Query On Cold Cycle

[Francesjane]

I asked a question about earlier about a cold water cycle. The tank is being cycled at my daughters house where I can't keep an eye on it daily but have told her to add some fish food every few days. The pump has been running all the time too. I have finally got to check it and although much to my frustration I forgot my liquid ammonia test, I did test for nitrite which is 0 and nitrates which is about 80. Without testing the ammonia am I safe to say that although the tank has been running for three weeks then it might not have even started cycling or it's further on now into the nitrate stage? The tank is a 28L and is destined to hold probably a couple of gold barbs. I gave my daughter some media from filter and gravel to help. Do you think that I am only going to get a real idea once I get round to hers next week and test the ammonia?

 

[fm1978]

I wouldn't assume anything without knowing the ammonia reading. You'd be very fortunate to have a cycled tank (especially cold) in 3 weeks, even with seeded media.

Some fish food might not be producing quite enough ammonia to start the cycle which is why you might be getting a 0 nitrite. Nitrate could already be high naturally.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Just an fyi-
 

 
Using shrimp or fish food: One of the more popular fishless cycling methods is to buy a few dead shrimp at the grocery store, cut them up into chunks and add them to the aquarium. The shrimp decay, which produces ammonia to feed the nitrifying bacteria. There are a few drawbacks with this method, one being that the hobbyist really has no way to know how much ammonia is being produced by the decaying shrimp, and the aquarium does not look very good with dead shrimp laying on the bottom. Also, the organic material of the shrimp can cause bacteria blooms which turn the aquarium water cloudy. This method works but it takes time and patience and you will probably see a spike in ammonia and nitrite if you add a medium to heavy load of fish after the initial cycling. Note that some people use flake fish food instead of shrimp but this is not recommended because flake food does not have much organic material compared to shrimp and so does not add a lot of ammonia to the water, but you can use cut fish instead of shrimp.

from http/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/how-to-start

 

[Ninjouzata]

I know you're not asking but..28L is much too small for barbs and the couple makes me think you'll just keep 2, but they need a group of 6+

 

[Francesjane]

Thanks for the information....especially on barbs being shoaling fish...that I didn't know and didn't see when I read about them.