My first fishless cycling experience

[Sahabo]

So I've been starting up a new 10 gallon and this time, I'm doing it right!

I set up the tank on Sunday, water, heater, gravel, sponge filter (flow to max). Squeezed the sponge filter from my established 5 gallon near the new sponge filter in the 10 gallon. Added enough pure ammonia to get a 5ppm reading. Started researching ideas for a hardscape and plants

Monday: ammonia = 5ppm, nitrItes = 0ppm
Tuesday: ammonia = 3, nitrItes = 0
Wednesday (today): ammonia = 1, nitrItes = .25

YEAY! It's working! The water is starting to look a bit cloudy but I think that's normal, right?

Do I wait until the ammonia reading reaches 0 to add more pure ammonia?

 

[rich311k]

Keep bumping it back up to 2-3ppm. You already have nitrites you are going quick.

 

[Mordechaj]

you know, up untill i started watching international forum, i didn't even know there was cycling that was not fishless. o.0

it really confused me when i saw something like: fishless cycling works!
it looked like: red cherry shrimps are red! or serious cat is serious

EDIT: cycling in croatia means: set up a tank (substrate, gravel, filter, heater, plants, lights), and leave it be for 2 weeks, 10 days min. add small amount of fish food every few days, and simply wait. when tests are ok add just a few fish at a time, and it's all good.

fish cycling mostly looks like: HALP! i've seen kjut fishez at lcl pet stoor, and we took 10 gal tank for 10 komets, 5 plecho, 3 barbs and 3 angels. we put fish in tank full of tap water and they started dying in a few days(hours, ...)

mostly there's no between. either you go nice and slow, or you torture and poison your fish.

can someone explain me human fish cycling? (not trolling here, i've really never heard of fish cycling before)

 

[Sahabo]

you know, up untill i started watching international forum, i didn't even know there was cycling that was not fishless. o.0

it really confused me when i saw something like: fishless cycling works!
it looked like: red cherry shrimps are red! or serious cat is serious

EDIT: cycling in croatia means: set up a tank (substrate, gravel, filter, heater, plants, lights), and leave it be for 2 weeks, 10 days min. add small amount of fish food every few days, and simply wait. when tests are ok add just a few fish at a time, and it's all good.

fish cycling mostly looks like: HALP! i've seen kjut fishez at lcl pet stoor, and we took 10 gal tank for 10 komets, 5 plecho, 3 barbs and 3 angels. we put fish in tank full of tap water and they started dying in a few days(hours, ...)

mostly there's no between. either you go nice and slow, or you torture and poison your fish.

can someone explain me human fish cycling? (not trolling here, i've really never heard of fish cycling before)

Well here in the US, most people who are new to the aquarium hobby who know nothing about fish generally think that the people who sell fish know something about fish. And many if not most of those fish stores (especially the big chain stores) only care about selling as many fish as they can...they don't seem to know or care about fishless cycling. They hire teenage kids and tell them to sell fish. It's not until later than many new fish owners realize that the people at the fish stores are clueless.

Fish-in cycling is the same only you use the fish you have and their waste as the source of ammonia. And it takes much longer because you have to do lots of water changes to keep the ammonia levels under .5ppm so your fish don't die. Many people I've talked to in the fish stores say that fish can survive the cycling process just fine; they don't seem to realize they are recommending torture to fish. Most of us on this site do not think that fish-in cycling is humane...but it happens. There is just not enough public information about the hobby.

 

[Purrbox]

can someone explain me human fish cycling? (not trolling here, i've really never heard of fish cycling before)

If you have a really large aquarium and stock it extremely slowly, the amounts of ammonia and nitrite would be so low as to be nearly undetectable. Another method is to plant heavily, let the plants get established for a few weeks, and then stock extremely slowly. The levels of Ammonia and Nitrite should be undetectabe if done right.

 

[Sahabo]

true Joy, the methods you mentioned are more humane.

