The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

[Kharrnn]

At this point I have 5 full grown shrimp and a handful of baby shrimp. I don't have another tank to put them in to cycle. The worst part is I'm going out of town next week and I'll be gone for about 14-16 days. Someone is going to feed the shrimp for me, but asking them to do daily water changes is a bit much.

I've been reading this thread and from what I understand, if I add ammonia to my tank, my shrimp will die. I guess the only thing I can do is get some very hardy cheap fish to keep the bio fed since shrimp don't produce much. What do you suggest? I plan on this being a shrimp tank so if possible I want my babies to not be eaten. I can buy new shrimp if needed, but I want to avoid it if possible.

The clown loaches were tiny suckers though. Around 1" each. I was told they grow slowly and would be ok in my tank for a while.

 

[librarygirl]

At this point I have 5 full grown shrimp and a handful of baby shrimp. I don't have another tank to put them in to cycle. The worst part is I'm going out of town next week and I'll be gone for about 14-16 days. Someone is going to feed the shrimp for me, but asking them to do daily water changes is a bit much.

I've been reading this thread and from what I understand, if I add ammonia to my tank, my shrimp will die. I guess the only thing I can do is get some very hardy cheap fish to keep the bio fed since shrimp don't produce much. What do you suggest? I plan on this being a shrimp tank so if possible I want my babies to not be eaten. I can buy new shrimp if needed, but I want to avoid it if possible.

The clown loaches were tiny suckers though. Around 1" each. I was told they grow slowly and would be ok in my tank for a while.

If it's just going to be a shrimp tank without fish then you may not have a problem. The seeded media you add should help a lot. The clowns you had added a lot of ammonia to the tank which is why nitrites shot up (and ammonia as well). With just shrimp in the tank though this probably won't happen (or not as dramatically). I'd do a very large water change (80% if you can), put in the seeded media if you haven't yet, and then test the water in a half hour. If nitrites are <.25 then that's good (as close to 0 as possible is best); if not, do another large water change and keep going until nitrites are as close to 0 as you can get them. It woud be great if you could test ammonia too at some point.

You may want to start a new thread asking about cycling a tank with live shrimp. I'm not sure if it's possible or what kind of shrimp you have; I know generally they don't have much of a bioload meaning they don't put out much waste so if that's the case you may either be able to just leave them in the tank and test toxin levels periodically and do water changes if needed (although with some seeded media and a light bioload you shouldn't have too much of a problem). Sorry if this is confusing. I'd try it with just the shrimp and see what happens. I wouldn't advise adding fish just to use them to cycle the tank particularly if you're going out of town and won't be able to do water changes when toxins spike. You shouldn't have those kinds of spikes with just shrimp but as I said I'd maybe ask for advice from those on the forum who are more familiar with shrimp than I am. Just stress that these are live shrimp for a shrimp tank (another way to fishless cycle a tank is to use dead frozen shrimp from the supermarket and some may get confused lol).

 

[Stefernini]

substrate during cycle

Would there be any adverse effects to the substrate if I were to cycle a tank with eco complete in it at the time? Or would the bacteria in the eco help the cycle along?

Thanks

 

[librarygirl]

Would there be any adverse effects to the substrate if I were to cycle a tank with eco complete in it at the time? Or would the bacteria in the eco help the cycle along?

Thanks

HI! I don't have any direct experience with Eco Complete so I can't say for sure, but there have been some odd results with members using Eco Complete. If you're doing a fishless cycle though there's no harm in trying it and seeing what happens. Here's a lengthy discussion from a member who used it and had some early problems with it: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...i-have-some-questions-please-read-165213.html

 

[Stefernini]

Any drawbacks to cycling a tank empty, no substrate, and adding eco later? Fishless of course

 

[Deckape]

Any drawbacks to cycling a tank empty, no substrate, and adding eco later? Fishless of course

The only drawback that I can think if is, the beneficial bacteria like to cling to surfaces. So by not adding any substrate cuts down on surface (subsurface) area for it to live. But it would work regardless. Its just easier to put substrate in an empty tank IMO ...

