The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling

[librarygirl]

Day 11

Ammonia: 4ppm (redosed it back to 4)
Ph: 7.4
NitrIte:0
My ammonia has been dropping but no NitrItes yet?

Still within a normal time frame. You should be seeing nitrites pretty soon though, I'd say within the next week if ammonia is falling rapidly every night.

 

[Christina717]

Day 12

Ammonia: 4ppm (didnt move from 2 days ago?)
Ph: 7.8
NitrIte: 0
Temp: 86*F
!!!Hurry up NitrItes!!!

 

[librarygirl]

Day 12

Ammonia: 4ppm (didnt move from 2 days ago?)
Ph: 7.8
NitrIte: 0
Temp: 86*F
!!!Hurry up NitrItes!!!

Still normal. You're doing fine, no reason to worry yet.

You may want to start your own fishless cycle log thread, it'll be easier to monitor and you may get more personal feedback that way.

 

[eco23]

Good idea . Most people follow this thread for specific questions and answers. You can start a new thread listing all your test results from day one and update it every day. That way more people will follow along and help out. Librarygirl and I will also subscribe and follow along to help as needed

 

[RWineriter]

Not going to take much time here. I bought WRMillers 37g tank when he upgraded, set it up as a freshwater planning to stock with various African Cichlids. For the past 2 mornings my readings are 0-0-160. Going into maintenance mode now to feed the bacteria until I can get my fish. Will do the 90% pwc, turn back the heater, etc. and enjoy my new tank. Just wanted to tell everyone and say thanks for the great instructions!

 

[Ozydego]

On that 160, make sure you are following the directions on the test exactly, I got false readings like that when I mixed up bottle 1 and 2.... Also, you may do another pwc to bring those down, before your big change, it will make them go even lower at that time... Remember, 50% pwc should bring it down to 80 from 160 theoretically, then your 90% will be more effective for fish acclimation the night before, it may save you from having to do 2 pwcs that night..

 

[librarygirl]

Not going to take much time here. I bought WRMillers 37g tank when he upgraded, set it up as a freshwater planning to stock with various African Cichlids. For the past 2 mornings my readings are 0-0-160. Going into maintenance mode now to feed the bacteria until I can get my fish. Will do the 90% pwc, turn back the heater, etc. and enjoy my new tank. Just wanted to tell everyone and say thanks for the great instructions!

Great congrats! My nitrate got that high at the end of my fishless cycle too. A 100% pwc got them down to .25, but after your large water change let the water circulate for a half hour and then test the nitrates again to be sure they are well under 20 before you get your fish; otherwise do another pwc. Congrats again!

 

[RWineriter]

On that 160, make sure you are following the directions on the test exactly, I got false readings like that when I mixed up bottle 1 and 2.... Also, you may do another pwc to bring those down, before your big change, it will make them go even lower at that time... Remember, 50% pwc should bring it down to 80 from 160 theoretically, then your 90% will be more effective for fish acclimation the night before, it may save you from having to do 2 pwcs that night..

Thanks I will definitely recheck my numbers and do a pre-pwc.

 

[kindafishy]

Are you using seeded media? A nitrite spike 8 days in is very fast, which is good, just wondering how it's happening so quickly. How long have the nitrites been high and the ammonia falling to 0? My nitrites were high for 2.5 weeks before they came down. Everyone's cycle is different though but the nitrite phase can take longer than the ammonia conversion phase if that helps. To be safe, I'd wait until nitrites fall to 0 before ordering fish. Then you can just keep dosing ammonia nightly to hold the cycle until the night before the fish arrive. You don't want to rush it and then have fish in the middle of a nitrite spike.

I didn't have access to any seeding material, but I did cheat with a little bottle of JBL FilterStart. German engineered bacteria in a bottle, gotta love it

Anyway...I got a nitrite reading of 3 mg/L by day 6, up to 5 by day seven, and since off the chart. I am now on day 11 of my cycling (I can't believe I am being this patient...) so I've now had high nitrites for just inside of a week.

And thank you for the voice of reason for the fish. Too bad, I saw a pair of really cool apistos when I was at the lfs for some supplies. Had to slap my hand away from my wallet really quickly.....

 

[eco23]

Not going to take much time here. I bought WRMillers 37g tank when he upgraded, set it up as a freshwater planning to stock with various African Cichlids. For the past 2 mornings my readings are 0-0-160. Going into maintenance mode now to feed the bacteria until I can get my fish. Will do the 90% pwc, turn back the heater, etc. and enjoy my new tank. Just wanted to tell everyone and say thanks for the great instructions!

I appreciate you sharing your success story with us . I'm glad everything went well. Enjoy your fish...I'm sure they'd appreciate the effort you put in to make sure they've got a safe and stable environment.

 

[Lunchbox209]

Hey Eco I have great news I think my
Fish tank is finished cycling
Day 11
Ph 7.2
Ammo 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160 what do you think

 

[eco23]

Hey Eco I have great news I think my
Fish tank is finished cycling
Day 11
Ph 7.2
Ammo 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160 what do you think

Oops, didn't see this before. Congrats! Looks good . You can test it a couple times to be sure, but it looks like you're all set. Enjoy your fish!

 

[Clausura]

Hi guys! Its me again!
So the story so far:

I did the tests last night and these were my readings, ammonia: 1ppm, nitrites: >5ppm and nitrates: 80ppm. Should I do a 90% water change?

I did a pwc when I had such a result before and my cycle slowed down somewhat. But since that pwc, I have put in my driftwood, java ferns and frogbits. So dont want the cycle to go on the slow burner again...

