Fishless Cycle Finished! A good read if new to the forum

[7Enigma]

Update: 6:30am Thursday

I measured my nitrIte levels and they seemed to be ~0.50ppm. I don't know exactly how much ammonia I added last night, but it was probably under 2ppm. I was hoping to not get any nitrIte readings, but I'm still encouraged by the fact that the level has remained the same as last night. I did not add any more ammonia this morning, so when I get home I'm hoping to see no nitrIte left. Then I'll dose again with 1-2ppm ammonia and see where I'm at tomorrow morning. If I'm again at 0nitrIte, I might get fish this weekend...

I also rearranged my filter elements to better prepare for longterm tank use. I had the filter setup with foam filter---->seed shells---->biomax bag. I have now rearranged the order so it goes foam filter----->biomax bag----->seed shells. This should allow the bacteria on the biomax bags "1st shot" at the ammonia and nitrIte, so that down the line I can remove the seed shells and put another foam filter in their and get rid of the shells.

 

[7Enigma]

UPDATE:
3:30pm

0 ammonia
0 nitrIte

Finally after many day's I finally got a cycle completed. This morning I had ~0.50nitrIte, and less than 10hours later I was showing no nitrIte. So that means I'm at least converting 1.0ppm of ammonia to nitrAte in 24hours.

I just dosed another couple of ppm ammonia (not sure exactly, probably 2-4ppm) and in about an hour will take another reading (so I know exactly how much is in the water), and then compare it to either tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm thinking that stocking fish on saturday or sunday is definately possible!

For those just starting tanks, read through this thread. It will show you that with patience, and a lot of help from this forum you can successfully cycle your tank fishless in a shorter time than with fish, and with MANY less PWC's (I did a total of 5 I believe).

justin

EDIT:

For those looking for a timeline, I went back through the posts to find when I actually started the fishless cycle and it was, Jan 10th at 10am. So in 16days, I was able to start with nothing but some gravel from a friends tank and some ammonia, and have a tank ready for fish. I could probably get the cherry barbs today with my current bacterial load, but want to wait at least another day or so to increase the population of nitrIte to nitrAte a bit more (they double about every 20hours or so).

EDIT: 4:30pm Thursday

Just took an ammonia reading at it was ~1ppm. I added a little more ammonia (probably 0.5-1ppm) and will check the levels tomorrow morning. Judging from the last couple of hours, I should see 0 ammonia and 0 nitrIte tomorrow morning before leaving for work. If so, I'll dose another 2-3ppm and check Saturday morning. If all is well, saturday afternoon the cherry barbs go in (if I can find some that are healthy that is).

 

[7Enigma]

UPDATE: 4pm Friday

Well I got up this morning and tested levels, and while I had 0 ammonia, I was still showing 0.25 or so nitrIte. I added a little bit more ammonia before I left for work.

I got home at 3:30pm and when I checked my nitrIte, it was 0. I then readded a good amount of ammonia (probably 2-3ppm) and will check ammonia levels before bed tonight and then nitrIte in the morning. I about 90% sure I'll be getting the cherry barbs tomorrow afternoon (only if both levels are zero when I wake up, and I'll do a huge PWC to get all the nitrAte out).

Tonight right before bed (if I remember), I'll also be turning the tank temp back down to ~79degrees F to get it ready for the fish (its at about 85F right now).

I'll update with pics when everything is said and done.

 

[bosk1]

Congratulations!

The pwc can help you to quickly get the temp where you want it.

So, how high did your nitrates get?

 

[7Enigma]

I never actually measured the nitrAtes. I didn't think it mattered (since no fish), and since my tap water naturally has between 5 and 20ppm of nitrAte I don't think I could really get an accurate number. But with the amount of ammonia that has gone into that tank the last 2 1/2 weeks, I would imagine the number was pretty high (even taking into consideration the high nitrIte level before the PWC).

and THANKS!

 

[7Enigma]

Today is fish DAY! Woke up this morning and tested the water and was at 0nitrIte and 0ammonia. I'll be doing a 80-90% PWC to get the nitrAtes lower, stir up the sand, aquascape the tank properly and get it all prepped for the cherry barbs later today.

When looking for the barbs, anyone have any species specific things to look for before buying? I will be checking for all the usual things (fin rot, Ick, dropsy, cuts, other dead fish in the tank, etc), but wanted to know if there were other things that are common to barbs. I do not have a QT tank, so I want to make sure that these guys are in tip top shape before buying them.

Also, anyone have a general price I should expect to pay? I'll be getting 6 of them or so, and don't want to get ripped off. Is 2$ a piece about right?

EDIT: 10:45am

Ughhh.... Well the water change went fine until I decide to aquascape the sand..My tank water got really cloudy and I had to do about 5PWC's and THEN add the tank water back. It's still pretty cloudy, but I'm going to leave it for an hour or two and see if it clears up. I lowered the big pot to almost ground level, but I still think I might have too much sand in the tank. If I have to do another PWC due to the cloudy water, I think I'll stick the gravel filter right down in the sand and see if I can suck some out of the tank.

12pm I plan on going for the fish...

Oh and I snapped these shots of our cats this morning (babytubbs and buddy):

justin

 

[Zagz]

Congratulations on fish day! Hopefully your next post will be showing your new barbs in your tank. Beautiful cats btw, (I have 6 cats). How old are they?

 

[7Enigma]

Thanks Anne,

They are about 3 1/2 years old. We got them slightly over a year ago from TWAIN, a non profit organization that places cats after their owners have given them up for various reasons. My wife and I were at petsmart just browsing to waste time while my car was across the street, and we fell in love with these cats.