 

[Mordechaj]

Well here in the US, most people who are new to the aquarium hobby who know nothing about fish generally think that the people who sell fish know something about fish. And many if not most of those fish stores (especially the big chain stores) only care about selling as many fish as they can...they don't seem to know or care about fishless cycling. They hire teenage kids and tell them to sell fish. It's not until later than many new fish owners realize that the people at the fish stores are clueless.

oh don't get me wrong. the situation is about the same here (or even worse), but mostly those uneducated "aquarists" never bother to come looking of online help, so they never get a chance to learn what they did wrong.
those that come to forums are either already aquarists, or they come to ask for advice before they decide on what tank to buy.


but yes, i understand that if you have really large tank and just a few fish they wouldn't be bothered by ammonia.

 

[Sahabo]

Ok so my ammonia has been at 2ppm for about 2 days now without adding more pure ammonia to the tank. Nitrites has been steady at .25ppm. Should I add more pure ammonia or leave it until it goes below 1ppm?

 

[Lager]

I would just wait.

 

[Sum22]

You could also squeeze the 5g filter into the tank again. It might help pick things up since your cycle seems to be stalling a bit. Try adding a couple flakes of fish food too.

 

[Alaris]

You could also squeeze the 5g filter into the tank again. It might help pick things up since your cycle seems to be stalling a bit. Try adding a couple flakes of fish food too.

It's only been a week! Cycle doesn't stall within the first week.

Keep it at 2ppm. Adding more ammonia just takes longer for the bacteria to catch up. You'll get your nitrIte spike. It took my tank a few days to spike after nitrItes showed. You might also have the other bacteria that eats nitrItes which could be why you haven't seen a high level of them.

 

[Sum22]

Actually, it can stall in the first week, especially when it was seeded from another tank and nitrites appeared within two days. It might be a different story if there was not any seed material added to the new tank.

Plus, it isn't going to hurt the cycle by adding more squeezings from the established 5g tank.

 

[Sahabo]

Alright. So my ammonia finally dropped to zero, the nitrite spiked and then dropped to zero. But then my ammonia went back up slightly and the nitrite stayed at zero. What's up with that? Currently ammonia is at 0.25ppm

 

[RJRofFL]

Forgive me for jumping in here, but you do need to keep feeding ammonia. The "cycle" is dependant upon ammonia as "food" for the nitrofying bacteria. Without ammonia, the bacteria will die.
Once you see NitrItes, you should cut your dosage in half, but continue to add daily.
After a while you will find it harder to maintain levels of ammonia as NittItes spike and NitrAtes rise. Once you are able to dose ammonia, and test it at zero within 24 hours, then you can consider the tank cycled.
Then, after a large 80% WC to rid the NitrAtes, you can add fish.

I hope this made some sense.

A cycle is a circle and will continue as long as fed with ammonia. Once the initial cycle is completed, the fish will provide the ammonia from then on. You tank will always be cycling.

Bob

 

[Sahabo]

Aha...I see my error now. I did keep adding ammonia, but I did not cut the dosage in half.

On a side note, when the cycle is finished, there will only be one betta added to it. Will the good bacteria adjust for the small bioload?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Will the good bacteria adjust for the small bioload?

Yes, if you have been dosing ammonia heavily then some/much of the bacteria will die off leaving only the amount needed to take care of the Betta's waste

 

[Purrbox]

Aha...I see my error now. I did keep adding ammonia, but I did not cut the dosage in half.

On a side note, when the cycle is finished, there will only be one betta added to it. Will the good bacteria adjust for the small bioload?

Not so much an error, just a slightly different method. Both work fine.

It's not at all uncommon to see some slightly odd test results right at the end of the cycle. This is why it is best to wait until you have 2-3 days in a row with 0 Ammonia and Nitrites with rising Nitrates before adding fish. Sometimes doing a largish water change will help to get the Ammonia and Nitrite readings back in line a little faster.

Since the Betta has a very small bioload compared to the amount of ammonia that you've been dosing, the extra beneficial bacteria will simply die off over a few days. You'll be left with just the amount necessary for the Betta.

 

[Sahabo]

thanks everyone!

 

[Sahabo]

ok so last night I cut the ammonia dosage in half, and this evening the ammonia is even higher: 0.50ppm. Nitrites still at 0 and nitrates are at 0; I think that's because I added some plants a week ago (which was a bad idea because I'm getting algae now). perhaps a pwc is in order?

 

[Sahabo]

bump!