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Fishy123

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Messages
57
It's been 4 weeks now of fishless cycling, and NOTHING. I originally dosed ammonia to 4ppm. I have never had to redose. Ammonia appears to have dropped to 2ppm, but I have 0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates....so I think the ammonia drop is due to having to add water from evaporation, so it's gotten diluted over the weeks, just my thought.....and yes, I add treated water.

My parents never had any of these problems doing it the old fashioned way, so I think I am going to do a super huge pwc, refill the tank, let it run a few days, and try a fish in cycle this time.
 
A fish in cycle can be done. But you will need to be able to to PWC every day without fail and sometimes twice a day. Also make sure you chose nothing but very hardy fish. Even the moderately sensitive fish won't survive the cycle.
Even with the toughest fish keep the Ammonia and the NitrItes below .25ppm, to avoid any permanent damage to your fish.
Also the fish in method can take up to 2 months to cycle. Which is a lot considering you'll be doing PWC every day of that 2 months.
Unless you have seed material.
 
Fishy123 said:
It's been 4 weeks now of fishless cycling, and NOTHING. I originally dosed ammonia to 4ppm. I have never had to redose. Ammonia appears to have dropped to 2ppm, but I have 0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates....so I think the ammonia drop is due to having to add water from evaporation, so it's gotten diluted over the weeks, just my thought.....and yes, I add treated water.

I doubt that your ammonia is evaporating with the water, but I imagine that I could be wrong.

What I think is more likely is, you do have nitrItes, but may have a faulty nitrIte test. Is it safe to assume you have the API Freshwater Master Test Kit? If so, what's the date on your nitrIte test, or any other test in the kit for that matter?

Fishy123 said:
My parents never had any of these problems doing it the old fashioned way, so I think I am going to do a super huge pwc, refill the tank, let it run a few days, and try a fish in cycle this time.

While this sounds like a good idea, all you're really doing is substituting one source of ammonia for another. A fish-in cycle isn't going to give you a better ammonia source, just a different one.
 
What I think is more likely is, you do have nitrItes, but may have a faulty nitrIte test. Is it safe to assume you have the API Freshwater Master Test Kit? If so, what's the date on your nitrIte test, or any other test in the kit for that matter?

Where can we find the date on API FW Test kit's?

Thanks,
 
I've been cycling for almost 4 weeks now and altho i have got rid of one lot of ammonia this took 3 weeks and now on my second lot still no Nitrites or Nitrates as of yesterday. I have just added an air pump and moved my filter to give alot more surface water movement as this is sugested as being better for the cycle. I know its frustrating I have a small child who kees asking where the fish are lol but its worth it for the fishies sake :)
 
It took me around 2 months to get nitrites on my first tank and almost 3 months to get fully cycled. It takes time. I would just be patient and like Wendi Dell said, you have to PWC everyday and test your water all the time. If you do a fish in cycle you need to keep the ammo levels under .25ppm, and nitrites need to be kept low once they show up as they are just as toxic if not more. A month is really not that long to not see nitrites. I know it FEELS like waiting on Christmas, but it really is worth it in the end, and once you do it one time, you have the established tank to seed any further tanks you want to add. In the same right, if you know someone with a cycled healthy tank, you can use some of their filter media or gravel to seed your tank and quick cycle it. Good luck. :)
 
I think its the lack of seeded material that makes it take longer but its all worth it.
 
Kawaipoon said:
Where can we find the date on API FW Test kit's?

Thanks,

It's the lot number on each bottle and the last 4 numbers are the month/year it was made (ie 0810=Aug, 2010). I've heard they're good for 3-5 years after date of mfg.
 
I feel your pain. I am at about week 3 with a fishless cycle and until today, no nitrites, or nitrates and no change in ammo. BUT I purchased an "active" seeded sponge filter from AngelsPlus. I just tested, 20 hours after putting the filter in, and I have nitrates and ammo is dropping. If you don't have access to seeded material from a local tank I'd suggest trying their filter. Before I went fishless, I had fish in the tank for a month because PetSmart didn't say anything about cycling. It was a nightmare, constant worrying about the fish, 1-2x daily water changes, 1-2x daily water tests, and after a month the fish all died anyway (and even with the fish in, I never showed any nitrites or nitrates). I'd urge you to keep trying fishless because fish-in cycling is a lot of stress on you and the fish. Good luck!
 
James_in_MN said:
While this sounds like a good idea, all you're really doing is substituting one source of ammonia for another. A fish-in cycle isn't going to give you a better ammonia source, just a different one.

I think this is a great point. While you would have fish to look at if you did a fish-in cycle, it would only result in a much higher work load for you having to do 50% pwc's to keep the ammonia in reasonably safe levels. And if it's taking some time to get kicked off with a fishless cycle...think how many pwc's would be in your future if you had fish.

I also agree with Mr. Limpet that if you did go this route...heavily planting your tank is a huge help.

