2 Weeks Into Fishless Cycle ......help Please

[Deleted member 107737]

Hi All,

Need some advice with my fishless cycling - with fish food flakes.

after nearly 2 weeks i currently have:

2ppm ammonia
A spike of nitrates - the highest possible ( very purple/pink)
5ppm of nitrate

i was told to stop adding food when ammonia hits 2-3ppm.

What should I do now and please advice what i should do for the remainder of the cycle as at this point im stuck???
If i dont feed anymore surely the bacteria will drop to 0ppm and die??

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 107737]

I have attached the photo of my tank.
 
150 Litre.
 
Im a virgin when it comes to keeping fish so learning something new every day.

 

[aether.ed]

You test every few days for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You want to keep adding the food to keep it around 3ppm, you will notice over time ammonia will drop, you just add more food to get back to 3ppm. You will then get a spike in nitrites as the ammonia get converted (what you may be experiencing with the spike, im guessing u meant nitrite not nitrate. This would mean your cycle has started). After a while you will start to see the nitrites level drop as it gets converted into less harmful nitrates.
 
When your ammonia and nitrites drop right down to 0 and you only have nitrates left the tank is cycled. you want to do a water change or 2 to bring the nitrates back down to reasonable levels before you start adding fish. 
 
So keep adding the food to keep it at 3ppm, once the nitrite spike disappears and you've diluted the nitrates to acceptable levels you are good to go!
 
Looks like a nice little tank, good start! What fish are you planning on keeping?

 

[Deleted member 107737]

well havent got a heater yet for the tank....... worried about electric costs to be honest. LOL

 
I love all the danios, tetras, minnows etc........
 
Cant wait to finally complete the cycle. But the guy at the fish shop said 3 weeks roughly yet before nitrites go down

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's a reasonable estimate...  Patience is the key during a fishless cycle...  

 

[Deleted member 107737]

Im a patient guy but just sp desperately want to put some fish in LOL Hope my tank will suit them..........still not sure what fish to get as im planning to NOT have a heater and keep it at room temp 22-23 C. Could you suggest any fish which would be ok at this temp??
 
Also I have live plants as you can see on my profile pic.
 
Thanks all,

 

[Warehouse]

Im a patient guy but just sp desperately want to put some fish in LOL Hope my tank will suit them..........still not sure what fish to get as im planning to NOT have a heater and keep it at room temp 22-23 C. Could you suggest any fish which would be ok at this temp??
 
Also I have live plants as you can see on my profile pic.
 
Thanks all,

 
Would it be possible to keep a room at a certain temperature? You would need the heating on 24 hours, or a local heat source such as a plug in oil radiator. An actual tank heater will be so much cheaper, absolutely miles cheaper in fact.
 
The other advantage is that if the water is kept in the upper 20's during the fishless cycle, then the cycle will happen much quicker as the bacteria grow faster in the higher temperature.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Very true.   A heater for the tank would be a wise investment, even if you plan to keep the tank at 22-23C.  That temp doesn't offer you a wide variety of fish, and certainly not tropical fish.  You could keep white cloud mountain minnows at that temp.  Not sure of others off the top of my head.
 
 
A small heater ~150W wouldn't be that expensive, and could easily hold your temp at 25-26C, which would be more suitable to more fish, and wouldn't have temp swings, which could be possible without a heater.  I understand wanting to save a little money, but honestly, the price of a heater isn't worth it.