Log for cycling my 75g tank.

[librarygirl]

Hey Z, I too am fishless cycling my tank-I thought I would try the Dr Tim method and am finding that I am getting frustrated. I started on 8/13. Since 8/20 I have had 0 ammonia, 5. nitrites and 40-60 nitrates. Dr Tim recommends not letting the nitrite get over 5 so I have done PWC of 25-40% trying to get it down. Yesterday my ammonia was 0, nitrite 2-5? (hard to read) Nitrates 40-80 (also hard to read) Am I getting close? I have live plants in the tank-added 4 days ago. I was frustrated last night so I dumped in more nutrifin cyle "bacteria" to see if it made any difference tonight. I dose the ammonia up every day I get 0 but nitrates had stayed at 5 or greater. Do I really need to do PWC with no fish in tank? Ph 7.4 PATIENCE NEEDED

What ammonia are you using? How high are you dosing the ammonia? Is it 0 after 24 hours?

The bacteria in a bottle products are not always reliable (and some can be unstable), so it may not work. If you started on 8/14 and had 5 nitrites a week later than it could be doing something. Letting the nitrite get over 5 is OK in fishless as long as it doesn't stay there too long (which can stall the cycle potentially). Nitrates will rise, that's normal; the main way nitrates leave the tank is through pwc (which is why after the tank cycles you'll need to do weekly water changes to keep nitrates down and keep the water replenished with minerals). Fishless cycles can take a while (so can fish-in, but with fish-in you'd be doing pwc very frequently), so if it's only been two weeks I'd say be a bit more patient.

 

[zparticle]

Hey Z, I too am fishless cycling my tank-I thought I would try the Dr Tim method and am finding that I am getting frustrated. I started on 8/13. Since 8/20 I have had 0 ammonia, 5. nitrites and 40-60 nitrates. Dr Tim recommends not letting the nitrite get over 5 so I have done PWC of 25-40% trying to get it down. Yesterday my ammonia was 0, nitrite 2-5? (hard to read) Nitrates 40-80 (also hard to read) Am I getting close? I have live plants in the tank-added 4 days ago. I was frustrated last night so I dumped in more nutrifin cyle "bacteria" to see if it made any difference tonight. I dose the ammonia up every day I get 0 but nitrates had stayed at 5 or greater. Do I really need to do PWC with no fish in tank? Ph 7.4 PATIENCE NEEDED

As far I know you don't need to constantly do pwcs. The nitrates aren't ever going to go away unless you do a pwc, but they aren't hurting anything right now. What you want is is in 24 hours to fully convert 4ppm of ammonia completely through to nitrate, so 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and loads of nitrates.

Once that happens a few days in a row keep going for another 4-5 days and make sure it keeps happening. At that point I would think you should be safe to add fish. Others with more experience may have further input.

This tank started pretty quick but my 55 has been in process for over 50 days now so you are doing pretty well in my opinion.

Good luck.

 

[zparticle]

Love those videos. Lol and yeah when I cleaned my tank, I think I power washed the snot out of it. 0.0 and your tank is beautiful. I've cycled a few of my tanks with Nutrafin Cycle, and everything turned out great, just as good as those that I didn't use it in, but make sure you read the directions . But I'm absolutely in LOVE with the look of your tank. Can't wait!

Thanks, at this point the nutrafin test is over, I got frustrated when I had to tear everything down and just seeded the snot out of the tank from my other tanks. I like the dark look of this tank as well, something different than the others.

 

[zparticle]

LOG: Day 6

Ammonia: 0-.25ppm
Nitrites: of the chart
Nitrates: 80ppm
pH: didn't test

Dosing up the ammonia.

 

[zparticle]

LOG: Day 7

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: off the charts
Nitrates: off the charts
pH: didn't test


Leaving it sit as is for a few days while I'm out of town.

 

[zparticle]

LOG: Day 9

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: off the charts
pH: didn't test

Doing a massive water change, going to throw in a little ammonia and then probably call it good if that gets converted by tomorrow.

 

[Deckape]

LOG: Day 9

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: off the charts
pH: didn't test

Doing a massive water change, going to throw in a little ammonia and then probably call it good if that gets converted by tomorrow.

Good job hope you feel better also.

 

[librarygirl]

LOG: Day 9

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: off the charts
pH: didn't test

Doing a massive water change, going to throw in a little ammonia and then probably call it good if that gets converted by tomorrow.

Woah awesome?! Nine days? I think that's a record. What's your secret?

 

[zparticle]

Okay it converted all of the ammonia I put in yesterday all the way to nitrate so I'm calling it done. I just have to keep dosing it for a for days while I figure out what is going in there. I'm really happy with the yellow labs and red zebras I put in the other tank but I know those are going to get BIG eventually. I'm still thinking maybe a huge school of something small in this one.

 

[zparticle]

Well I bit the bullet, we will see if I have made a huge mistake or not. I bought four silver dollar size discus fish. I'm drip acclimating them now as the ph in my tank is considerably higher than the tank in the store.

I went with small ones in the hopes that they will deal with the environment change better than older ones. I hope they do well and I REALLY hope I got a mix of sexes and get a breeding pair out of it.

I also picked up 10 lemon tetras and 10 rummy nose tetra for this tank.

 

[librarygirl]

Well I bit the bullet, we will see if I have made a huge mistake or not. I bought four silver dollar size discus fish. I'm drip acclimating them now as the ph in my tank is considerably higher than the tank in the store.

I went with small ones in the hopes that they will deal with the environment change better than older ones. I hope they do well and I REALLY hope I got a mix of sexes and get a breeding pair out of it.

I also picked up 10 lemon tetras and 10 rummy nose tetra for this tank.

Awesome! Congrats! And good luck with them!! Discus are beautiful fish! Of course the requisite video is forthcoming, yes?

 

[zparticle]

Awesome! Congrats! And good luck with them!! Discus are beautiful fish! Of course the requisite video is forthcoming, yes?

LOL Ask and .... (if it says unavailable try again in a minute or two)

You shall receive

 

[librarygirl]

Woah very pretty! They're hungry, that's a good sign! lol The tetras look gorgeous together too. Love that driftwood piece!

 

[zparticle]

did you see my thread that my angles laid eggs?

 

[Deckape]

did you see my thread that my angles laid eggs?

Yea! You got happy fish! Good deal

 

[librarygirl]

did you see my thread that my angles laid eggs?

Woah no I didn't! That's awesome! I'd love to have little baby fish!! Heading over to check it out...

 

[zparticle]

Just picked up 3 little clown loaches for this tank. The tank is finally complete...until I decide it isn't.

 

[Deckape]

Just picked up 3 little clown loaches for this tank. The tank is finally complete...until I decide it isn't.

It's good being King Neptune.

 

[zparticle]

Here is a little video of the new clown loaches.

Video

 

[librarygirl]

Oh they're cute!!! They like the bubbles! lol