Seeded my tank - how am I doing in the cycle?

[FiveSix]

About how long should it take before you start showing Nitrites? I tried to seed my tank and I am showing 0 Nitrites after a few days. I'm in no rush, but I don't want to wait a week or 2 just to find out that I never seeded my tank properly. I added some Cycle by Hagen and bought a potted plant hoping that the sponge material in the potted plant would hold some bacteria. The store wouldn't give me any gravel or filter media .

 

[Purrbox]

Actually your best bet is to remove the rock wool (sponge material) from around the plant roots so that that plant can grow better. If the plant came from a stocked aquarium then the plant would have beneficial bacteria on its surfaces, which would contribute more that what's in the rock wool.

Cycle is pretty much commonly accepted as worthless. BioSpira is the only one that's been shown to work, assuming that it's been stored properly (kept refrigerated).

 

[TomK2]

What is your ammonia source? Even without a seed, nitrifying bacteria in tap water will activate in the presence of ammonia. With a large enough seed, your cycle can be greatly abbreviated in the presence of ammonia.

 

[FiveSix]

What is your ammonia source? Even without a seed, nitrifying bacteria in tap water will activate in the presence of ammonia. With a large enough seed, your cycle can be greatly abbreviated in the presence of ammonia.

5 ML of Clear ammonia (Ammonium Hydroxide, Softened water). 5ml Doses my 55 to around 5 PPM

edit: Ps I'm trying to follow the guide written up by 7enigma. Temperature is around 87 degrees and ph is 7.2

 

[neilanh]

You're doing all the right things, the trick is the seed material. I don't think you're going to get a ton of quality stuff from that plant. Are there other LFSs, or check in your regional forum of people near you that might be able to help out.

 

[TomK2]

Hang in there. It is a waiting game. If you can get your hands on some established tank gravel or filter media, it is never too late to add it. If not, then it will still cycle, just a little slower.

You would think that a smart LFS operator would run a filter or two, and offer some of the colonized media for sale. Saltwater stores sell tons of live rock, perhaps if colonized media were renamed to "live sponge" or "live gravel" it would catch on. LOL.

 

[Purrbox]

I've actually got an LFS in my area that floats bioballs in a tank to seed them.

 

[FiveSix]

Nice Purrbox, sounds like a half decent store. Around here most stores are put out of business from Petsmart and Petco. There's a really nice place called tropiquarium but it's so overpriced and pretty far from me. I'll head down there later this week and see if I can get something.

Thanks for the input all.

 

[FiveSix]

Alrighty, Still no NitrItes. Tank has been running at 87 degrees since last wednesday. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and try to find some Bio-spira tomorrow. It sucks not knowing anyone with healthy tanks.

 

[neilanh]

Make sure you've got a lot of aeration. What kind of test kit are you using to test?

 

[FiveSix]

I'm agitating the surface pretty well. Enough to get some bubbles that are circulated around the tank. I have an API freshwater Master test kit(liquid).

 

[@rtemis]

5-6, I noticed nitrites a day or so after adding Bio-Spira to my 10 gallon tank. It took my tank almost three weeks to cycle. I did not use any seed material besides the Bio-Spira.

 

[FiveSix]

WOOOOO! Yeah Guys! I am showing NitrItes! Wooo <= .25 PPM, Ammo is 2 ppm. I'm happy now .

 

[@rtemis]

Did you use seed material, Bio-Spira or both?

 

[FiveSix]

Did you use seed material, Bio-Spira or both?

I used "Cycle" by Hagen which I'm pretty sure did nothing. The store near my house wouldn't give me gravel b/c she said "My Goldfish have a fungus and everything is circulated in the same system. So in your best interest I can't". The funny part is she wouldn't sell me gravel, but was selling everyone else fish. So in desperation i bought Cycle b/c they didn't have bio-spira. Then the next day I realized they have a seperate tank with just plants not connected to the main system. It has no fish, but plenty of snails. So I bought a Potted Amazon plant, swished the rockwool through the water then squeezed the water out. Left it in there overnight before I took the plant out of the pot and threw out the rockwool. I wasn't sure why It took so long and got worried b/c I thought the rockwool would be loaded with Bacteria. I thought maybe something in my tank was killing it off, but I guess I wasn't patient enough. Maybe the rockwool was antibacterial to protect the seedling plant or whatever. Oh well, I'm good now. Just need a couple weeks and it should be FISH TIME!

 

[marchmaxima]

5-6, I noticed nitrites a day or so after adding Bio-Spira to my 10 gallon tank. It took my tank almost three weeks to cycle. I did not use any seed material besides the Bio-Spira.

@rt and I were cycling our tanks at roughly the same time. It took me exactly 4 weeks to cycle my tank without any seeding material. I just added raw prawn and waited it out.

It took exactly 7 days to see the first signs of nitrite. Glad you're seeing it now though..

 

[FiveSix]

Things seem to be going along really smooth. I'm detecting nitrates and I seem to be able to convert about 2-3 ppm of ammonia to NitrIte overnight. Since my NitrAte levels are still under 10 PPM and I'm detecting very high levels of NitrIte (> 2ppm) I think I still have a little ways to go.

Here is my question, Since I have to dose my tank with ammonia everyday to make sure I have food for the bacteria, am I always going to have high NitrItes and when my nitrAtes become greater than 40 ppm I am done? Or should I wait until there are low levels of Ammonia and NitrIte overnight after I dose to 3-5 PPM ammonia. I'm sorry If I worded that in a confusing way.

 

[neilanh]

When your nitrItes bottom out to 0, you're done. Even with dosing ammonia daily eventually they'll catch up, and that's when you're cycle is complete. By the time that happens, your nitrAtes will probably shoot up to around 100ppm. That's why we do a huge PWC the night before we add fish after completing a fishless cycle. Hang in there, you're almost there.

 

[FiveSix]

Hang in there, you're almost there.

Nice, Thanks a lot buddy. I was just a little confused because I seem to be converting tons of ammonia and not showing insane amounts of Nitrates. Sometimes I just think I'm colorblind with the test kits .

 

[neilanh]

It took some time to build up the bacteria that consume the ammonia and convert it to nitrIte. During the time since you first started your cycle, you've been supplying ample amounts of "food" for them in the form of ammonia. So, during all this time while you were waiting for your nitrItes to go up, the bacteria that consume the nitrIte had no food, so there was nothing available before recently to get their colony started. Since you are starting to see nitrAtes, that means they're there, they just need a little more time to establish a colony as large as the ammonia-eaters.