Hello, I am new here and have a question about fishless cycling. I am on day 25 of my fishless cycle. At this point I am adding enough ammonia daily to raise it to 2ppm. After 12 hours it is down to 0ppm. My nitrites are between .25 and 0ppm and seem to have been stuck there for a couple of days (hopefully they will keep going down). My question is about Nitrates...they are only around 6ppm (tap water tests 0ppm). Is this normal or should they be higher? It seems like other people have reported much higher nitrates at this stage. This is my first attempt at fishless cycling, so your comments are much appreciated.
Fishless cycle and low nitrates
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fisch
Aquarium Advice Activist
Normally nitrates would be much higher. Are you using liquid test kits? I ask because sometimes the strips are not as accurate. Many people around here bring their ammonia to 5ppm so that will contribute to higher nitrate values too.
Have you added any live plants or done any water changes? Either of those will lower the nitrates.
As long as you are adding ammonia daily and your ammonia and nitrites are zero you should be cycled. Have you had your nitrite spike then slowly go down? If so, just wait for your nitrite to reach zero. Be sure to stock slowly and monitor you parameters and you should be ok.
Have you added any live plants or done any water changes? Either of those will lower the nitrates.
As long as you are adding ammonia daily and your ammonia and nitrites are zero you should be cycled. Have you had your nitrite spike then slowly go down? If so, just wait for your nitrite to reach zero. Be sure to stock slowly and monitor you parameters and you should be ok.
fisch, I am using the API freshwater master kit. In the beginning I did bring my tank up to 5ppm of ammonia, but thought I was supposed to keep it around 2-3ppm after I saw nitrites develop.
I did have a nitrite spike of about 3-4ppm. It has slowly been going down and I am currently somewhere between 0-0.25ppm (it seems like it is taking forever to finally get to 0). I did do a 50% water change about five days ago due to a ph crash. It didn't seem to raise my ph very much so I was told to put in some baking soda, which brought my ph back up around 7.3. I have one live plant in my tank (29 gallon).
The reason I wanted to fishless cycle is because I was told that you could fully stock your tank because of the high level of bacteria you are creating. I want dwarf puffers and would like to put everyone in at the same time because of aggression issues. Should I only put in a few fish at a time?
Do I need to do another partial water change after my nitrites come down to 0, or should I just leave it being that my nitrates aren't very high? What level of nitrates should I be aiming for? Sorry for all of the questions, I just want to make sure I get this right before putting in my fishies!
I did have a nitrite spike of about 3-4ppm. It has slowly been going down and I am currently somewhere between 0-0.25ppm (it seems like it is taking forever to finally get to 0). I did do a 50% water change about five days ago due to a ph crash. It didn't seem to raise my ph very much so I was told to put in some baking soda, which brought my ph back up around 7.3. I have one live plant in my tank (29 gallon).
The reason I wanted to fishless cycle is because I was told that you could fully stock your tank because of the high level of bacteria you are creating. I want dwarf puffers and would like to put everyone in at the same time because of aggression issues. Should I only put in a few fish at a time?
Do I need to do another partial water change after my nitrites come down to 0, or should I just leave it being that my nitrates aren't very high? What level of nitrates should I be aiming for? Sorry for all of the questions, I just want to make sure I get this right before putting in my fishies!
fisch
Aquarium Advice Activist
One plant wont dramatically lower you nitrates. I will help a little though. The large water change would have gotten rid of a lot of nitrates.
Just wait for your nitrite to reach zero and you'll be fine. You'll slowly see the nitrates rise too.
Some people do a water change after cycling and before adding fish. If you have a low nitrate level its not necessary. If its over 20 or so I would do a change.
Fishless cycle is definitely the way to go. Just remember when you do add your fish that their waste will be different than what you have been adding (fish may create more or less waste). So you'll have to watch the parameters close the first few days. You may get a small spike in ammonia or nitrites, but it will pass quickly because of the work you've already done with the fishless cycle.
Just wait for your nitrite to reach zero and you'll be fine. You'll slowly see the nitrates rise too.
Some people do a water change after cycling and before adding fish. If you have a low nitrate level its not necessary. If its over 20 or so I would do a change.
Fishless cycle is definitely the way to go. Just remember when you do add your fish that their waste will be different than what you have been adding (fish may create more or less waste). So you'll have to watch the parameters close the first few days. You may get a small spike in ammonia or nitrites, but it will pass quickly because of the work you've already done with the fishless cycle.
animaluvr
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
This happened to me as well after 3 weeks of a fishless cycle. For some reason I had low Nitrates. I took my water to get tested at my LFS and they said all was fine and I had cycled. Go figure. I did a 20% water changes then started to add my fish. They have been in the tank now for about a week. I have been testing the water with my API test kit and all is well, and the fish are great. I was expecting the large Nitrate spike but my Nitrates went up with my Nitrites, and also started to come down with my Nitrites. One guy at the LFS said that because I had done a fishless cycle with a lot of ammonia perhaps my bacteria colony was so good it just leveled everything out quickly.
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