 

[Bettababe1011]

It would still work because of the filter media, which is where most of the bb is. The substrate has some, but not as much

 

[Clausura]

Hi guys,

It has been 5 months since I have started fishless cycling and to me it has just been a thankless chore, it is still not done! After 5 months!

One of the issues is that I have very soft water coming from Singapore, from the tap it is 7.0 but after a few days it will drop to 6.6. I have done multiple water changes over the few months, put in a small bag of crushed coral, but nothing works, the pH will always drop to 6.6 - 6.6. I have tested the kH and it is very low, at abt 1.

Now after 5 months, my ammonia after 24 hrs is always 1.5 - 2 ppm and doesn't seem to drop any lower and it has been this way for 2 months! Nitrite is 0 and currently nitrate is 120ppm. And I will always top up the ammonia to 4 ppm every night.

My fishtank now is the laughing stock of my family and friends and my wife keeps nagging at me "Why can't you put in the fish now?" saying that it is a tank without fish. I have tried explaining to them about fishless cycling but they just don't understand.

So this is what I have done:

Last week, I have added Seachem Matrix to hopefully build up the population of bacteria in my canister filter, in addition to my existing ceramic rings.

Today, I have added in a bag of 20 cm x 20cm bag of coral chips to combat the low pH and preventing a crash but still pH is about 6.6. Is the pH still low to complete the cycle?

Does this mean that my tank will never cycle? Anyone can help?

By the way, my tank is a 55 gallon with black gravel substrate and has driftwood planted with java fern.

If this carries on, i will stop adding ammonia, just wait until the ammonia level reaches 0ppm, do a water change, and start adding my fish. This fishless cycling thing keeps beating me down and I am going to give up.

Maybe for extremely soft water, fishless cycling is just too much work.

 

[Lunchbox209]

Hi guys,

It has been 5 months since I have started fishless cycling and to me it has just been a thankless chore, it is still not done! After 5 months!

One of the issues is that I have very soft water coming from Singapore, from the tap it is 7.0 but after a few days it will drop to 6.6. I have done multiple water changes over the few months, put in a small bag of crushed coral, but nothing works, the pH will always drop to 6.6 - 6.6. I have tested the kH and it is very low, at abt 1.

Now after 5 months, my ammonia after 24 hrs is always 1.5 - 2 ppm and doesn't seem to drop any lower and it has been this way for 2 months! Nitrite is 0 and currently nitrate is 120ppm. And I will always top up the ammonia to 4 ppm every night.

My fishtank now is the laughing stock of my family and friends and my wife keeps nagging at me "Why can't you put in the fish now?" saying that it is a tank without fish. I have tried explaining to them about fishless cycling but they just don't understand.

So this is what I have done:

Last week, I have added Seachem Matrix to hopefully build up the population of bacteria in my canister filter, in addition to my existing ceramic rings.

Today, I have added in a bag of 20 cm x 20cm bag of coral chips to combat the low pH and preventing a crash but still pH is about 6.6. Is the pH still low to complete the cycle?

Does this mean that my tank will never cycle? Anyone can help?

By the way, my tank is a 55 gallon with black gravel substrate and has driftwood planted with java fern.

If this carries on, i will stop adding ammonia, just wait until the ammonia level reaches 0ppm, do a water change, and start adding my fish. This fishless cycling thing keeps beating me down and I am going to give up.

Maybe for extremely soft water, fishless cycling is just too much work.

Have you ever tested your tap water for ammonia that might be why it never goes down if that's the problem you might have to think about a rodi unit

 

[Clausura]

According to other aquarists in Singapore, they have tested the water and ammonia is present in the water at about 0.25 ppm.

 

[Lunchbox209]

According to other aquarists in Singapore, they have tested the water and ammonia is present in the water at about 0.25 ppm.

