Ammonia Fishless Cycle

[Rorie]

Its been a couple years since i have done a fishless cycle with ammonia. I currently have 5 tanks running with ammonia and nothing much seems to be happening!!

So, how many weeks did it take before your ammonia started dropping off?

I have one tank at 24 degrees (as a wee experiment) and its not dropped at all! Another two seem to be sitting at 1ppm for AGES but not goign any lower. And one tank (same parameters as the rest) seems to be going a lot faster having just topped up with ammonia for the first time yesterday.

 

[Aquascaper]

If there's no fish then bump the heaters up, add an airstone or surface agitation and keep the lights off. Do this and things should start to move along, i'm currently a week into mine and have Nitrite readings already

 

[Rorie]

i"m at 32 degrees in the tanks, loads of air, loads of surface movement..... next solution

I dont understand! I have nitrite readings sky high in one tank, but just a trace in the others!

 

[Aquascaper]

Tank sizes?
Amount of Ammonia dosed?

I would say focus on the one that's doing best and once cycled exchange some media to get the others completed. Not saying neglect the others but you know what I mean

 

[Gvilleguy]

The generally accepted fishless cycle stats would be:

1. Tank temp at 29C / 84F
2. pH around 8 - 8.4 (can be raised artificially with arm & hammer baking soda, or sodium of bicarbonate)
3. if you have it, run an air stone, or increase surface agitation by lower the water level, assuming a HOB type filter

So if you have tanks that are 'stuck', I would first check the pH level. If it has crashed into the low 6 to 6.4 range, then the nitrifying bacteria are going go dormant or grow VERY slowly. THEN, if that is not an issue, check your nitrites. Are they totally off the scale high? If so, do a big water change with dechlorinated water to bring that level back down. Then re-dose with ammonia.

Regarding ammonia dosing level - for the ammonia phase you probably want 3 - 4 ppm. For the nitrite phase (once ammonia is going to zero, and nitrites are still up), reduce ammonia top offs to 2 - 3 ppm.

 

[Rorie]

I am thinking i have super low PH. I thought i read PH didnt matter...but considering my tanks with fish in are lucky if they get above 6..... i will check that now and does the bicarb!

 

[Aquascaper]

Whack up the pH and keep us posted.....meanwhile i'm still waiting for mine to finish

On a side note, are there any more fish shops in Aberdeen that you know of other than A1 Aquatics, Waterworld and Pets at Home?

 

[Rorie]

Whack up the pH and keep us posted.....meanwhile i'm still waiting for mine to finish

On a side note, are there any more fish shops in Aberdeen that you know of other than A1 Aquatics, Waterworld and Pets at Home?

Rorie's Fish Room when i get up and going

Dobies garden centre. They were pretty good for a while, really clean tanks. Change of manager though. Still, got a good range of fish!

I used to go to A1 a lot.....cant be bothered with them now though! and TBH, i never buy fish from the shops here as i always seem to have issues. I buy online or through local breeders

 

[Aquascaper]

Rorie's Fish Room when i get up and going

Didn't think about Dobbies actually.....I really miss my LFS down in Plymouth, huge garden centre with a dedicated marine section.....was heaven
Might have to head over when my tanks finished cycling and see what they've got.