2Nd Day Of Fishless Cycling

[Kevros]

I'm into day 2 of my fishless cycle, I started by adding 5 ml of household ammonia on Saturday (just gone), I have now measured my PH as 8 and my ammonia level is showing as 2.4ppm (according to the nutrafin test I have just done). Obviously I don't want to put too much ammonia in so I have looked at 2 ammonia calculators over the internet, one says add none and the other says add 1ml, bit confused as like I said I don't want to add too much or too little in case it slows the cycle down, any advice? Plus is my ph normal in order to accomodate fish once my cycle is done? Any advice is appreciated

 

[Mola Mola]

I would add another 5ml of ammonia to raise it up to around 5ppm. You can see from my log

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/368303-mola-mola-fishless-cycle-log/

that I had to use to 20ml to get it up to 4ppm (so the ammonia I was using was probably about 2.5%). The general advice seems to be to raise it to 4-5ppm, which worked for me. The volume you have to add, will obviously vary upon the strength of the ammonia (which might not be exactly what it says on the bottle).

Just out of interest, which brand of ammonia are you using, and how big is your tank?

 

[Kevros]

Its 197 litres and the ammonia is jeyes kleenoff ammonia (9.5% ammonia). Am I right in thinking that it will take a week for the ammonia to break down and for me to start nitrite tests?

 

[Mola Mola]

Its 197 litres and the ammonia is jeyes kleenoff ammonia (9.5% ammonia). Am I right in thinking that it will take a week for the ammonia to break down and for me to start nitrite tests?

Do you have any mature filter media in the tank?

If not, I believe on average it takes about 14 days for the ammonia conversion to really take off, and that it basically how long mine took.

Then approximately another 14 days for the nitrite conversion to get up to speed which, again, it roughly how long mine took.

Have you had a chance to read up on the material in the Beginners Resource Center? I found it incredibly useful.

 

[Kevros]

Mola Mola - just read your log, really interesting that you had nitrate so soon, think I'll buy the other tests today to see exactly what is happening in my tank! Temp is 26 so may put it up to 27 and I don't seem as worried as I was earlier about my PH level

 

[KittyKat]

I'm into day 2 of my fishless cycle, I started by adding 5 ml of household ammonia on Saturday (just gone), I have now measured my PH as 8 and my ammonia level is showing as 2.4ppm (according to the nutrafin test I have just done). Obviously I don't want to put too much ammonia in so I have looked at 2 ammonia calculators over the internet, one says add none and the other says add 1ml, bit confused as like I said I don't want to add too much or too little in case it slows the cycle down, any advice? Plus is my ph normal in order to accomodate fish once my cycle is done? Any advice is appreciated

The difference between the two calculators is that one is probably based on the "dose and wait" method, where one waits until ammonia or ammonia and nitrite are at 0 ppm before redosing, while the other is on the "keep ammonia at x ppm" method, which always aims to keep ammonia reading constant at the 24 hour period, potentially with daily dosings. I recommend you go for the first method, specifically that you wait until both ammonia and nitrite are at 0 ppm before redosing.

I would add another 5ml of ammonia to raise it up to around 5ppm. You can see from my log

I advise the opposite: for at least the first 1-3 ammonia doses, it is best to leave ammonia at 1-2 ppm so that the nitrites to not give a reading which is too high. After that, the dose should be raised to correspond to the first stocking plan (for example, 3-5 ppm).

 

[Kevros]

I took half a sponge out of a friends tank and put that in to start it off, didn't feel comfortable taking 1 out of her 3 as its not her tank, that was last monday, I put the ammonia in on saturday just gone

 

[Mola Mola]

Mola Mola - just read your log, really interesting that you had nitrate so soon, think I'll buy the other tests today to see exactly what is happening in my tank! Temp is 26 so may put it up to 27 and I don't seem as worried as I was earlier about my PH level

Yes, I'm not really sure what happened with the early nitrate. I think it might have had something to do with the gravel (I tested after adding the gravel but not before).

I don't think it was actually nitrite conversion, because there was a long period before there was any further noticeable conversion.

The good news is that, with both the ammonia conversion, and the nitrite conversion, it goes from pretty much nothing to being very rapid, almost overnight.

I took half a sponge out of a friends tank and put that in to start it off, didn't feel comfortable taking 1 out of her 3 as its not her tank, that was last monday, I put the ammonia in on saturday just gone

OK, so you do have mature media in there. In that case I think that the whole cycling process can shorten to as little as a few days.

I wish I'd managed to get hold of some!

EDIT: My only concern would be that it was 5 days from you putting the mature media in, until you added the ammonia. Which might mean the bacteria could have started to die off (the ammonia is basically their food).

Somebody with a bit more experience might be able to advise on that.

 

[KittyKat]

I took half a sponge out of a friends tank and put that in to start it off, didn't feel comfortable taking 1 out of her 3 as its not her tank, that was last monday, I put the ammonia in on saturday just gone

OK, so you do have mature media in there. In that case I think that the whole cycling process can shorten to as little as a few days.

I wish I'd managed to get hold of some!

EDIT: My only concern would be that it was 5 days from you putting the mature media in, until you added the ammonia. Which might mean the bacteria could have started to die off (the ammonia is basically their food).

Somebody with a bit more experience might be able to advise on that.

As long as the water was dechlorinated and the filter has been running for those 5 days, the sponge should still have contained approximately 50-70% of the original bacteria by Saturday.

 

[Kevros]

The water was de-chlorinated when it went in there (august 21st), the heater and filter have been running since then, I then got the mature media 2 days later and started off the ammonia yesterday, so all done within 7 days. I'm going to use the add and wait method, which will give me enough time to get the nitrite and nitrate test kits as my local aquatics store is closed today

 

[Mola Mola]

The water was de-chlorinated when it went in there (august 21st), the heater and filter have been running since then, I then got the mature media 2 days later and started off the ammonia yesterday, so all done within 7 days. I'm going to use the add and wait method, which will give me enough time to get the nitrite and nitrate test kits as my local aquatics store is closed today

Good luck with it Kevros!

Are you going to keep a log here? I found it helpful, due to the feedback, and it will also be useful to future "cyclers", or should that be "cyclists"?

 

[Kevros]

Mola Mola - thought I'd put a quick update on here - ammonia still showing at around 2.4, turnt the temp upto 27 yesterday (shows 28 on thermometer). Once my nitrite and nitrate test kits are here I'm hoping the ammonia would have dropped so I can then add my 2nd dosage - just playing the waiting game really, which is fine by me as I'm a fisherman anyway and am used to waiting it out!

Day 3 - Ammonia 2.4ppm
Day 4 - Ammonia 2.4ppm
Day 5 - Ammonia 2.4ppm (Nitrite and Nitrate test kits arrived today so will test for them later too)
Day 6 - Ammonia 2.4ppm (getting a bit lighter tho)
Nitrite - 0.01 mg/l
Day 7- Amm 2.4 ppm. Nitrite 0.25 ppm. Nitrate 75ppm - not sure if anythings taken place yet as my ammonia is still high, can anyone advise??
Day 8 - Amm 2.4 ppm. Nitrite 1ppm. Nitrate 100ppm