Also on the crushed coral takes a day or two for it too actually show any results that's what happened with me but on the .25 ammo then you might have to start using ro water for you water changes

 

[librarygirl]

I disagree, respectfully. .25 of ammonia in tap water isn't high at all and once the tank is cycled that amount of ammonia will be processed quickly. Plus the ammonia isn't even dropping much from 4 so the ammonia in the tap water isn't playing a role here. It might be the low PH. I had a problem fishless cycling as well (took me 7 months). To Clausura: the crushed coral should help stabilize the PH and hopefully that's the issue with the cycle although your PH isn't so low that I wouldn't expect nitrification to happen at all so I'm not sure the PH is the cause (although it could be). Where are the 120 nitrates coming from? Are those in your tap water as well (if so that is a concern not only for drinking but for water changes when you get fish)?

Is there any way you can obtain some established media from an aquarium near you? That would introduce the bacteria to your tank safely (most of the cycle products don't work although you're welcome to try them, perhaps you'll get lucky). What ammonia are you using? Is it pure without anything added (surfactants, dyes, etc)?

 

[Clausura]

I disagree, respectfully. .25 of ammonia in tap water isn't high at all and once the tank is cycled that amount of ammonia will be processed quickly. Plus the ammonia isn't even dropping much from 4 so the ammonia in the tap water isn't playing a role here. It might be the low PH. I had a problem fishless cycling as well (took me 7 months). To Clausura: the crushed coral should help stabilize the PH and hopefully that's the issue with the cycle although your PH isn't so low that I wouldn't expect nitrification to happen at all so I'm not sure the PH is the cause (although it could be). Where are the 120 nitrates coming from? Are those in your tap water as well (if so that is a concern not only for drinking but for water changes when you get fish)?

Is there any way you can obtain some established media from an aquarium near you? That would introduce the bacteria to your tank safely (most of the cycle products don't work although you're welcome to try them, perhaps you'll get lucky). What ammonia are you using? Is it pure without anything added (surfactants, dyes, etc)?

Hi librarygirl, the nitrates is from the conversion of nitrites. Could it be from lack of oxygen? I do have a bubble wand in my tank running though. For water changes during cycling, do I do a 50% WC or 90% WC.

 

[Clausura]

Hi librarygirl, the nitrates is from the conversion of nitrites. Could it be from lack of oxygen? I do have a bubble wand in my tank running though. For water changes during cycling, do I do a 50% WC or 90% WC.

Btw, I am a teacher so I get my ammonia source ftom my school chemistry lab. It is very dilute though so I do need to add quite an amount to reach 4ppm.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi librarygirl, the nitrates is from the conversion of nitrites. Could it be from lack of oxygen? I do have a bubble wand in my tank running though. For water changes during cycling, do I do a 50% WC or 90% WC.

I'm not sure how you're getting so much nitrite conversion without ammonia conversion. Typically ammonia is converted to nitrite and then to nitrate, so if ammonia isn't dropping significantly I'm not sure where the nitrates are coming from if they aren't in your tap water. What is the temperature of the water? You could do a large water change (if you're going to do one may as well do as larger one as you can) and then redose ammonia and see if it helps.

 

[Clausura]

Hi guys, just wanted to let you know that my tank has cycled and stocked. Thank you for all your help and advice, especially to Eco and librarygirl =) Here is a photo as required =)

 

[librarygirl]

Glad to hear it! Beautiful tank! Enjoy your fish.

 

[Stefernini]

Eco complete definitely screws with the readings, but because I was aware, I wasn't surprised.

I finally started my tank on its cycle last night and dosed ammonia to 4. Today I have ammonia 2, nitrite 0, nitrate 5

 

[awilson133]

hi everyone!, okay so let me get this straight.,since im new to the fishless cycle..do i just let the ammonia go down on its own or do i have to do water changes??? when do i do water changes? its a 29 gallon freshwater aquarium and i'm stocking it with only neon tetras when its cycled. btw i read the instructions to fishless cycling. i'm just a lil confused..

oh beautiful tank btw

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Let it go down by itself. The bacteria will grow and consume it. That's when you will see ammonia go down and eventually nitrite go up.