90L Cycling (Fishless)

[LilyRose Tank]

Ok after continually loosing all my fish, i bleached my tank, and wshed with clean water for an hour, all ornaments washed and dryed, and sterting a fishlkess cycle again. added 4.75ml ammonia and readings are
Day 1 Amm 5ppm, Nitrite 0ppm
Day 2 Amm 5ppm
Day 3 Amm 5ppm
Day 4 Amm 5ppm plus a filter sponge squeeze directly into the tank filter
Day 5 Amm 5ppm
Day 6 Amm 5ppm
Day 7 Amm 5ppm
Day 8 Amm 5ppm
Day 9 Amm 5ppm
Day 10 Amm 5ppm
Day 11 Amm 0.5ppm Nitrite 1ppm
Day 12 Amm 0 Nitrite 1/5ppm...cant tell diff on 1/5ppm nitrite ..added 4.75ml ammonia
Day 13 Amm 0 Nitrite 5ppm add 4.75ml ammonia
Day 14 Amm 0 Nitrite 5ppm add 4.75ml ammonia

Day 21 Amm 0 Nitrite 0 sorry wasnt writing it down, been busy decorating the house! cycle finished maybe some bacs from the squeeze did the trick.

added 2 peppered corys and 14 baby snails ( about 5mm in diameter at the moment)

 

[Katch]

Save your nitrite test kit until you see the ammonia reading drop. As long as it is at 5ppm no nitrification has happened. Once you see it go to ~3-4 ppm then test for Nitrite to verify the process.

It is worth getting a baseline reading of your Nitrates however - just so you know what your fresh dechlorinated tap water contains; and a baseline pH reading helps. If it is below 8 you can speed up the cycle by adding bicarb to bring it up to just over 8, this is optimal for bacteria growth.

 

[OldMan47]

I don't get it LilyRose.
Are you going to use a mature filter clone from one of your other tanks? I am certain that you have some mature media in one or more tank that you could use in this tank.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

yeah i did a squeeze yesterday OM47 but it was from a small filter so not sure how good it will be.
noithing happening so far, I am only noting the changes on this one or it'll turn my head to mush

 

[waterdrop]

I'm always impressed with your determination to keep trying in the face of difficulties Jayne. Keep it up! Hope the fishless cycles goes better for you this time. WD

 

[LilyRose Tank]

I'm always impressed with your determination to keep trying in the face of difficulties Jayne. Keep it up! Hope the fishless cycles goes better for you this time. WD

thanks for the encouragement. This time the difficulty was my fault. a small bottle of bleach made its way into the tank and i lost my female betta sorority.....only just established it too.....fuming!!!!!!!
anyway, i shall persist. #41#### it!!

 

[waterdrop]

We're going to have to add Mom to the kids list of people that should be kept away from the dangerous chemicals cabinet

 

[LilyRose Tank]

oh I know, gutted, my poor siamese fighter girls

managed to save the snail nests though

anyway, still at 5ppm!

 

[waterdrop]

edit: laughing about the snails nests of course, not the poor bettas!

 

[OldMan47]

At 5 ppm with a squeeze from the old filter you should see results fairly quickly. I actually use a new tank to thoroughly clean an old filter but a squeeze should give some of that same benefit. BTW, we MODs can interpret things like your 41### entry. The number tells us the original word you used. Thanks for not using any worse language than that.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Hi Oldman.....I didnt think that word would be messed with, but anyhow, we are off
added more ammonia this morning as it was reading 0, so another 2-3 weeks to go, but I am gonna be selling this tank, as I just can't keep up with it anymor. I am happy with my little 48L. Maybe when I am older and have less kiddies to bring up, I shall return to fishies.
This tank is up for sale on ebay if anyone is intereted. Its a pity, to look at this is my favourite tank, but the 48L is easier to maintain, and Lily has lost interest in looking at the fish too. I tried.

 

[OldMan47]

I can definitely sympathize with the kiddies thing. I really got back into the hobby in a big way after my own kiddies moved out and got married. Suddenly I found I had the time to do fish keeping right.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

the thing is Oldman47 I am annoyed wit myself for not being able to keep up with everything....I'm a woman, i can multi task..... lol
but the amount of mess in my home i don't have enough time in the day.
anyway, one day............

 

[LilyRose Tank]

cycle all done