Personally, I'd stick with what you're doing and try to focus on finding seeding material to kick things into gear. Theres some info floating around on the boards right now about a company that sells seeded filter sponges.
 
i got a 150 gallon that was leaking, re0seal the bottom,
filled it up with water, left the filter going for 12-18 hrs with the gravel and stuff in it already and that was pretty much my fishless cycle lol, my fishes are fine good and happy, never drain the water to change it and thy are fine...

so sometimes having all these extra chemicals and stuff trying to make it perfect wont work and sometime it do, for me i didnt need no chemical at all nor did i check the levels is been almost 3 weeks now and they are all fine :)

plus keep this in mind my 150 is for fresh water salt water might be a diffrent story
 
rexless said:
i got a 150 gallon that was leaking, re0seal the bottom,
filled it up with water, left the filter going for 12-18 hrs with the gravel and stuff in it already and that was pretty much my fishless cycle lol, my fishes are fine good and happy, never drain the water to change it and thy are fine...

so sometimes having all these extra chemicals and stuff trying to make it perfect wont work and sometime it do, for me i didnt need no chemical at all nor did i check the levels is been almost 3 weeks now and they are all fine :)

If you were to test ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte levels, I think that you'd find that your tank isn't as fine as you may think it is.

Three weeks in, I would wager that, depending on how stocked your tank is, you have 2+ppm ammonia and possibly a trace or more of nitrItes. If you continue to have your fish sitting in that, it will either kill them or drastically shorten their life span.

Hopefully you have a API Freshwater Master Test Kit? Test strips are unreliable, so I wouldn't recommend that you try to use them.
 
I feel your pain. I am at about week 3 with a fishless cycle and until today, no nitrites, or nitrates and no change in ammo. BUT I purchased an "active" seeded sponge filter from AngelsPlus. I just tested, 20 hours after putting the filter in, and I have nitrates and ammo is dropping. If you don't have access to seeded material from a local tank I'd suggest trying their filter. Before I went fishless, I had fish in the tank for a month because PetSmart didn't say anything about cycling. It was a nightmare, constant worrying about the fish, 1-2x daily water changes, 1-2x daily water tests, and after a month the fish all died anyway (and even with the fish in, I never showed any nitrites or nitrates). I'd urge you to keep trying fishless because fish-in cycling is a lot of stress on you and the fish. Good luck!

I tested those filters last year and they had a great success rate. Great product and good people to do business with. If you look on their description page for the active filters I think they link back to where I posted the tests on another forum. I tested it with a brand new tank and a just shipped in group of breeding electric blue rams, how's that for gambling?
 
okay guys, I'm going to give this one more try. Kind of starting over. I took the carbon out of my filter, and will add an additional sponge or more ceramics this weekend. I vacuumed up some stuff someone told me to try (dried enzyme stuff) was all over the bottom of tank. Added back some dechlored water, and I'll wait again.

Mr. Limpet my husband had a bad experience once with hitchikers on plants, and doesn't want to intoduce them just yet, so we are trying this again, and if it fails again, I WILL buy what you recommended whether he likes it or not! :)
 
okay guys, I'm going to give this one more try. Kind of starting over. I took the carbon out of my filter, and will add an additional sponge or more ceramics this weekend. I vacuumed up some stuff someone told me to try (dried enzyme stuff) was all over the bottom of tank. Added back some dechlored water, and I'll wait again.

Mr. Limpet my husband had a bad experience once with hitchikers on plants, and doesn't want to intoduce them just yet, so we are trying this again, and if it fails again, I WILL buy what you recommended whether he likes it or not! :)

Yep, hitchhikers are always a possibility. But IMO dealing with a few snails that won't have food during the cycle anyway, is a small price to pay for not waiting 2-3 (more?) months for the cycle to get done.
 
Plants(as I have discovered) are a definite plus on water quality. My 10 gallon is fully cycled(did it fishless), and it will drive you nuts with the waiting. Now, with some plants, all the tests are coming back 0.
 
straick said:
Plants(as I have discovered) are a definite plus on water quality. My 10 gallon is fully cycled(did it fishless), and it will drive you nuts with the waiting. Now, with some plants, all the tests are coming back 0.

If all of your tests are coming back 0 ppm, you may want to check them again, especially nitrAtes. A cycled tank should have 0 ppm ammonia / nitrItes and no less than trace amounts of nitrAtes; typically cycled tanks are between 10-20 ppm nitrAtes with regular water changes.

I have a 10g tank with a low bioload (3 pygmy gouramis, 4 rasbora espei, some RCS, and 4 amano shrimp) with a ton of java moss and two java ferns, and the lowest my nitrAtes have been is 5 ppm prior to a water change.
 
If all of your tests are coming back 0 ppm, you may want to check them again, especially nitrAtes. A cycled tank should have 0 ppm ammonia / nitrItes and no less than trace amounts of nitrAtes; typically cycled tanks are between 10-20 ppm nitrAtes with regular water changes.

I have a 10g tank with a low bioload (3 pygmy gouramis, 4 rasbora espei, some RCS, and 4 amano shrimp) with a ton of java moss and two java ferns, and the lowest my nitrAtes have been is 5 ppm prior to a water change.

+1 You should see some no3.

But that API test is easy to mess up James, so there might be some no3 even if the test says 0.
 
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