Fishless cycle, is this right?

[Goonermatt]

Hi
Started my fishless cycle in my 10 gallon tank just four days ago. I read up on the cycling for dummies thread on here so on first day I put in ammonia purchased from local hardware store and tested with API liquid and level was about 6-7ppm for first two days running. Didn't test on day three and still about same on day 4. I thought why not test for nitrites and nitrates too. Was not expecting a reading for at least a week based on what I had read so I was surprised to get 5ppm nitrites and 80ppm nitrates. Temperature has remained at 74-76 degrees.
Does this sound normal for such a short time?

 

[smarsh7903]

What are you using for testing? With so much ammonia I would expect some nitrites but not nitrates that high! The bact that convert nitrite to nitrate take a long time to grow. What is your water source and test it and your aquarium water again and get back with us. Btw test strips are very innacurate, try to stick w/ liquid.

Sent from my X10a using Aquarium

 

[Goonermatt]

Ah! Just remembered I added nutrafin cycle on day 1 as well as the ammonia. Would this explain it? If so was I right to do it?

 

[BigJim]

That doesn't sound right. It would be very unusual for a tank to cycle completely in four days. I've been able to cycle a new filter in a week by adding a big bag of fully established biomedia. That's about the fastest I've seen anyone complete a cycle.

I'm skeptical of the cycling agents like Nutrafin Cycle. Some people swear they work, but I haven't seen enough conclusive evidence to convince me.

I'll also ask about the test kit: What are you using? If you haven't seen a drop in ammonia, there shouldn't be nitrites or nitrates unless they were already present in the water when you filled the tank.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I agree, I don't think it's right either. Double check your nitrate. Did you shake up the test solutions really well? I think it's number 2 liquid, but I do both, that can solidify and cause skewed tests. You really gotta shake up that test solution to get an accurate reading.

 

[Goonermatt]

I did give it a good shake but will do a retest now I think. Results to follow shortly....

 

[Goonermatt]

Same results...
Ammonia around 6-7ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate about 80ppm (to be fair could be closer to 40 because chart colours are very similar)
Using API liquid.
So, assuming these parameters are correct, what should I see happening soon?

 

[smarsh7903]

You should have seen your ammonia drop before the nitrite and especially the nitrate rose at all. Do you get city water. I have well water and once it had nitrates in it.

Sent from my X10a using Aquarium

 

[Goonermatt]

How much would it drop by?

 

[maxima423]

uhmm you have to get the temp up to 83*, keeping it that low will do nothing, i also used nutrafin, big mistake on my part, basically a waste of money, just keep going, it will show you readings that arent suppose to be there, but as long as the ammonia and nitrite are still there, you arent finished, a 10g cycle should take a month, just take it slow

 

[Goonermatt]

Update.....
Things seem to be going smoothly enough. In last 36 hours ammonia has dropped from 4ppm to 1ppm with nitrite remaining at 5ppm and nitrate at 80ppm.
Am I right in thinking that if ammonia gets too low I should add a little extra to keep feeding the nitrites?

 

[Viewfinder]

I recently did a fishless cycle. I found that the best thing to do was to let ammonia run all the way throughout first ie wait for the nitrite reading to fall to 0 and then perform a decent water change ( around 30% ) before adding more ammonia. I was continuously adding ammonia when it dropped and the nitrites weren't clearing out. Once you're down to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and <20 nitrate, add ammonia to 4-5pp and then monitor. If it converts to nitrite after 12 hours that's good and you can carry on with the cycle. If the nitrite drops to 0 within 24 hours of you adding the ammonia, you effectively have a cycled tank but it's still worth going through the process a couple more times before adding fish in case the readings aren't correct.

 

[Randi]

I know people are dubious of cycling products, but I have had great results with Nutrafin cycle. Brought my ammonia level up to 5 ppm with household ammonia and it was down to 0 in 2 days, at the same time nitrites spiked. Another 2 days for nitrites to be neutralized. Still no fish in the tank and the bottle says you have to continue adding Nutrafin cycle with every water change, but so far so good.

 

[Goonermatt]

Ok....... Advice please

I am only on day 10 now of my fishless cycle and have just done a test on my parameters and get the following readings:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Why would there be no nitrites and don't you need the nitrates to convert the ammonia? I have not done a thing since adding the ammonia on day 1 apart from daily testing. Should I now be adding more ammonia? Please help!

 

[BigJim]

It's hard to tell exactly what your parameters are with the tubes against a dark background. Do a big PWC to lower the nitrates, dose 4ppm of ammonia, and test again in 24 hours. You want to keep a steady supply of ammonia available to keep the bacteria fed.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Ok....... Advice please

I am only on day 10 now of my fishless cycle and have just done a test on my parameters and get the following readings:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Why would there be no nitrites and don't you need the nitrates to convert the ammonia? I have not done a thing since adding the ammonia on day 1 apart from daily testing. Should I now be adding more ammonia? Please help!

Your number now tell me you're fully cycled.

Did you see a n02 spike during your cycling? If so then you're fully cycled IMO. If not then keep the ammo around 4ppm till you see the n02 spike come and go.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

 

[Goonermatt]

Your number now tell me you're fully cycled.

Did you see a n02 spike during your cycling? If so then you're fully cycled IMO. If not then keep the ammo around 4ppm till you see the n02 spike come and go.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

Didn't really see a spike on no2. Did first test for it at 4 days when it read 5ppm, it remained the same for 3 days before dropping to 1 ppm on day 9 (yesterday)

Will do a large pwc now as suggested by Bigjim and see what I get tomorrow. That should give me a definite answer if the ammonia disappears quickly right?

 

[BigJim]

If your tank can convert 4ppm of ammonia to nitrates in 24 hours or less, your tank is cycled. If your tank did indeed cycle in ten days, you've raised the reputation of cycling products a few notches in my eyes.

 

[Goonermatt]

Am I close to being cycled?

I'm now on day 25 of my fishless cycle in my 10g. Yesterdays tests showed 0.25 ammonia, 1.0 nitrite and 80 nitrate. Added ammonia and retested at 4.0.
Today's test again shows 0.25 ammonia with 0.5 nitrite and 40 nitrate.
So it is getting rid of the ammonia pretty rapidly but only ever down to 0.25.
Thoughts?

 

[Bettababe1011]

You're getting close, but not quite there. Ammonia and nitrites have to be down to zero, and nitrates have to be below forty when fish are in.

You're almost there, just hang on for this last bit.