56 Gallon Cycle With Seeded Media...
- Thread starter eaglesaquarium
- Start date
OP
OP
Yeah, I think so. I was hoping it would be zero for ammonia this morning, but it's so close, it will be there in 24 hours after the next dose. 
Then the nitrite should follow quickly.
Then the nitrite should follow quickly.
OP
OP
Morning update: NH3 cleared after 48 hours, NO2 is still a little behind. I redosed at 3ppm to give the N-bacs a chance to keep up. I'm hoping that the NH3 will have cleared by 24 hours.
Now that the long weekend is over, I will be able to finally ship off the Penguin 350 in hopes of receiving another 200 before too long. The extra filter space should go a long way to completing this cycle.
Now that the long weekend is over, I will be able to finally ship off the Penguin 350 in hopes of receiving another 200 before too long. The extra filter space should go a long way to completing this cycle.
Smells a bit fishy
Fishaholic
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Way to go mate. Not long till you get some fishes. I bet it's felt an age hasn't it lol.
So what fish are you starting with, to keep the tank ticking over whilst your on your travels?
So what fish are you starting with, to keep the tank ticking over whilst your on your travels?
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
0.3 watts/USgallon is really low. It might be an interesting experiment to see if anubias would do ok in it but it might be low even for them (actually it would just take ages to know if they were going to grow any, if they didn't die (of course now some planted person will come along and say they've done just fine in .3 lol)
Are you sure you want to go with black skirts? I find them potentially very nippy - they respond to having a large enough shoal but of course you have to keep in mind that over the years one sometimes loses a fish or two from old age and then has a below-min-shoal number for a quarantine period.
WD
Are you sure you want to go with black skirts? I find them potentially very nippy - they respond to having a large enough shoal but of course you have to keep in mind that over the years one sometimes loses a fish or two from old age and then has a below-min-shoal number for a quarantine period.
WD
OP
OP
Hey waterdrop,
Haven't seen you around much recently. Yeah, I've gotten some input from over in the planted section. I have a list of what could be kept alive in that level of lighting (crypts, anubias, and moss). This is the list from lljdma06. The good news is that if it grows slowly, I won't have to worry about trimming it that often. I'll just have to focus primarily on removing dead leaves.
As far as the shoals are concerned: I'm actually leaning more and more away from black skirts... I am leaning more and more towards five-banded barbs.
My preferred scenario is harlequins and five-banded in the mid-water. Salt and peppers in the bottom, and then add in some apistogrammas down the line...
I am starting to seriously consider hatchetfish, since they are top level swimmers. They would give some interest at the very top level of the tank. The only thing about that is that it would probably have to be in place of some of the other fish. (I guess I could do 3 shoals of 10, instead of 2 shoals of 15 though.) I don't really prefer the look of the hatchets, but they are unusual and would populate a different space of the tank.
Haven't seen you around much recently. Yeah, I've gotten some input from over in the planted section. I have a list of what could be kept alive in that level of lighting (crypts, anubias, and moss). This is the list from lljdma06. The good news is that if it grows slowly, I won't have to worry about trimming it that often. I'll just have to focus primarily on removing dead leaves.
As far as the shoals are concerned: I'm actually leaning more and more away from black skirts... I am leaning more and more towards five-banded barbs.
My preferred scenario is harlequins and five-banded in the mid-water. Salt and peppers in the bottom, and then add in some apistogrammas down the line...
I am starting to seriously consider hatchetfish, since they are top level swimmers. They would give some interest at the very top level of the tank. The only thing about that is that it would probably have to be in place of some of the other fish. (I guess I could do 3 shoals of 10, instead of 2 shoals of 15 though.) I don't really prefer the look of the hatchets, but they are unusual and would populate a different space of the tank.
OP
OP
I finally mailed off the 350 to Marineland... hopefully the 200 will come in the next week to 10 days. (I want to stop switching the biowheels from in position to the back part of the filter.)
Morning readings:
pH is down to 7.6, NH3: 0ppm (in 24 hours!) and NO2: 5ppm.
