Miles' Fishless Cycle

[Miles_hot]

Certainly I am very glad that we did fishless and it is indeed getting very boring however jacking stuck it out this far we're not ready to skimp on a few days / weeks more to get the right result. We will get to the double zero in 12 hours so that we can do full load of we want to - it would be moat annoying to have to do a fish in cycle at the end of this period !

 

[KittyKat]

It wouldn't be a fish-in cycle because the bacteria are already there in numbers.. it's very considerate of you to keep sticking at it, even after this long! I'm not sure I have seen anyone with as much patience as you have.

 

[Miles_hot]

There's an increasingly thin line between consideration/dedication etc and pig headed bloody mindedness

 

[Miles_hot]

Also surely if I started to put fish in now we would effectively be part of the way through a fish in cycle just not right at the beginning?

Just got a call with the results : ammonia 0, nitrite 2. This is really odd - how can it do 5 5ppm during the day and only 2 at night?. The filter is exposed to the well lit room (our hall) and given it is semi transparent could there be a light / energy element in play?

Miles

 

[KittyKat]

Also surely if I started to put fish in now we would effectively be part of the way through a fish in cycle just not right at the beginning?

Not quite.. even now your filter is completely cycled to add x number of fish. The difference is that you're aiming to have n * x number of fish with the 12 hour range. n * x is usually still not the full stocking that the tank will take, just a high starting stock.

As for topping up stocking later, we do not consider it to be fish-in cycling because the bacteria multiply fast enough to deal with a 5-20+ % increase in stocking so that there is normally no change in ammonia or nitrite readings (both remain at 0 ppm). If in doubt, just don't feed on the day you add new fish or take a few weeks to increase feeding to compensate for the new fish.

Also, once planted, the tank can actually take a higher change in stocking because the plants will use up any excess ammonia, so again, that helps with the no change in readings.

As for your readings, I do not have an explanation for them.

 

[Miles_hot]

We are cycled!!! Now three days into the qualifying period. I will update the log on Sunday when I've got a litte time.

Now to sort the substrate, think about when to plant and finalise the fish listing (going to pre order on Sunday and sort the stocking sequence out with Coxwell).

Whoop Whoop.

Miles

 

[KittyKat]

Congratulations and good luck!

Sand for the loaches, plants and barbs; gouramis; loaches.

 

[librarygirl]

Congratulations Miles! I'm just studying your log to compare mine, since I'm having a heck of a time getting mine cycled. It seems so far our cycles are similar, other than you started having nitrites on day 52, and I think last night was day 51 for me and no nitrites at all so far. Your cycle does give me some hope, although if mine takes longer or doesn't cycle at all I'll probably never know whether to give up or keep waiting and at this rate I'll be waiting forever. LOL Anyway, thanks for posting your log, it gives me a bit of hope.

 

[Miles_hot]

Just stick at it, we covered the tank on a thick table clothe and having that off last might.for a.few hours to put the sand in was quite a shock - there's a real fish tank under there!

 

[XeroTolerance]

Congratulations!

 

[Tizer]

At last, fishies inc!

 

[Miles_hot]

Ah, no - still looking a the x factor style cutouts we made to help us chose the fish - fish ordered and will be collected in 2 weeks time

 

[Halo2928]

We are cycled!!! Now three days into the qualifying period. I will update the log on Sunday when I've got a litte time.

Now to sort the substrate, think about when to plant and finalise the fish listing (going to pre order on Sunday and sort the stocking sequence out with Coxwell).

Whoop Whoop.

Miles

Congratz mate!, i bet you must be really exited(I sure would be!) . How long from day 1 to the end of the cycle did it take?

 

[Miles_hot]

We are cycled!!! Now three days into the qualifying period. I will update the log on Sunday when I've got a litte time.

Now to sort the substrate, think about when to plant and finalise the fish listing (going to pre order on Sunday and sort the stocking sequence out with Coxwell).

Whoop Whoop.

Miles

Congratz mate!, i bet you must be really exited(I sure would be!) . How long from day 1 to the end of the cycle did it take?

I need to update the log but very close to 100 days!

 

[Miles_hot]

As I can no longer edit the front page the latest results are:
27/07 - 09:00 - day 99 : Ammonia: .25 , Nitrites: 2.0 , Nitrates:20 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4 - Water change on 26th, Dosed to 4 ppm
28/07 - 09:00 - day 100 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:20 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
29/07 - 09:00 - day 101 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:20 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
30/07 - 09:00 - day 102 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:30 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
31/07 - 09:00 - day 103 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:30 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
01/08 - 09:00 - day 104 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:50 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
02/08 - 09:00 - day 105 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:60 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4 - sand in + water change + 4ppm added very late (22:30)
03/08 - 09:00 - day 106 : Ammonia: .25 , Nitrites: 1.0 , Nitrates:30 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
04/08 - 09:00 - day 107 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:30 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4 - 4ppm added very late + pump off for more sand
05/08 - 09:00 - day 108 : Ammonia: 1.0 , Nitrites: 0.5 , Nitrates:35 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4
14/08 - 00:00 - day 117 : Ammonia: 0.0 , Nitrites: 0.0 , Nitrates:80 , Temp: 30 , pH: 7.4