Fishless Cycling of a 125L Tank

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Pricey_Jnr

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Hello all! I'm in the process of cycling my tank (fishless)
And just wanted to check I'm doing everything okay and that I just need a little more patience.
I've been following the tank cycle guide which is posted in here.
I've only got water, natural gravel, filter and a heater in the tank, I'm waiting to add bogwood, plants etc once cycled.

My Ammonia levels have dropped from 3ppm to roughly 1.5 with no sign of Nitrite yet, is this normal? and also do I need to top it back up to 3ppm regardless of there being no Nitrite yet? I'm on day 19 as of today.


GH is 4°
KH is 3°
Temperature is 28°
Chlorine 0

My water is fairly soft, I'm not sure if it's a little too far on the soft side. The strip test is showing a pH around 6.5/6 and the API test is as shown below..
f0a9d4b5f0866ef29fa798499c95a5b0.jpg


I also grabbed this from my water suppliers website for my area...
6fff0cacab1677e504f0edb7c3572a90.jpg


My Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate tests are here..
Ammonia
a017ffc7dfb2ed03424cd69928b21f1d.jpg

Nitrite
ce647823f1b83408647b3b03a66c898e.jpg

Nitrate
595ec3ad357825174fd6f07e9cf41a0f.jpg




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Hi and welcome to the forum :)

If you increase aeration/ surface turbulence it will help the bacteria develop. And try to increase the pH so it is around 7.0. If the pH is too low it can stall the cycle. You can use Sodium Bicarbonate (available from any supermarket) to increase the pH.

Normally if the ammonia is going down then you should start to see some nitrite. However, the nitrite level can start off slowly and then suddenly shoot up.
 
Thanks for the response, Colin.
I've got the aeration and turbulence going at it's most.
I forgot to mention that the pH test I posted was prior to adding the 1st Ammonia dose.
Afterwards I tested it was around pH8

I wanted to try and steer clear from altering my pH levels and work with what I've got out of the tap.
Would I have to keep adding Bicarbonate soda after the cycle has finished, or just to get my tap water (dechlorinated) pH up to help the process along?

I'll give it another week or two so see if any Nitrite show up with the API test.

Sent from my EML-L09 using Tapatalk
 
The bicarbonate of soda is just for during cycling. As you have soft water there is a very good chance your KH (carbonate hardness) is also low. You will read in the cycling guide of here that the bacteria need carbonate to grow well, and adding bicarbonate of soda provides them with carbonate where KH is low.
There is also the risk with low KH that once nitrite and nitrate appear you will have a pH crash, which will stall the cycle. Boosting KH with bicarbonate of soda helps to prevent this.

Once the cycle is complete, drain the tank to the substrate and refill. This will remove just about all the bicarbonate of soda and reset the tank water back to the same as your tap water. Provided you do weekly 50% water changes once you have fish, this should be enough to keep your KH topped up. I have KH 3 degrees and that works for me.



Look in the home baking aisle at the supermarket for bicarbonate of soda, or you may already have some in the kitchen cupboard.
 
FINALLY! Nitrite has made its debut in my tank! I'm well chuffed [emoji869] I was getting to think my waters parameters were going to be a bit of a PITA.

Day 23:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 4.0 ppm
Nitrate 5/10ppm
Anyone else get a feeling of relief when this happened to them the first time? [emoji23]

Just gave my tank another full dose of Ammonia and now to wait for the rise and fall of Nitrite!

Am I right in saying I need to add a snack dose of 1/3 when I get two Ammonia readings of 0 whilst doing my every other day tests from here on out?

Here's some pretty pictures for you, too [emoji16] the phone camera doesn't do the colours justice, I've discovered!

7a7ee088d993fca18a9f33dc7f01cfd9.jpg
1f1150f99c42d2cf474bd18d889018bd.jpg
d1307ba28a42c4f25e3d52c94751b2ea.jpg



Sent from my EML-L09 using Tapatalk
 

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