I have never had cats before, but could not imagine more well behaved ones. Babytubbs (the white one) is normally on my lap purring when I'm on this site. I think she's jealous of all the time I've spent working on the tank. Once the fish are in I can spend more time with the cats. Funny thing is one of the main reasons I decided on the aquarium was for entertainment for the cats when we are at work. I just have to make sure they can't get to them, or my real horror, of knocking the tank over...

 

[Zagz]

I've had the same horror with the cats and tanks. I've dreamt of them knocking over the tanks. It hasn't happened of course but still that silly fear lurks. LOL. Some of the cats like the fish, others can't be bothered. I know what you mean though, my Zoe is jealous of the fish. When I do water changes she is always there. I think she likes when I make bubbles in the python hose, she chases them. Kudo's to you for rescuing cats, rather than just buying them from any pet store. They are beautiful.

 

[7Enigma]

Well I have the tank on a metal tank stand I got from Big Al's. It does seem to be kinda wobbly as when I am moving stuff around with my hand and bump the side, the motion of the water kinda rocks the tank a little bit. My cats weigh about 12 or 13lbs each, and if one tried to jump from a running start, I think their weight could tip it. I wish the tank was on a desk or something, then I wouldn't be near as worried.

Yeah, as much as I badmouth Petsmart, the TWAIN program they host in some of their stores are great. And frankly, we got them so cheap since they were already taken care of (front paws declawed, all shots, babytubbs spade, buddy neutered) that it was impossible to resist. And nothing like NOT having to worry about litter training, eating random things, and destroying furniture (we have leather so have to keep it covered since the back claws are still able to puncture and tear), that a lot of kitten's my friends have gone through. OK off to the store!

But first, a shameless plug for AA!

 

[7Enigma]

OK just got home with the fish. They didn't have cherry barbs so I got the tiger's first. I got 6 of them, and they are definatly juvy's by the size of them. I have them floating in the tank right now waiting for the temp to acclimate in their bag. I just checked the water perameters, and while ammonia is zero still my nitrIte value is a little less than 0.25ppm!?@?@! I don't know what happened, maybe somehow stirring up the sand caused a bit of ammonia to get released that was immediately converted to nitrIte?

I don't want to do a PWC right now with them floating in the tank. I think I'll wait until they are added and check the water again tonight. If the value has not changed or gone up, then I will do a PWC. Anyone think I should do the PWC while they are still in the bag? I just don't want them to get any more stressed than they already are (I think that might be WORSE for them than a little bit of nitrIte)...

It's been about 15minutes so I just added a cup of tank water to the bag. I'll let it sit another 15min, then add another cup. Then another 15, and another cup. Then I'll drain the water and put the fish in.

 

[fishygurl]

You should see my cat with the fish. Usually hes very shy, but now he comes and puts hes paws on the side of the of the tank. (hes very gentle so he doesnt scratch it) Hes siamese (well, mostly..) so he can reach almost to the top of the tank! Then he swats at the fish like he thinks he can get to them (claws in!), i think he thinks there bugs. We call it"watching tv"LOL The other cat could care less, she watched them for a minute when we first got them but she got bored.

 

[7Enigma]

The fish are in! I added them a little differently than what I've read on here for a couple reasons. They pooped a LOT in that bag and I didn't want that in the tank, and I also didn't want to use the net to put them in (because I'm not an expert at it, and didnt want to hurt them). So I grabbed the bottom of the bag and made a fist. This made them all move upwards in the bag, and all the fish poop was now in my fist. I kept inching upward, and then dumped the top of the bag with the fish in the tank. Seemed to work great and no one was injured. They are now schooling all over the place, and every once in a while one goes off on his own, only to rejoin the group. A couple times they have gotten sucked against the side of the filter pump, but they always get right off. I doubt they will do that more than a couple times. I'll see if I can get a pic.

 

[fishygurl]

Nice looking fish!

 

[7Enigma]

Thanks, those little buggers wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a good shot. Since the flash had to be off, the shutter speed of the camera was slow enough if they were darting around, it would just look blurry. I took about 10 shots, but this was the best 3, and their not that good.

 

[fishygurl]

Well, there better shots then I ever get of my fish! I cant ever seem to get a pic of any but the gouramis because there slow.

 

[maxwell1295]

They look great! I've always liked them, but I'm set on stocking with guppies and don't think the two would mix very well. The barbs would probably nip at the guppies' tails. Good luck with them.

 

[7Enigma]

Well I've now fed them a total of 2 times (very little each time). Nothing is left that I can see. I just did an ammonia and nitrIte test, and both are 0 (which is great since earlier my nitrIte was ~0.25ppm). They seem to still be very hungry. Can I feed them a bit more since I want to reduce their stress as much as possible?

They are now swimming all over the tank, no longer in a tight school. They seem to be searching for food (I've seen a couple eat each other's poop and then spit it out). I think I might crush up another small flake and feed it to them later this evening. If the ammonia and nitrIte are still zero tomorrow morning, I think I'll be getting my 2nd set of fish (the Oto's and cory cat's). I don't want my established bioload to drop due to too little ammonia from the fish waste. Does either of these species eat the fish poop from the tigers or are they just bottom feeders? I know I'll have to suppliment their diet with vegetables, but if they were to eat the crap that would be excellent!

EDIT: Oh and the 2 that had lost color and appeared kind of transparent, have gained back their color!

 

[rich311k]

Congrats. Very pretty fish.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

You can feed them a little more, just don't overfeed so you get food sitting on the bottom. Then just continue with normal feedings.