Berbies Fishless Cycle

[berbie38]

Hi all
My fishless cycle is now complete,many thanks to all that have helped especially eagles who guided me all the way through. Tommorrow I am going to do a 90% water change to get rid of Nitrates and refill the tank with dechlorinated water.What should i do with the filter whilst changing the water, could it dry out and i lose all the beneficial bacteria i have gained? What then: do i just leave the clean water for a day and then fll with fish? I am going for Malawi cichlids; how mant can i put in at first ?? any thoughts much appreciated
best wishes
berbie

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Don't worry about your filter, it will be fine during the water change. If you are concerned, just put it into a bucket of tank water to be safe, but it isn't necessary. The water change shouldn't take too long, so the bacs will be fine. Do the water change 12-24 hours before you add the fish and everything should be fine. Be sure to adjust the temp so that the tank is the correct temp for the fish, not the bacs.

And you are very welcome.

 

[librarygirl]

Hey, congratulations on your cycle! Pics of your fish when you get them would be great!

 

[berbie38]

Yes I was thinking of some pics will get them up in the next few days, cheers all
best wishes
berbie

 

[berbie38]

Hi all
just did an 80% water change after fishless cycling but still have a reading of about 40 nitrate is this ok or should i take out some more water.
best wishes berbie

 

[KittyKat]

The lower the better, but 40 ppm of nitrate is not unusual.. I generally advise 95-100% water change if possible, but that's because think it's good to start afresh.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1


There is no need to do another water change, but there is also no reason not to do one. It really is up to you. In theory, the fish you are getting will be coming from established tanks, so they will be used to nitrate levels in their water, and probably at far higher values than you have (acclimatizing is always advisable, even though you will see some members claim to have never done it and never had a problem).

I forget, did you dose your tank with baking soda at all? How close is the pH of the tank to the pH of your tap after it sits out? If these values are very close, then there is no need to do another water change. If they are fairly disparate, then you might want to do another, just to get the values much closer to each other. (Remember, the closer your tank's parameters are to your tap water, the easier it is to use a massive water change as a good "cure-all" initial first aid step if anything should go wrong.)

 

[berbie38]

the ph i ususlly 8 same as tap water. I have done another water change just to get things perfect. ps didnt use baking soda
regards
berbie