Fishless Cycling

[rdd1952]

I tried to find some info on the Aqua Tech filters on the net but couldn't find anything. Who are those made by?

 

[Stephensd30]

I tried to find some info on the Aqua Tech filters on the net but couldn't find anything. Who are those made by?

On the bottom of the box it says Regent and Aqua-Tech are trademarks of AQUARIA, Inc.

I did a search this morning on google and yahoo and can't find much except where people are selling them.


Here is everything on the box:
Regent and Aqua-Tech are trademarks of Aquaris, Inc
Regent Pet Products Manufactured by Marineland


I did a search on Marineland but can't find Aqua-tech there. Aqua-Tech may be a private label for Wal-Mart as that is what they sell.

Just for the heck of it I did a water test this morning:

Ammonia 0
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0
GH 75
KH 120
pH 7.8

 

[rdd1952]

Aqua-Tech may be a private label for Wal-Mart as that is what they sell.

That's kind of what I thought but I couldn't find them on their website. I know that Top Fin is a private label for Petsmart.

 

[Stephensd30]

Aqua-Tech may be a private label for Wal-Mart as that is what they sell.

That's kind of what I thought but I couldn't find them on their website. I know that Top Fin is a private label for Petsmart.

Good morning
Here's my results:

Base Reading 7:15 pm
Ammonia 4 ppm
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0

1st Reading 11:30 pm

Ammonia 2.5 ppm
Nitrate 40
Nitrite .5

2nd Reading 3:45 am

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate 40
Nitrite .5

Final Reading 5:30 am

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0


With my ammonia and nitrite coming back to zero is there a chance that I missed an off the wall reading on nitrite?? I tested for it daily though. The only thing that I did that varied from the directions was partway through the cycling, I did add an air strip. It's about 7 inches long to put more O2 in the water.

 

[rdd1952]

Obviously, the nitrite is going some where but I'm not sure where. I still wonder if there is something in the filters that is removing it. On the flip side of that though is the fact that you do have 40 ppm of nitrate. So unless your tap water has nitrate, some nitrite is being processed. If you haven't checked the tap water already, I would do that to see if it does contain nitrate. If that proves positive, it may be that your tank cycled without ever having a nitrite spike.

 

[dgwebster]

ok, this is weird as its similar to what im getting, but i have a massively lower nitrate level.

I was getting 24 hours after raising ammonia to ~4ppm:

PH: 7.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0.25~0.5ppm
Nitrate: ~10ppm

So last night, i raised the ammonia to about 6ppm. Tonight, 24 hours later I received:

PH: 6.0
Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: ~10ppm

I plan to check again at about 7pm, by then the ammonia should have reached 0ppm. I will add ammonia to raise to 4ppm and check 4 hours after and again at 14 hours (cos its saturday in the morning and I want a little bit of a lay in, my alarm has went off at 5.45am every day this week and i never got to sleep before midnight each day either.)

 

[Stephensd30]

Obviously, the nitrite is going some where but I'm not sure where. I still wonder if there is something in the filters that is removing it. On the flip side of that though is the fact that you do have 40 ppm of nitrate. So unless your tap water has nitrate, some nitrite is being processed. If you haven't checked the tap water already, I would do that to see if it does contain nitrate. If that proves positive, it may be that your tank cycled without ever having a nitrite spike.

I tested my tap water, there's no nitrates present. I think I will get 5 or 6 zebra danio. I don't want to put a lot of stock in at once and give them a few weeks. If they seem stressed I will pull them out and take them back to lfs immediately.

Thanks soooo much for your help and input.

 

[severina]

I just wanted to add that the brand "Cycle" actually does work. When my nitrites were at about 7ppm I added Cycle to the water and when I tested the next day it was at 1 ppm. So yeah...the stuff works. I was so thrown off I tested the water twice

 

[rdd1952]

I just wanted to add that the brand "Cycle" actually does work. When my nitrites were at about 7ppm I added Cycle to the water and when I tested the next day it was at 1 ppm. So yeah...the stuff works. I was so thrown off I tested the water twice

If that had happened with ammonia, I would say that it probably does prove that it works. When the ammonia spike ends, it is usually gradual dropping 1 to 2 ppm a day over 2 or 3 days. With nitrite though, the sudden large drop is normal. At the end of the nitrite spike, it will go from off the chart high to 0 literally over night (or in about 10 to 12 hours). So it really depends on how long the nitrite had been high as to whether the Cycle worked or not.

 

[severina]

It had been like that for several weeks.

 

[rdd1952]

If the nitrite had been that high for several weeks, it could have very well been the normal end and the Cycle had nothing to do with it (although it's possible it did too). As I said, when the nitrite spike drops at the end of a normal fishless cycle, it will go from off the chart to 0 in less than 24 hours.

 

[Squid]

When you do the big water change at the end of the fishless cycle, i was going to use the hose to fill up the tank, then add some hot water to help bring it up to temperature. Now, i filled the tank up on saturday to start the fishless cycle, and the water from the hose was a tad cold. I was wondering if this may have an affect on the bacteria if i did the same thing at the end of the cycle.. Between what temperatures does the bacteria need to be.. Can you kill it off with too hot or too cold water..

Sorry if its a daft question..

Squid

 

[fulltilt]

I'd be more worried with the chlorine. I'm pretty sure the chlorine will kill the bacteria.

 

[Squid]

Thats a fair point. thanks.... would be a pain to do the whole cycle, then muck it all up on the last day eh.

I know that people with python syphons add directly into the tank and add the water safe at the same time, but i guess they are only doing 25% water change or so.. How instantaneous is the water safe stuff, in comparison to the effect of chlorine on bacteria???

Thanks

Squid.

 

[fulltilt]

Mate, read my sig. I'm dreading my big water changes, but I'll be adding the water by the bucket and treating each bucket as it goes in.