N00B

[Ansomnia7]

I have recently acquired a 50gallon tank which has been running for a week. I started fishless cycling yesterday by adding ammonia. I put 70ml of ammonia and barely changed the nitrite reading. There is a dearth of dosing information. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Mebbid]

That sounds like waaay too much ammonia to add. I would start off with a 50% water change and then get your ammonia tested. Try to keep it at 4ppm. What are you using for your test kit?

The reason that your nitrites barely changed is because the bacteria that consumes ammonia and converts it into nitrite needs to grow. Over time you will notice your ammonia levels dropping faster and faster while the nitrite levels start to spike. Then eventually your nitrite levels will drop while your nitrate levels start to skyrocket.

Take a look at this link for a little more detailed explanation of what's going on.


http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[Fishperson]

What mebbid said ^^^ explains it perfectly.

 

[Ansomnia7]

Thanks for the reply! I came to that same conclusion this afternoon as I was digging through old threads and found an online calculator. Apparently I should have added more like 18.5mls. I changed about 30% of the water today. I may go for some more tomorrow. I think I just got confused yesterday by reading so much stuff. It's confusing because everyone has a different method.

 

[Mebbid]

Thanks for the reply! I came to that same conclusion this afternoon as I was digging through old threads and found an online calculator. Apparently I should have added more like 18.5mls. I changed about 30% of the water today. I may go for some more tomorrow. I think I just got confused yesterday by reading so much stuff. It's confusing because everyone has a different method.

Heh that's for sure. For every process you will find 5 or 6 ways of doing it. Most will work, some won't, and a few will be easier than others

 

[Ansomnia7]

My nitrates have been at about 10ppm for three days with nitrites off the chart and having to add ammonia every 8ish hours because its dropping so quickly. Should I try a pwc to see if that gets the nitrates up or am I being impatient?

 

[Mebbid]

The nitrates will go up in time, a water change won't do anything but lower them. Just keep at it, although I wouldn't bother adding ammonia more than once a day.

A 50% water change could help in getting the nitrite levels down to where the test kit can read them though

 

[Ansomnia7]

I'M READY FOR FISH!!!! Woot


Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[nickhendrix007]

Remember to add only a few fish at a time or youll crash your cycle and kill your fish

 

[jwh0818]

Remember to add only a few fish at a time or youll crash your cycle and kill your fish

Nooooooo. You wont killl your fish, you will just cause a mini cycle that could be harmful. Definitely take it slow on adding fish or you will see a mini cycle

 

[nickhendrix007]

Nooooooo. You wont killl your fish, you will just cause a mini cycle that could be harmful. Definitely take it slow on adding fish or you will see a mini cycle

Mini cycles are sharp increases on amm no2 and no3.... In an enclosed ecosystem, any spike caused by adding fish to a newly established system can easily kill fish within 24 hours without multiple 25-50% water changes within that time frame

 

[nickhendrix007]

What happens: your bacteria grow according to the amount of food(ammonia) they can eat which is turned into no2 and no3. If you have say a 10 gallon and add a full stock to it all at once then too much waste is produced for the current level of bacteria to handle and you'll see a spike in the numbers until more bacteria grows. Thus, adding a few fish at a time allows a more gradual increase of amm no2 and no3 and allows more bacteria to grow and keep caught up with the wastes allowing them to handle the increasing bioload

 

[jwh0818]

Yes I definitely know this. Saying its GOING to kill all your fish is down right wrong. How do people do fish in cycles daily? Yes ammonia is bad and so are nitrites. You can easily control the situation of a mini cycle because its nowhere near as severe as a full on cycle. I have successfully done around 40 fish in cycles with very few casualties. You should not be saying someones fish arw going to die because of a mini cycle because the fact is, they wont. Im sure the OP knows what to do because he did successfully do a fishless cycle. We all get mini cycles here and there because we mess up. Your fish wont die because of it. Just do a 50% water change if you mini cycle and dose prime accordingly and you will be good. Test 2 times daily if you do mini cycle

 

[jwh0818]

And according to the ppm calculator, the OP only needed to use 10mL of ammonia to cycle his tank. He used 70mL. He is okay to add quite a bit of fish

Here is the calculator. Only fill out the bottom portion.

http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

 

[Rodeo one]

I'M READY FOR FISH!!!! Woot

Thanks for the help everyone!

Um, that seems incredibly fast for cycling a tank unless you used established media.
Have you dosed to 4 with ammonia several days in a row & had it convert to 0? Are you using the API liquid test kit?
What are your nitrite & nitrate readings?
Not judging here, just trying to help. I recently cycled a tank & got lots of help from this site, thank goodness or it would be been much more frustrating than it was.

 

[jwh0818]

Um, that seems incredibly fast for cycling a tank unless you used established media.
Have you dosed to 4 with ammonia several days in a row & had it convert to 0? Are you using the API liquid test kit?
What are your nitrite & nitrate readings?
Not judging here, just trying to help. I recently cycled a tank & got lots of help from this site, thank goodness or it would be been much more frustrating than it was.

It was actually 10 days and yes you can cycle a tank in 7 fishless or even 3 fishless. Its all gonna depend on your water chemistry

 

[Rodeo one]

Have to respectfully disagree.
Again, what were the readings & how were they testing?

 

[jwh0818]

Have to respectfully disagree.
Again, what were the readings & how were they testing?

You definitely can disagree. A cycled tank is a cycled tank. I dont disagree because I have been reading this since it started. He didnt quote numbers but he did quote nitrates. Now when you have nitrates your tank is cycled because it goes from ammo to nitrite to nitrates.

 

[Ansomnia7]

Wow..I just wanted everyone to be happy for me.


I have been using the API test kit, and dosing ammonia to 3ppm which have been going down within about 8-10 hours. The ammonia and nitrites have been at 0 in the morning three days in a row and yesterday I did a 60% water change and since the ammonia and nitrites were 0 again this morning and Nitrates very very high I can do a 90% water change and add fish.

The water quality was dosed with seachem after every water change.

I will be adding some guppies and platies tomorrow (about 10 e/a).

Thanks for the help and support.

 

[Ansomnia7]

And it is a planted tank and I did have material from another tank...it was a sponge bob house.