So, I am now squarely in phase two with the big tank. The nitrite is high, so I am dosing at only 3ppm. I'd go lower, but with this size tank, I don't want to have much die back in the A-bacs. I want them going strong. I will be testing the NO3 tonight. If it is really high, I will consider a PWC to lower the nitrate level and adjust the pH accordingly. It really isn't a big deal right now though, so unless the NO3 are up to around 160ppm, I may not adjust any.
Morning readings:
pH is down to 7.6, NH3: 0ppm (in 24 hours!
) and NO2: 5ppm.So, I am now squarely in phase two with the big tank. The nitrite is high, so I am dosing at only 3ppm. I'd go lower, but with this size tank, I don't want to have much die back in the A-bacs. I want them going strong. I will be testing the NO3 tonight. If it is really high, I will consider a PWC to lower the nitrate level and adjust the pH accordingly. It really isn't a big deal right now though, so unless the NO3 are up to around 160ppm, I may not adjust any.
OP
OP
The ammonia keeps dropping in 24 hours, but the nitrite isn't dropping nearly as fast. I am thinking about doing a water change just to get the nitrite back into readable range again. I have half a mind to test the ammonia at 12 hours just to see how quickly it is dropping, but it really doesn't matter since nitrite is lagging behind so much still.
I guess 7 days with the larger tank isn't really a long time to cycle it, but I'm into my second month now, since I started with the 10 gallon. Needless to say that for anyone who had been following the bacterial additives thread that that product didn't do ANYTHING at all. It was an interesting undertaking, but it turned out to do absolutely nothing.
On the situation with my water, the water company was out yesterday to flush out my system. They told me to run as much water as I can for a while, and they will be crediting my account for the month. Needless to say, last night I watered everything in my garden like it hasn't been watered in a long time. This coincided nicely with the two hottest days of the year to date. So I am sure that the plants appreciated it. And, I filled up my son's little pool.
As far as my fish tank goes, I didn't have any floss in the filter so it didn't pull the excess iron out of the water, but it did make it into a very nice neat pile in one corner of the tank. I just siphoned that out, and now the tank is clear... or it was until I put fluorite in the bottom as a substrate. I rinsed it out, but apparently not as well as I should have. It clouded up my tank something fierce. Fortunately, there were no fish so it's not a big deal. I added a bit of floss to the filter and this morning the tank is almost as clear as it was before I added anything. I like looking at the tank with some sort of substrate now though... it seems that fish are closer now than when the tank had no substrate. Next, I will be getting some play sand to go over the rest of the bottom. In the US, has anyone used Quikrete's Play Sand?
I've got some big rocks to put in the tank as well, so the bottom area of the tank is going to be taking shape nicely over the next few days. I still need plants and fish, but things are definitely moving forward.
I guess 7 days with the larger tank isn't really a long time to cycle it, but I'm into my second month now, since I started with the 10 gallon. Needless to say that for anyone who had been following the bacterial additives thread that that product didn't do ANYTHING at all. It was an interesting undertaking, but it turned out to do absolutely nothing.
On the situation with my water, the water company was out yesterday to flush out my system. They told me to run as much water as I can for a while, and they will be crediting my account for the month. Needless to say, last night I watered everything in my garden like it hasn't been watered in a long time. This coincided nicely with the two hottest days of the year to date. So I am sure that the plants appreciated it. And, I filled up my son's little pool.
As far as my fish tank goes, I didn't have any floss in the filter so it didn't pull the excess iron out of the water, but it did make it into a very nice neat pile in one corner of the tank. I just siphoned that out, and now the tank is clear... or it was until I put fluorite in the bottom as a substrate. I rinsed it out, but apparently not as well as I should have. It clouded up my tank something fierce. Fortunately, there were no fish so it's not a big deal. I added a bit of floss to the filter and this morning the tank is almost as clear as it was before I added anything. I like looking at the tank with some sort of substrate now though... it seems that fish are closer now than when the tank had no substrate. Next, I will be getting some play sand to go over the rest of the bottom. In the US, has anyone used Quikrete's Play Sand?
