3 Day Fishless Cycle?!

[Axyadbad]

This is my first fish tank experience but, here is a photo of my results after just 3 days of fishless cycling. I used the API Stress Zyme + as well on the day of starting the cycle. (I'd bought this before I got told how useless they were).

Heres the link to the photos, there also photos of my tank in the album.. http/tinyurl.com/8q9va5g


I started my cycle of the 25th of Aug, I raised the ammonia to 4 ppm, and from my recent test today I got a reading of around 1.5 ppm? I've heard a drop in ammonia shouldn't be seen for at least a week, but I tested the Nitrite just out of curiosity, and got a reading that was off the chart. And also got a small reading of nitrate.

I'm massively confused, either the stress zyme stuff is actually doing something, or I'm making howling errors during my tests. I was just wondering if i'm testing my water wrong, or if i'm not washing the tubes out correctly?

I haven't used any donated media either..

Any help would be great!

Confused, Axy!

 

[Gvilleguy]

That is unusually fast, but it appears that you are doing the right stuff. Especially since nitrite and nitrates are registering > 0.

Your cycle is not finished, though. Stay the course at this point. Once your ammonia drops to dead zero (yellow) for the first time, I think you can ease back to only topping off to 2 - 3 ppm of ammonia. Then wait for nitrites to drop to zero in addition to ammonia. If you feel that nitrites are registering a color that is not even on the chart, then you can do a water change (dechlorinated water!) to bring the levels down.

 

[Axyadbad]

That is unusually fast, but it appears that you are doing the right stuff. Especially since nitrite and nitrates are registering > 0.

Your cycle is not finished, though. Stay the course at this point. Once your ammonia drops to dead zero (yellow) for the first time, I think you can ease back to only topping off to 2 - 3 ppm of ammonia. Then wait for nitrites to drop to zero in addition to ammonia. If you feel that nitrites are registering a color that is not even on the chart, then you can do a water change (dechlorinated water!) to bring the levels down.

I'm really confused also, I'm not going to put any fish in until the ammonia and nitrites are dropping to zero in 12 hours for a 7 day period, as per the beginner resource guide!
I've added a tiny bit of ammonia to raise it back to 3 ppm just to make sure it really is dropping, if it is, I will leave it till it goes yellow. And continue as you said. Do you think the stress zyme could have actually worked? Because I have only ever heard cases of it NOT working.

Thanks Gvilleguy, and your fishless cycle do and do not list was very useful btw!

 

[Gvilleguy]

I have never tried any of the bacteria seeding products (assuming that is what it is). I have heard that they don't work, AND I have heard that they DO work. Go figure. My opinion is that it's not harmful to try.

If you reach the point where you are adding ammonia every 24 hours, and both ammonia and nitrites are dropping to zero in 12 hours, and then operate that way for 7 days without fluctuations, most people on this forum would say go for stocking fish at that point.

 

[Axyadbad]

I have never tried any of the bacteria seeding products (assuming that is what it is). I have heard that they don't work, AND I have heard that they DO work. Go figure. My opinion is that it's not harmful to try.

If you reach the point where you are adding ammonia every 24 hours, and both ammonia and nitrites are dropping to zero in 12 hours, and then operate that way for 7 days without fluctuations, most people on this forum would say go for stocking fish at that point.

I'm just sticking to everything as stated in the fishless cycle guides, just a bit of a 'curve ball' getting nitrites and nitrates so quickly!

Thanks again!

 

[Gvilleguy]

If you ARE cycling this fast - that is great! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Axyadbad]

I hope it is haha, better than waiting up to 6 weeks

I'll keep you informed!

 

[Bugdozer]

This is actually a great experiment to see if Stress Zyme is effective at getting a proper cycle going in a tank. I agree with Gvilleguy, keep some close monitoring going for a while before adding any fish.

 

[Axyadbad]

This is actually a great experiment to see if Stress Zyme is effective at getting a proper cycle going in a tank. I agree with Gvilleguy, keep some close monitoring going for a while before adding any fish.

The fishless cycle as a whole is like an experiment, which I quite enjoy haha. I'll keep you informed!!

 

[Gvilleguy]

I just ordered a 6.6 gallon quarantine tank. I'm going to ask for suggestions on which bacteria supplement is most popular and fishless cycle from scratch with it. Then I'll start over and cycle again without the supplement and see how different it is.

 

[Axyadbad]

Now that's more of an experiment...I used API Stress Zyme+. I've no idea what the most popular choice is, though...

 

[Gvilleguy]

I'll have to post a thread on it to get suggestions.

 

[Axyadbad]

The ammonia has once again dropped, from 4 ppm to 1 ppm in 18 hours! I think stress zyme has worked

 

[Gvilleguy]

Very cool!

 

[phantomlink]

Does this just quickstart the cycle? Are you still adding this to your tank when you add ammonia? I was just wondering myself cause I'll be setting up my tank soon and going to be using established media and want the quickest cycle I can