 

[Deckape]

Hi guys! Its me again!
So the story so far:

I did the tests last night and these were my readings, ammonia: 1ppm, nitrites: >5ppm and nitrates: 80ppm. Should I do a 90% water change?

I did a pwc when I had such a result before and my cycle slowed down somewhat. But since that pwc, I have put in my driftwood, java ferns and frogbits. So dont want the cycle to go on the slow burner again...

If your ph is around 6 then a pwc could help. If it is at 7 or above then a pwc wouldn't hurt, but probally unnecessary.

 

[kindafishy]

Am I getting close? And a couple of questions

I am on day 14, and I have seen a drop in Nitrites for the first time.

My readings this morning :

Ammonia : 0 mg/L
Nitrite : 1 mg/L (after spending the last 8 days off the charts)
Nitrate : 25 mg/L
kH : 3
gH : 5

A couple of questions :

1) My bacteria are starting to chew through Ammonia really fast, with the rate really increasing. I can hardly keep up with the re-dosing. It used to take 12 drops to get to 4mg/L, now it takes 15 or more. And then they power through it with lightening speed. Is this normal ? I don't know if I need to mention it, but the ammonia I get over here is quite strong (13%).

2) My pH has increase quite a bit since the beginning of my cycle. At the very beginning, I was at 6.7. Now, I am at 7.5! Is this normal, and will it likely come back down when this is over?? I am hoping that it does, because the majority of species I am considering <7 pH.

3) This is the first time I am seeing a drop in NitrIte. Does this mean that I am close ?

4) My CO2 is quite low. Although I wanted to avoid having to mess with that, it looks like I will have to -- and this morning I set up a CO2 system. Should I have waited until everything settles (pH, NO2/3 etc) ??

Thanks in advance for your fish-less hand-holding!!

 

[librarygirl]

Hi, my replies below in blue:

I am on day 14, and I have seen a drop in
Nitrites for the first time.

My readings this morning :

Ammonia : 0 mg/L
Nitrite : 1 mg/L (after spending the last 8 days off the charts)
Nitrate : 25 mg/L
kH : 3
gH : 5

A couple of questions :

1) My bacteria are starting to chew through Ammonia really fast, with the rate really increasing. I can hardly keep up with the re-dosing. It used to take 12 drops to get to 4mg/L, now it takes 15 or more. And then they power through it with lightening speed. Is this normal ? I don't know if I need to mention it, but the ammonia I get over here is quite strong (13%).
Yep, normal and a good sign. Only redose once in 24 hours though. So even if you test it 12 hours after you redose and it's 0, don't dose again until the 24 hour mark.

2) My pH has increase quite a bit since the beginning of my cycle. At the very beginning, I was at 6.7. Now, I am at 7.5! Is this normal, and will it likely come back down when this is over?? I am hoping that it does, because the majority of species I am considering <7 pH.
It might, PH fluctuations are normal during cycling. Whether your PH levels out at 6.7 or 7.5 is fine though, either PH is within normal ranges and your fish will adapt to whatever your tank's PH is as long as it's stable. I wouldn't mess with it, which can cause more problems. You might want to take the PH of your tap water right out of the tap and then let some water sit out in a glass for 24 hours and take readings at intervals and see if the PH changes at all.

3) This is the first time I am seeing a drop in NitrIte. Does this mean that I am close ?

I would say so, yes.

4) My CO2 is quite low. Although I wanted to avoid having to mess with that, it looks like I will have to -- and this morning I set up a CO2 system. Should I have waited until everything settles (pH, NO2/3 etc) ??

CO2 for live plants? If so I"m not very familiar with using CO2 maybe someone else can help.

Thanks in advance for your fish-less hand-holding!!
You're welcome.

 

[kindafishy]

Cool! Thanks again librarygirl !!!

 

[Clausura]

Hi, I have chrcked my Ph today and it was pale yellow, a 6 I think? Should any alarm bells be ringing? My cycling has been laboriously slow, I have yet to see any progress, nitrites are still dark purple, ammonia still hovers around 1ppm after a month+ of cycling.. It really tests your patience..

 

[eco23]

Hi, I have chrcked my Ph today and it was pale yellow, a 6 I think? Should any alarm bells be ringing? My cycling has been laboriously slow, I have yet to see any progress, nitrites are still dark purple, ammonia still hovers around 1ppm after a month+ of cycling.. It really tests your patience..

Yep...a fire alarm is probably going off somewhere, lol. Conversion slows below 6.5 and stops entirely at 6. So...absolutely nothing is happening right now. I'd do an absolutely massive water change...the goal should be to go ahead and get the no2 down to .5-1ppm while you've got the bucket out. That will replenish your water and raise the pH back up.

Have we talked about crushed coral? If you experience any more crashes it may be worth considering.

 

[micaiah12]

Question???

Well I am following all the directions. My fish tank cycle will be a month old in 8 days. This is what my test are telling me. 0ppm of ammonia, 5ppm of No2, and 100 and something of no3. My fish tank is wiping out ammonia so fast. I dose it up to 4ppm every morning then test it in the afternoon. By afternoon the 4ppm diminished to 0. So I dose my tank with ammo twice. Morning and Night. As for my nitrites. They either stay at 5ppm or are off the chart. My Nitrates are completely off the chart usually. I keep on doing 50% water changes to keep an accurate account on them. So the question(s) are.

Am I almost finished?
If I'm not finished am I experiencing something IDK about?
Or do I need more patients? (trust me I have a lot of that)

Thanks