Hi all,

I started my fishless cycle on Sunday and my NitrIte levels already seem very high. The tank is a Trigon 190, using the standard filter and heater provided, with Carbisea Eco Complete subtrate, about 10 plants, some bog wood and slate. I estimate there to be about 150-160L water in there.

The tank was filled with Decholrinated water (I used API Stress Coat+).
The temprature was set to approx 28c
One the tank was heated I added approx 40ml of Stess Zyme

These are the readings from the API test kits so far:

Base Line Tap Water:

PH: 6.8
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

Day 1 (Sunday 13th April)

Tank base line Ammonia reading was 0.25ppm
Added approx 9ml of Homebase Ammonia 9.5%
Ammonia rose to over 4ppm (somewhere between 4 and 8ppm on the test kit results card)
I didn't test for PH or NitrIte

Day 2 (Monday 14th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 2ppm
NitrIte: 5ppm
I didn't test for PH


Day 3 (Tuesday 15th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrIte: A shade between 2ppm & 5ppm
I didn't test for PH

Day 4 (Wednesday 16th April)

Tested Ammonia at 9pm
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrIte: A shade between 2ppm & 5ppm
I didn't test for PH

Day 5 (Thursday 17th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrIte: 5ppm
I didn't test for PH

Day 6 (Friday 18th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrIte: 5ppm
PH: 7.4

I added more Ammonia

New Ammonia Reading: 4ppm

Day 7 (Saturday 19th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 2ppm
NitrIte: 5ppm
PH: 7.2

Day 8 (Sunday 20th April)

Tested Ammonia at 7.30pm
Ammonia: 2ppm
NitrIte: Did not test
PH: Did not test

Day 9 (Monday 21st April)

Tested Ammonia at 5.00pm
Ammonia: 2ppm
NitrIte: Suddenly dropped to 0.50 ppm
PH: 7.2

When I got home from the dentist (OUCH) my tank seemed to have a sudden explosion of algea on the rocks, plants and back ground. Also there seemed to be a few more snails doing the rounds. I have removed the snails, got as much of the algea off the tank as possible. I think the sudden drop in NitrItes was down the algea. Can anyone let me know if I'm correct in this assumption please?

Day 10 (Tuesday 22nd April)

Tested Ammonia at 6.00pm
Ammonia: 2ppm
NitrIte: 0.25 ppm
PH: 7.6

Day 11 (Wednesday 23rd April)

Tested Ammonia at 6.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25 ppm
PH: 7.6

Add Ammonia to take it back to 4.00ppm

Day 12 (Thursday 24th April)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: Did not test
PH: Did not test

I will test again tonight

Tested Ammonia at 6.00pm
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25ppm
PH: Did not test

So no real change!

Day 13 (Friday 25th April)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: Did not test
PH: Did not test

Tested Ammonia at 6.00pm
Ammonia: 2.00ppm but a shade between 1 and 2ppm
NitrIte: 0.25ppm
PH: 7.2

Day 14 (Saturday 26th April)

Tested Ammonia at 10.20am
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: Did not test

I raised Ammonia back to 4.00ppm

Tested Ammonia at 6.00pm
Ammonia: 2.00ppm - its starting to move within 1 day now!
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: 7.2

Day 15 (Sunday 27th April)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: 7.2

I raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm too see it will process to 0 today.

Day 16 (Monday 28th April)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: Between 0.50 ppm & 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 6.30pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: 7.2

I have raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm and it looks like ammonia is processing in around 36 hours now!

Day 17 (Tuesday 29th April)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: Between 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 6.30pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: 7.2

I have raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm and it looks like ammonia is processing in around 24 hours now!

I did do a 10% or so water change also as the Algea in the tank was everywhere so I wiped it all off where possible and sucked it up!

Day 18 (Wednesday 30th April)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: Between 0.50ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 6.45pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.20ppm
PH: 7.2

I have raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm and it looks like ammonia is processing in under 24 hours now! Still no NitrIte spike though! Should I be raising ammonia to 4ppm? Any advice ladies and gents?

Day 19 (Thursday 1st May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: Between 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 6.30pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00ppm
PH: 7.2

I have raised Ammonia back to inbetween 2.00ppm and 4.00ppm it looks like I added a bit too much ammonia.

