Getting fishless cycling started!

[GJF]

Afternoon Everyone,

I am just new to the forums and new to fishkeeping in general and so looking for some like minded individuals to offer some advice.

I have a 125l Fluval Roma which I have had set up for 7 days. On setting the tank up I dosed ammonia to approx 3ppm using Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride. A couple of days later my water appeared cloudy and I attributed this to a bacterial bloom which I thought to be a positive.

As of today, a week later, Ammonia levels have not changed at all and nitrites are still non existent. My driftwood within my tank has developed a brown hair algae so I dont know if this is a positive thing or not.

I have live plants within my tank and the temperature is set to 82/28°. On doing my water tests today I found my pH to be at 6.4. Is this possibly preventing the cycle from starting?

Am I being too impatient or have I possibly done something wrong at some point? Many thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[Essjay]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

The cloudiness would have been a bacterial bloom, but these are not the bacteria we need to grow. The kind we want to grow 'eat' nitrogen based food and they live in the biofilm which is attached to surfaces. The bloom bacteria eat carbon based food and they live free floating in the water. The bacteria we want multiply slowly but the bloom bacteria multiply very quickly - they become so numerous we see them as the cloudiness.

When I did a fishless cycle, it took 3 weeks for the ammonia to drop and 7 weeks fro the cycle to complete, this is a long process.

What kind of plants do you have, and just a few or a lot? Many plants cannot cope with adding 3 ppm ammonia in one go. When there are fish in the tank they make ammonia in tiny amounts every minute of the day so there isn't a sudden input of ammonia like with fishless cycling.
Plants use ammonia as fertiliser. When there are a lot of fast growing plants, they will take up all the ammonia made by the fish before the bacteria have change to eat it. The fact that the ammonia isn't dropping suggests you have only a few plants, or slow growing plants.

A couple of things you could try - get some Tetra Safe Start and use it to speed up the cycle. Or get some more plants, particularly floating plants. because they live on the water surface they are very near the light and can get carbon dioxide from the air so they are fast growers and use ammonia faster than plants lower in the water.

 

[GJF]

Thanks for the quick reply!

And yes you're correct, I only have an Amazon sword, and a couple of hygrophilia rosae Australis so not too many plants.

From your experience it would appear that patience is the key, just that as this is all new to me I'm concerned I've maybe done something wrong.

Is the pH something to be concerned about?

 

[Waterstrider]

You can also feed small amounts of fish food, yes small, to keep something slowly breaking down. Everyone does this differently

 

[CB008]

I have exactly the same tank as you. I used Fluval Cycle exactly as per the instructions adding for the first 3 days, then after water changes etc. After 9 days I had no ammonia or Nitrate so added 6 Zebra Danios. They produced no Nitrate spike at all. 10 days after I added 6 Cardinal Tetras and again had no Amonia or Nitrate spike. I am not using strips but the expensive droplets. I have a heavily planted tank. My conclusion is that Fluval Cycle actually does what it says on the tin.

 

[GJF]

Thanks very much for the advice! Should I be doing water changes during cycling??

 

[Essjay]

Historically, Fluval Cyle did not work as it contained the wrong species of nitrite eating bacteria. Tetra Safe Start and Dr Tim's One & Only are known to contain the correct species.

Adding fish food is instead of adding ammonia. But it is not as controllable as using ammonia as we cannot know how many ppm the food breaks down to.

Unfortunately, your pH will make the cycle go slower. It also suggests you have low KH as soft water and low pH usually go together. Once the cycle is finished, this is not a problem as long as you keep soft water fish. But for cycling, it could do with being a bit higher.
Do you mind wasting money on something you won't use again? If you are happy to do this you could buy some Rift Lake salts and add those to the tank. They would raise hardness (GH), carbonate hardness (KH) and pH. At the end of the cycle you need to do a very large water change and this would remove the Rift Lake salts ready for soft water fish.

Or buy some water sprite and use it as a floating plant. I got mine from Ebay as not many shops sell it. Most sellers seem to use the Latin name, Ceratopteris. Most soft water fish come from areas with overhanging vegetation so when you have fish they'd appreciate the cover.

 

[CB008]

Thanks very much for the advice! Should I be doing water changes during cycling??

Hey I’m just a total newbie. I have simply followed the videos step by step on Maidenhead Aquatics website, fishkeeper.co.uk, first time fishkeeper tab

 

[GJF]

Thanks for the suggestion essjay but would rather not be spending any more money on that wont have a long term value. I read that bicarbonate of soda can raise pH or is that not the case?

As long as low pH will not prevent cycling, I can deal with it if its merely going to prolong things

 

[Essjay]

It isn't really approved but yes, you can use bicarbonate of soda. You need to make sure you do a total water change at the end of cycling to remove it all because the soda part is sodium, and fish have not evolved to deal with a large amount of sodium in the water.
Use 1 tablespoon/15 ml spoon for every 50 litres. If your 125 litre tank actually holds 125 litres, that's two and a half tablespoons/15 ml spoons. Most manufacturers give the tank volume as the space occupied by the tank not the volume of water it will hold. Quoted volumes usually include the thickness of the glass and the air space above the water; and of course the substrate and decor displace some of the water.


Or you could wait it out, especially of you intend more live plants. Once you have fish your low pH, and probably soft water, is not a problem as long as you choose fish suited to that water. Have you looked for your water hardness yet? Most water provider's websites will give it; you need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several) rather that some vague words.




I would be wary about following a shop's instructions for setting up a tank.

 

[GJF]

Thanks again essjay, I think I'll just play the long game and give it time rather than interfering with things unnecessarily.

I spoke with Scottish Water and they advised that the hardness of the water in my area is 19.08 mg/l CaCo3.

 

[Essjay]

That's very soft as I suspected with your pH being so low and you living in Scotland. 19.08 mg/l CaCO3 is the same as 19.08 ppm, and it converts to 1 dH. Fish profiles use either ppm or dH so you need to know your hardness in both.

 

[GJF]

Again that's good to know! I think the fish I've been thinking about will be alright given these parameters. As long as the cycle will get going with such conditions I will wait it out.

Would you recommend water changes during the cycling process?

 

[Essjay]

Given how soft your water is, water changes might help.
Your KH will also be low, and if you've read the cycling instructions thread on here you'll see that the bacteria need inorganic carbon - KH - to grow well. Your low KH will be used up quickly which will also allow the pH to drop. Water changes will replenish KH from your tap water, though it won't be much with your soft water.
If you do a water change, test the ammonia before and add ammonia to get it back to roughly the same level.

 

[seangee]

I have a heavily planted tank. My conclusion is that Fluval Cycle actually does what it says on the tin.

The heavily planted tank is the key here. It obviously depends on what you mean by heavily planted - but if the plants are all growing actively they will deal with the ammonia even if the filter is not cycled.