Am I doing this right? Fishless Cycling

[PolarCap]

Hello! I started fishless cycling my first aquarium 3 weeks ago. I have a 10-gallon TopFin tank with TopFin gravel. I have used API Stress Coat as a dechlorinator, Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride as an ammonia source, and Dr Tim's One & Only Freshwater as a beneficial bacteria starter. I also have an Anubias plant and a Wisteria plant settled. I use the API master kit to record my parameters every 3 days. The heater is set to 85 degrees Fahrenheit and my light is on 12 hours a day.

I have dozed the aquarium to 4ppm of ammonia on day 1, day 3, and day 6 (based on Dr Tim's website). I've only done a 25% water chance on day 14.

I'm now on day 22 and recorded the following, pH: 7.6, nitrite: 0.25ppm, and ammonia: 2.0ppm.

The nitrite levels never reached higher than 0.25ppm and that concerns me. Am I being impatient and should just wait a couple more weeks or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Aiken Drum]

What are your nitrate levels? The nitrites must be going somewhere. 1ppm ammonia turns to 2.7ppm nitrite turns to 3.6ppm nitrate. A 25% water change doesnt explain the low nitrite levels, so my hunch is its been converted to nitrate, which is the goal.

Edit: Also have you put any more ammonia in since day 6? If not i think you have stalled the cycle.

 

[PolarCap]

Thank you for the reply Aiken. I recorded my nitrate levels 4 days ago (day 17) and they were at 5.0ppm.

I haven't put any ammonia since day 6 indeed. My ammonia never dropped less than 4.0ppm until today (day 22).

Since ammonia was at 2.0ppm today, I tried to bring it up to 4.0ppm by dosing the aquarium with ammonium chloride (half of what I used to). I contacted Dr. Tim via Instagram today and he said that what I did was a mistake. Although he never said why or suggested what to do next. What do you think? Any help would be appreciated because I feel quite lost at the moment.

 

[Aiken Drum]

When i fishless cycle i initially dose to 4ppm. You have to be careful with this dosage of dr tims "ammonium chloride" because there are regular reports of overdose when you put in the prescribed number of drops. They changed the strength of the product and i think they didn't change the instructions on the bottle label (I put in the number of drops for 4ppm and ended up with 8ppm). Dose to 1ppm and test to confirm. Then bring it up to 4.0ppm when you know the number of drops to get 1ppm for your tank size.

Dose with "one and only" or whatever other method you want for seeding. Test regularly. If the ammonia drops to 1ppm or below, redose upto 2ppm. As ammonia is consumed you would normally see nitrites rising, but i have had best results with "one and only" and it is possible that you could see the process go straight to seeing nitrates, (which is where your nitrites may have gone).

When you see nitrates, further cut your ammonia dosage to 1ppm. Only do water changes to keep the nitrites to within readable levels. After a while you will see the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0ppm each after 24 hours and quite high nitrate levels. When your system is giving 0 ammonia and nitrite after 12 hours of dosing for a few consecutive days do a big water change to get nitrates down to below 10ppm and you can lightly stock. Throughtout the process dont gravel vac or clean the glass.

Alternatively this seems to be the fishless cycle guide people on this forum point to.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/tips-and-tricks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/

Every cycle is different, and everyone seems to have their own method. This is just how i do it. My last fishless cycle took 4 or 5 weeks and i ended up using at least 3 dosages of one and only. I think yours has stalled as you still have 2ppm ammonia 2 weeks after the last dosing. That is a long time. Its important to keep ammonia in the system to fuel the process, but dosing to 4ppm after the initial dosage is too much in my opinion. 1 to 2 ppm is sufficient without risking stalling the cycle by over dosing.

 

[PolarCap]

On day 27, I was advised by Dr Tim to do a near-to-complete water change and dose the tank with 1.0 ppm ammonia.

I am now on day 31 and my parameters are:
ammonia: 1.0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: slightly above 0 ppm but less than 5 ppm.

He told me that my water is soft and has little to no buffering and that I need to add Cichlid salt, magnesium, and calcium. I never heard about these stuff and I feel very lost at the moment.

Am I supposed to just keep on waiting?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Not something I've ever dealt with (so hopefully someone with experience of soft water comes along), but the guys from Dr Tims are correct and cichlid salt (or something like seachem replenish or equilibrium) is suggested to buffer very soft water to get it cycling.

Are you able to test your water hardness? If not do you know your pH? If you have very soft water this will likely be something you will need address as part of your regular tank maintenance.

You are looking to get hardness to 4dGH (70ppm). pH above 6.0.

 

[PolarCap]

Thank you for the swift reply. I plan to have one betta fish living in my tank. My pH is 7.2 but I am unable to test for water hardness.

Is the aquarium salt a necessity? I'm a little hesitant on buying more aquarium products since One & Only had already discouraged me.

In the meantime, do I just wait for the ammonia to drop near to 0 ppm and dose back up to 1 ppm again?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Its difficult to say without knowing the water hardness. How did the people at Dr Tims determine that you had soft water? Did they test it? If your water is very soft then you may need some kind of buffer.

Generally (but not always) soft water has low pH, but your water is pretty neutral.

I'm afraid we are getting into a chemistry lesson here that is a bit beyond my knowledge.

 

[PolarCap]

They simply came into that conclusion after I reported my water parameters, they never tested it.

But in regards to my question of tracking the ammonia, what do you suggest?

 

[Aiken Drum]

There is no evidence that you have soft water or that it is causing your cycle to stall, so i wouldnt go adding any salt unless you know hardness is an issue.

Just to be sure. When you did your water change you did use dechlorinator?

Personally i would go about restarting your cycle from scratch. Dose upto 4.0ppm ammonia, add some bacteria, or better still some established media if you have access to it.

The other option is a fish in cycle. What are your plans for the tank?

 

[Tankereasy]

First off lets focus on getting your tank cycled, my 2 cents, ditch the Dr.Tim's junk, and switch to Seachem Stability, and get some Seachem prime, best stuff on the market. Get your ammonia up to 5 ppm, and start dosing daily with Seachem Stability, this will get your cycle moving along, no real need to worry about testing daily, give it two to three days in between testing, watch for the water to get real cloudy, that will be your bacterial bloom which will be your sign that your beneficial bacteria is reproducing at a fast rate to keep pace with the levels of ammonia. The cloudiness will die down in 24 to 48 hours and you'll be well on your way to a cycled tank. Resume testing every day or two, ammonia should drop to zero, you'll see the nitrite spike, that should drop, and nitrates should rise. As someone else said, you should see ammonia and nitrites drop to zero over a 24 hour period, at which point you should do a 50% water change, and go ahead and stock. I add Seachem Stability at every water change on all my tanks, works like a charm.



Another tip: DO NOT WORRY ABOUT PH OR WATER HARDNESS. Seriously, unless you're setting up a discus tank, or some other special fish that require extreme water perimeters, don't give it a second thought. Fish will adapt to what ever your PH and hardness is. Another tip, go check out youtube, tons and tons of videos explaining cycling and how to go about it. The cycling technique listed above is how I did the last new tank I setup (60 gallon).