I've got some big rocks to put in the tank as well, so the bottom area of the tank is going to be taking shape nicely over the next few days. I still need plants and fish, but things are definitely moving forward.
CrazyAirborne
Fish Herder
thats great to hear EA, i totally agree on the feeling, once you start to get some very simple hardscaping in, it feels a whole lot better then a bare empty tank. good luck and keep going! youre going to be very happy when u finally get fish, and you're a whole lot smarter now then u were 2 months ago (fish wise) 
KISSfn
Fish Herder
Keep up the good work and here's hoping your cycle completes ASAP!
OP
OP
Thanks folks... The amazing thing through all this is how patient my son has been. I told him that fish wouldn't be coming until X date, and every now and then he starts to ask about it. Then, he stops himself. He says, "Oh right, we can't get fish until after Disney." (I guess having the fish set-up for after such a big thing helps too.)
OP
OP
Morning update:
Ammonia continues to process well after 24 hours. The Nitrite isn't really going anywhere right now. I am considering adding sand to the substrate tonight after work, and I might just do a huge water change during that process (mostly to protect the filter from any sand that might get into the water column) and flush the system of nitrites. I will test the water before the change to determine the ammonia level before the change and I will redose the ammonia back to that level when the water change is over.
The one thing that I learned from adding the fluorite is that I have to rinse it MORE than I think I do. I will greatly lower the water level before adding the sand, but just the same, I want the water to stay much clearer than last time. (Although it did clear up in under 24 hours.)
Ammonia continues to process well after 24 hours. The Nitrite isn't really going anywhere right now. I am considering adding sand to the substrate tonight after work, and I might just do a huge water change during that process (mostly to protect the filter from any sand that might get into the water column) and flush the system of nitrites. I will test the water before the change to determine the ammonia level before the change and I will redose the ammonia back to that level when the water change is over.
The one thing that I learned from adding the fluorite is that I have to rinse it MORE than I think I do. I will greatly lower the water level before adding the sand, but just the same, I want the water to stay much clearer than last time. (Although it did clear up in under 24 hours.)
OP
OP
Well, the tank looks a LOT better to see now. BUT, it is frustrating that the nitrites are still way off the scale. I did a PWC, partly to remove some of the cloudiness in the tank after the sand addition and partly to lower the nitrites in the tank. (That didn't seem to happen as the color of the tube is still more purple than the scale will allow me to read.)
I know that it has only been 9 days at the higher dose, but it was about 4 weeks at the lower dosage. I figured that the filter would have caught up (or at least been closer) than it is right now. The A-bacs have come on really well, but the N-bacs just don't seem to be coming along...
Oh well, at least it looks better.
I know that it has only been 9 days at the higher dose, but it was about 4 weeks at the lower dosage. I figured that the filter would have caught up (or at least been closer) than it is right now. The A-bacs have come on really well, but the N-bacs just don't seem to be coming along...
Oh well, at least it looks better.
KISSfn
Fish Herder
If you're losing your patience waiting on your tank to cycle (like me with mine) and since you already know the nitrogen cycle.... You could get an Active filter from http
/www.angelsplus.com/FiltersSponge.htm.
I was stuck with my tank unable to get the ammonia level below 0.25mg/l. Got an active filter and my tank was cycled in 24 hours. Just a suggestion...
/www.angelsplus.com/FiltersSponge.htm.I was stuck with my tank unable to get the ammonia level below 0.25mg/l. Got an active filter and my tank was cycled in 24 hours. Just a suggestion...
OP
OP
Thanks Kissfn,
But I've spent enough money on it right now. I need to just wait through this... Ultimately, my current filter is active, just not as active as I would like. I'll wait it out... I just wish it had reached the end.
But I've spent enough money on it right now. I need to just wait through this... Ultimately, my current filter is active, just not as active as I would like. I'll wait it out... I just wish it had reached the end.
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