in cycle uses fish waste as an ammonia source and regular water changes are undertaken to ensure that water parameters are maintained at relatively non toxic levels. This has been the go to method to cycle a tank for many years, and it commonly is the way new fish keepers cycle a tank when they have bought fish with no knowledge that a tank needs cycling and how to go about it.

Pros.

You get to keep “some” fish pretty much on day 1 of setting up your tank.

More consistently gets you through your cycle.

Only real choice if you already have fish.

If done simply, eg stock lightly, add fish slowly, you can fishless cycle safely without testing. Although testing your water while cycling is still a good idea.

Cons.

Lots of water changes, especially if you are doing a fish in cycle with a fully stocked tank.

Although you should be doing plenty of water changes to maintain relatively safe water, your fish will be living in waste which isn’t ideal.

Can take a long time (several months) to go from an empty tank to fully stocked if done safely.

A fishless cycle uses an ammonia source to replicate the fish waste that a tank of fish would produce. This ammonia source can be pure ammonia, an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product like Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride, a cocktail shrimp or fish food.

Pros.

You cycle the tank before adding fish, therefore they shouldn’t be exposed to their own waste.

No need for regular water changes while your tank cycles.

Can be quicker to go from an empty tank to fully stocked.

Cons.

Needs patience, you will be looking at an empty tank for several weeks.

More technical approach requiring dosing ammonia and will need to be done alongside regular testing.

Less consistently successful than fish in cycles, especially with new fish keepers who don’t understand the process and expect it to run to a timetable.

 

[Danio8]

If you switch to doing a fish in cycle, some fish I have had success with are feeder goldfish and Zebra Danios. I used 4 feeder goldfish to cycle my 20 gallon.