Questions about fishless cycle in 38g

[dearmschris]

Hello,

I'm a beginner trying to do a fishless cycle and I am hoping someone might be willing to take a look at what I've been doing with my tank and tell me if I'm doing ok so far. I'm doing my best to be patient and I'm happy to keep on waiting and being patient as long as I'm doing things right! If I'm doing things wrong please let me know what I could do better. Thanks!

38g bowfront tank with Penguin biowheel filter

7/22 -- set up tank (including lights, filter), rinsed gravel and decorations, filled with water treated with QuickStart. (I have since been told that QuickStart is fairly useless.) I looked for ammonia without surfactants and wasn't able to find it near me so I ordered Dr. Tim's Aquatics ammonia drops online and waited for that to arrive. I also ordered Seachem stability which was recommended to me by another member.

7/25 -- tested water (using API Freshwater Master Test Kit) to get some kind of baseline
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0 -- 0.25 PPM
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm

7/27 -- added Seachem Stability (day 1 -- one capful per 20 gallons, as directed) and Dr. Tim's Aquatics ammonia drops (one drop per gallon, as directed)

7/28 -- added Seachem Stability (day 2)
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0 -- 0.25 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm

7/29 -- added Seachem Stability (day 3)
pH: 7.2
ammonia: 0.25 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm

7/30 -- added Seachem Stability (day 4)
pH: 7.2
ammonia: 0.5 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm

7/31 -- added Seachem Stability (day 5), added Dr. Tim's Aquatics ammonia drops (1 drop per gallon)
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0.5 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm

***Does all of this sound ok? If not, what can I do to get things on the right track?

***Seachem Stability says "Fish and other aquatic species may be introduced at any time as long as dosage is maintained for 7 days." Is this true? I thought I needed to wait until the tank was cycled. Of course I'd love to add a few fish if it is safe for them but the reason I chose to do a fishless cycle was because I read that it could be harmful or at least uncomfortable for fish to be in the tank before it is completely cycled.

Thank you very much.

 

[Delapool]

Hi, welcome to the forum

Below are some articles to help out. I would wait until the tank is cycled before adding fish imo.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ou-get-started-with-your-aquarium-154837.html

 

[dearmschris]

Thank you! Yes, I am still waiting. No nitrites yet but maybe today is the day!

 

[Delapool]

Can be a long waiting game unfortunately

I assume this is fish less cycling so wouldn't be worried if ammonia ended up getting dosed higher (rather than lower). Ph looks nicely in range for the bacteria.

Do you have a heater going?

 

[Barliman]

Your progress looks great to me, so far. I did the same process (Dr. Tim's ammonia and Seachem Stability) and I think it sped my cycle up by a couple of weeks. You want to get your ammonia to between 2-4ppm and then let it sit until it reaches zero. Then add more ammonia to reach 2-4ppm and let it sit again. You want to reach a point that the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle reaches zero for ammonia and nitrites 24 hours after you add ammonia. At that point, you're ready for fish.

Back to Stability, just do the seven-day cycle as they recommend. You don't need to keep adding it after that. The ammonia you're adding will feed the bacteria.

 

[dearmschris]

Can be a long waiting game unfortunately

I assume this is fish less cycling so wouldn't be worried if ammonia ended up getting dosed higher (rather than lower). Ph looks nicely in range for the bacteria.

Do you have a heater going?

Thank you! Yes, as I mentioned in my post it is a fishless cycle. And yes, I do have a heater. I have it set for higher than it will be set once there are fish in there because I heard that is helpful for the cycling process. Thanks again for the reply!

 

[dearmschris]

Your progress looks great to me, so far. I did the same process (Dr. Tim's ammonia and Seachem Stability) and I think it sped my cycle up by a couple of weeks. You want to get your ammonia to between 2-4ppm and then let it sit until it reaches zero. Then add more ammonia to reach 2-4ppm and let it sit again. You want to reach a point that the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle reaches zero for ammonia and nitrites 24 hours after you add ammonia. At that point, you're ready for fish.

Back to Stability, just do the seven-day cycle as they recommend. You don't need to keep adding it after that. The ammonia you're adding will feed the bacteria.

Thank you so much for commenting! Good to hear that the same process worked out for you. Yes, I added Seachem Stability for seven days but haven't added more since then. Updated numbers below but I think you've confirmed what I thought and I just need to keep on being patient. (Not my strong suit but I'm trying!) I guess I hope dosing the ammonia to 2 ppm was enough! Thanks again for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

8/1 -- added Seachem Stability (Day 6)
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 1 ppm
nitrites: 0 ppm
nitrates: 0 ppm

8/2 -- added Seachem Stability (Day 7)
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 2 ppm
nitrites: 0 ppm
nitrates: 0 ppm

8/3
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 2 ppm
nitrites: 0 ppm
nitrates: 0 ppm

8/4
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 2 ppm
nitrites: 0 ppm
nitrates: 0 ppm

 

[Barliman]

Looks good to me.