Day 20 (Friday 2nd May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.20am
Ammonia: Between 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 6.30pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25ppm
PH: 7.2

I have raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm

Day 21 (Saturday 3rd May)

Tested Ammonia at 9.00am
Ammonia: Between 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 7.2

I raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm

Tested Ammonia at 5.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 2.00ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 10.00pm
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 2.00ppm
PH: 7.2

I have raised Ammonia back to 2.00ppm

Day 22 (Sunday 4th May)

Tested Ammonia at 10.00am
Ammonia: Between 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 12.00pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 7.2

I raised Ammonia back to between 2.00 and 4.00 ppm

Tested Ammonia at 10.30pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 2.00ppm
PH: 7.2

Day 23 (Monday 5th May)

Tested Ammonia at 10.00am
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
PH: 6.8

Tested Ammonia at 2.00pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
PH: Did not test

I raised Ammonia back to between 2.00 and 4.00 ppm at 5pm

Tested Ammonia at 9.15pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
PH: 6.8

It looks like the NitrIte is spiking although me and the significant other have debated which shade of purple he API tests are bringing up! (She thinks its 2ppm and I think its closer to 5ppm).

Day 24 (Tuesday 6th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
PH: 6.8

I raised Ammonia back to between 2.00 and 4.00 ppm.

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
PH: 6.8

Ammonia has definatly slowed down as it was processing in 12 hours and now it going over.

Also I'm having a major problem with Algea. Im getting diatoms everywhere and substantial Green hair algea, which I have removed as much of the hair algea as possible and also some algea that looks like the hair algea but is red?!? I think this is down to adding some liquid fert a week or so back for the plants. I would love to do a substantial water change to bring the nutrients down in the water but I dont want to stop my cycle. Any advice guys?

Day 25 (Wednesday 7th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 6.8

It took the Ammonia 14 hours to process and the Nitrites went from 5ppm to 0 overnight.

I raised Ammonia back to between 2.00 and 4.00 ppm.

Tested Ammonia at 7.30pm
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 6.8

Tested Ammonia at 9.00pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
PH: 6.8

Ammonia is definatly processing in 13 hours or less now.

Should I now be adding Ammonia as soon as it drops to 0.00 or should I only be adding Ammonia once a day?

Ammonia was raised back to 5ppm at 10.40pm

Day 26 (Thursday 8th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00pm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 6.8

Tested Ammonia at 10.20pm
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 >
PH: 6.8

Ammonia is now taking over 24 hours to process after raising it back up to 5ppm from 2-4ppm and NitrIte seems to be rising again. I have not added any ammonia today and will re test at 8am tomorrow then add ammonia if it is down to 0ppm. Does this seem correct?

Day 27 (Friday 9th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
NitrAte: 10
PH: 6.8

Ammonia raised to 5.00ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 6.8

Day 28 (Saturday 10th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 2.00pm
NitrAte: 20
PH: 6.8

I tested throughout the day and Ammonia is processing in 30 hours at present

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.50ppm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 6.8

Ammonia raised to 5.00ppm

Day 29 (Sunday 11th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00pm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 6.8

On advice I did an 80% water change. The result after the water change were:

Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25ppm
PH: 7.6

Ammonia raised to 5.00ppm at 7.50pm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 5.00ppm
NitrIte: Did not test
NitrAte: Did not test
PH: 7.6

Day 30 (Monday 12th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00pm
NitrAte: 0.00 ppm
PH: 7.2

Tested Ammonia at 8.45pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.8

The water looks a hell of a lot clearer after the water change and the algea seems ot be dying down, fingers crossed!

Ammonia raised to 5.00ppm at 8.45pm

Day 31 (Tuesday 13th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00pm
NitrAte: I did not test
PH: 6.8

Tested Ammonia at 8.30pm
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.8

Day 32 (Wednesday 14th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25pm
NitrAte: 10>
PH: 6.8

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.2

Day 33 (Thursday 15th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
PH: 6.8

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.2

PH Crashed!

I did a 50/60% water change.

Ammonia reading after water change: 0.50ppm
PH reading after water change: 6.8

Day 34 (Friday 16th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
PH: 6.8

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.0

Ammonia is neeeeeeeaaarly there in the 12 hours...... as for Nitrite who knows?!?

Day 35 (Saturday 17th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00pm
PH: 7.0

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.0

Day 36 (Sunday 18th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00pm
PH: 7.0

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.0

Day 37 (Monday 19th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25pm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 7.0

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.8

Day 38 (Tuesday 20th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25pm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 6.67

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm <
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.69

Day 39 (Wednesday 21st May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25pm
NitrAte: 20
PH: 6.26

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm (My wife thought the shade was far closer to 1ppm than 5ppm)
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.49

Day 40 (Thursday 22nd May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
NitrIte: 0.25pm
NitrAte: 20
PH: 6.10

PH Crashed

I did an 80% water change.

After the water change there was 0.25ppm Ammonia still in the tank. I added an additional 3ppm Ammonia at around 8.30am
PH was raised to around 7.3

Tested Ammonia at 8.10pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm so its still not there
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.28

Bugger.....

