Add And Wait, Without Any Established Bacteria

[jonathand]

Hello there,

I am trying to set up my first tropical tank using the 'add and wait' method.
Added 2-3ml of ammonia two weeks ago but my daily readings using an API freshwater kit are still the same 4ppm green colour.

The tank is 54 litres and I have the water at 30°C. Is this the best temperature?
One site I read said it needs to be warm for the bacteria to grow, but another said it can die off due to lack of oxygen in the water if it's too high?

Is there anything else I can do to speed things up or is it just a case of waiting some more?
I don't have any bacteria source from another tank.

Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

Hi jonathand and Welcome to our beginners section!

You sound like you're doing fine. It's quite common for the initial drop from full dosing (4ppm, 5ppm, whatever) to zero ppm to sometimes take 2 or even 3 weeks! It's totally unpredictable because the initial number of stray Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira cells in any particular sample of tap water around the world can vary wildly. Some people see it drop in the first week. Some people have to wait a long time like you and it might just be a particularly "clean" water system.

Your temp sounds fine too. The optimum temp I like to recommend is 29C/84F, so you can attempt a tiny tweek downward but I know that's hard to do with the crude controls on a heater. It is true that the warmer optimal bacterial soup temperature does go in the direction of less oxygen, so its important to get plenty of surface water movement, mostly from the filter output, but also sometimes from bubble aeration (though I don't really consider that a must if you have good movement from the filter pump.)

Another tweek is to put a very tiny pinch of fishfood in there, just to provide a few more trace elements to the bacteria (they also take calcium from the tap water.)

A major help in fishless cycling is to keep an aquarium notebook and have a "log" that is kept daily with written results of all tests. The basic "each time" stats of fishless cycling are as follows:

Day X, (12hour vs. 24hour test), Temp, NH3result,NO2result,pHresult,NO3result, (whether re-dosed and how much), any other actions, observations.

(I prefer the fishless cyclers designate an entry as having been done approx 12 hours or 24 hours after dosing, rather than posting an actual time of day, because time-of-day just creates work for the commentators. Day X is which day of cycling you are on, with "Day 1" being first day you dosed ammonia. Not all tests are performed every day at all - it changes over the course of a fishless cycle. Ammonia is re-dosed only if ammonia dropped to zero ppm within the previous 24 hours and it is only dosed at the 24-hour mark after the previous dosing regardless of when the zero ppm is noticed.) Make sense?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jonathand]

Thanks for the reply.

I have adjusted the temp down a degre and added a tiny bit of food.

Hopefully that should help

 

[Aqua Tom]

Welcome to the site.

Nice to see you have done your research & have decided on a fishless cycle.

It will seem like you are going no-where then overnight your ammonia will drop dramaticly.

Hang in there, we have all been through the same headscrating. This is where Waterdrop & Oldman come into thier own, they are a wealth of knowledge & advice.

All i can offer is that i am coming to the end of my cycle so all my ups & downs are fresh in my head.

good luck.

Tom

 

[jonathand]

Hi again, finally noticed a change in my daily ammonia test now.
Seems to be around 2ppm now, so I've started testing for nitrite and it has changed from blue to purple at around 0.25ppm.

Have started logging the results properly in a spreadsheet now they are changing.
Should hopefully be able to start adding more ammonia in a few days once it reaches zero.

Better start planning what fish I want to get!

 

[waterdrop]

 

[jonathand]

My ammonia is less than 0.25 now and almost 0ppm .
Had to test some fresh tap water to be able to see any difference between the shades of yellow.

Nitrite is a strong vivid purple, above the 5ppm on the chart.

Should I start adding new ammonia now or wait another 24hrs when it should definitely be reading zero.
Also what would be the best amount to add, 2-3ppm or 4-5ppm?

Thanks

 

[Skins]

My ammonia is less than 0.25 now and almost 0ppm .
Had to test some fresh tap water to be able to see any difference between the shades of yellow.

Nitrite is a strong vivid purple, above the 5ppm on the chart.

Should I start adding new ammonia now or wait another 24hrs when it should definitely be reading zero.
Also what would be the best amount to add, 2-3ppm or 4-5ppm?

Thanks

Whilst in the nitrite spike stage i would dose to the 2-3ppm level, which you can do now as your ammoonia levels are at 0.25ppm.

Keith.

 

[OldMan47]

If you are getting an
ammonia reading of about zero ammonia, dose up enough to get near about 2 ppm of ammonia. If you can do that for a few days and get zero readings then yu are

If you are getting an
ammonia reading of about zero ammonia, dose up enough to get near about 2 ppm of ammonia. If you can do that for a few days and get zero readings then you can expect the same.

 

[jonathand]

Thanks, for the replies.

Added 1ml last night to bring it up to 2ppm.
It's now reading between 0.5 and 1ppm.

Should I top it back up again today or wait until it gets closer to zero again?

 

[Skins]

Thanks, for the replies.

Added 1ml last night to bring it up to 2ppm.
It's now reading between 0.5 and 1ppm.

Should I top it back up again today or wait until it gets closer to zero again?

Yes wait until it gets back to 0.25ppm or lower. Are you testing for nitrites yet?

Keith.

 

[jonathand]

Yeah, i've been testing Nitrites for just over a week now.
Has been at 5pmm for the past few days so waiting for that to drop next.

 

[Skins]

Yeah, i've been testing Nitrites for just over a week now.
Has been at 5pmm for the past few days so waiting for that to drop next.

When the nitrite spike clears and your test levels show 0ppm nitrIte then start to increase your h/h ammonia dose back up to 4/5ppm.

Keep us all posted, Keith.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Phase 2

 

[jonathand]

Thanks, just tested my pH as I read in another post that the cycle can stall if too low?

My tank pH is 6 now, so would it be a good idea to add a teaspoon of bicarb?

Fresh tap water and water left to stand is 6.8 to 7.2, can't remember which way round though!

Thanks for everyone's help