when will my cycle end?

[houndour]

I'm getting reaaallly impatient now

I started the cycle on 16th March. I had my first sign of Nitrites around the 21st-22nd (dont have my notes on me, so dont know exact). Within a few days they rocketed to 20 and now the colour seems lighter, so I think it's about 10. It's just taking ages.

Did I put way too much ammonia in to start or something?

I'm not even sure how much to carry on putting in, so I've been adding 8 drops twice a day and I test the ammonia before I add the drops and it's alway nearly down to zero.

I guess it's only been 3 weeks (feels a lot longer)...sorry...I'm just itching to get my fish!

Sam

 

[Dubby]

I know that feeling........Your cycle should finish soon.... be patient

What about your nitrates? What is the reading?

 

[houndour]

I don't know. My nitrate kit ran out and I'm waiting on delivery for it. Also I used my last drop of ammonia test this morning. But I should get my new test kits tomorrow.

What should my nitrates be?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You should be dosing 5-6 drops of ammonia per 10 gals of water daily until nitrites appear. Tank temp should be in mid to high 80s F during the cycling. When nitrites drop to zero, lower temp to desired range, do a big water change and add a full fish load. If you can not add fish at that point, continue dosing the lower dose daily until you can.

 

[houndour]

OK, my new set of test kits arrived today...here are my readings:

pH: 6.9 to 7

Ammonia: 1ppm (I'm adding a total of 16 drops a day at the moment and the readings are virtually zero before I add the ammonia). I tested ammonia this morning and it was nearly zero, after adding 8 drops it was 1ppm.

Nitrite: 5ppm + (5 is the highest on the scale)

Nitrate: 80 to 160 ppm (so quite high...is this normal? I guess the water change will lower it when I add the fish).

 

[Pysgodyn]

Hey! I'm in a similar 'boat'!!
I've filled up a brand new tank (125 litres) with water two days ago, and today I was given quite a bit of water from cycled tanks down at the fish shop. My readings at the moment are...

pH -7.8, Ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, Nitrates - 30 (temp 25C)

What should I do now?

If I leave it for a week without fish, is the nitrate sponge in my filter going to get rid of the 30pm nitrates I have, and take me back to square one again??!

Should I be adding fish food in the meantime to keep the cycle going???!

 

[houndour]

Are you going to do a fish cycle or a fishLESS cycle?

There is a pinned topic at the top about fishless cycles.

This is the first time I've done a fishless cycle so I'm not 100% sure I am doing it right.

If you are doing a fishLESS cycle then you need to add a source of ammonia. If you are in the UK there is Kleen Off. I got mine from Robert Dyas.

Adding the ammonia is the equivalent of the fish waste, so it starts the cycle. The pinned topic gives more info on how much to add.

Then eventually you will get a nitrite spike. Which is what I'm having now. But my Nitrites have been around for about 2 weeks now. And when the Nitrites return to zero and ammonia is zero you can add fish.

 

[houndour]

My Nitrites are dropping!!! Last night they were about 1ppm and this morning they're between 0 and 0.5

 

[rdd1952]

Hey! I'm in a similar 'boat'!!
I've filled up a brand new tank (125 litres) with water two days ago, and today I was given quite a bit of water from cycled tanks down at the fish shop. My readings at the moment are...

pH -7.8, Ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, Nitrates - 30 (temp 25C)

What should I do now?

If I leave it for a week without fish, is the nitrate sponge in my filter going to get rid of the 30pm nitrates I have, and take me back to square one again??!

Should I be adding fish food in the meantime to keep the cycle going???!

The water they gave you from the cycled tanks won't help any. All the good bacteria is either on the filter media or in the gravel/sand. If you want to do a fishless cycle, add PURE ammonia to bring your ammonia level up to about 4 or 5 and then start reading the pinned articles on fishless cycling. If you can possibly get a used filter from the fish store or from a friend, that would definitely help speed the process. VERY IMPORTANT: If you do try this though, make sure you get it from a trusted tank that you know is clean and doesn't have any diseases or problems.

 

[rdd1952]

My Nitrites are dropping!!! Last night they were about 1ppm and this morning they're between 0 and 0.5

Sounds like you are almost there. As TwoTankAmin said, once the nitrite drops to 0, you should have an extremely high level of notrates, Just do the large water change and add your fish. Add as close to your full fish load as possible. Your tank is ready for it. If you don't add them all, they won't produce enough waste and part of your bacteria will die off since there won't be enough amonia and nitrite to keep them alive. It won't affect the fish you have but will start a mini cycle when you add the others later. Also, once again like TwoTankAmin said, if you can't add fish right away, keep adding ammonia every day to raise the level to about 1.0 so the bacteria will have something to eat. I had to do that for about a week after mine finished cycling.

 

[houndour]

Oh my god...my boyfriend is getting the fish this afternoon...like in 2 hours or so. We were only planning on:

either 3 cory metae
OR 2 botia
OR 2 dwarf gourami
OR 3 guppies

to start.

Do you really think we should add more fish?