Day 41 (Friday 23rd May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
NitrAte: 20>
PH: 7.09

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm< so its still not there
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.20

Day 42 (Saturday 24th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
NitrAte: 40
PH: 7.22

Raised Ammonia to 4.00ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm<
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.22

Day 43 (Sunday 25th May)

Well after much deliberation I have decided to add some stock to the tank.

Today I added:

17 Rummy Nose Tetra's (got 2 for free)
3 Apistogramma cacatuoides (1 male, 2 females)
3 Apistogramma borellii (1 male, 2 females)
4 Amano Shrimps
2 Cherry Shrimps (I wanted 4 but there were only 2 in stock)

This is about half of the stock I'm looking to add Cardinals, Corys and Oto's in the future. I will be keeping a very close eye on the water conditions for the next week or so until I'm sure eveything is ok.

The fish were added at 4pm.

I tested at 6pm:

Ammonia 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00ppm

I fed them 2 small pinches of food at around 7.30pm

I tested again at 10pm:

Ammonia 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00ppm

So far so good but I think the big test will be once they are fed on a regular basis.

On a different note its is amazing watching the confidence of the fish increase through the evening. The Rummy Nose Tetra's went from being pale to have bright red noses again by lights out and from swimming around the bottom of the tan hour or so after I turned the lights back on (after stocking the tank) to being all over the tank except right at the back. The Apisto's have already seemed to stake claims for parts of the tank. The A.Borrelli have taken the bog wood and doesnt like either the Cocotuoides of his 2 female Borrelli buddies. Both groups of Apisto females came out of their shells far quicker than the males and so far.... everything seems ok.... oh and the shrimps are funny as hell to watch darting around the tank!

This post has been edited by stormy78: May 26 2008, 12:11 PM

Thats looking great Should be done soon !

Fingers crossed I was a bit worried about the NitrIte level being so high as the cycle is only 2 days in and looking at other threads it generally takes a week or so for the NitrIte to get to that level. I will post tonights test results when I get them

That happened with my eheim filter when I cycled, and it was fine.

As long as you keep going, eventually the ammonia and nitrite will fall to 0 and your nitrate readings should come up.

what are you planning on putting in to start with ?

Ideally I want to have some Rams, Cardinals, Corys and Octos, maybe some other Tetra's but I'm not sure what yet and possibly a bristlenose Plec or 2. Do you have any suggestions on which I should add first? The wife wanted Angels but following advice given on here I dont think we will have them due to the size of our tank.

Todays test results are now on

Todays test results are now on

This post has been edited by stormy78: Apr 16 2008, 08:28 PM

Day 5 (Thursday 17th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrIte: 5ppm
I didn't test for PH

Does this look ok to other forum members so far? The ammonia just seems to be holding steady and the nitrIte is not budging. Any tips or advice would be cool. Thanks!

This post has been edited by stormy78: Apr 18 2008, 05:27 PM

Hi stormy78,

I too started my fishless cycle on Sunday.

My results are almost identical to yours except today my Ammonia reading is at 0 and Nitrite is off the chart.

Added some more Ammonia to fetch it up to 4.0ppm, so will see what happens.

Keep with it and possible tomorow you will see Ammonia drop to 0.

Good luck

Thanks for the feedback! Its good to know that things are generally going ok

Hi Stormy,

It may be that you are reading the results under the wrong light or something. These colour cards are very open to interpretation.

I would suggest that you should top ammonia back up to 4ppm and see how it goes from there.

Also, it may be an idea to test your pH incase it has crashed and stalled your cycle.

Cheers

BTT

Thanks for the advice, Im reading the test results in natural daylight by the window in my kitchen is that ok?

I added some more Stress Coat this morning (it cant hinder the process) and will test for Ammonia, NitrIte and PH tonight. I think the PH is holding steady at 7.2, the ammonia is raising it from the base line of 6.8 out of the tap (which should be ideal for Tetra's and Rams I plan to keep). Fingers crossed I see some movement in the ammonia tonight tonight

Day 6 (Friday 18th April)

Tested Ammonia at 6pm
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrIte: 5ppm
PH: 7.4

I added more Ammonia

New Ammonia Reading: 4ppm

That sounds fine.

Your results for day 6 sound fine too. You may notice more movement with ammonia topped up to 4ppm.

pH is also fine. Everything is fine!

Patience is all that is required, my friend.

BTT

Thanks, I plan to test the Ammonia again tonight at 6pm, along with NitrIte and PH. I did a quick Ammonia test this morning and it already seems to have dropped slightly to a shade between 2 and 4 ppm