Confused By Fishless Cycling

[tiffie]

After my rabbit chewed on my Eco-Complete (which was before my filter came in), I dumped it all in the tank, along with my 3m Colorquartz, and filled 'er up. I figured it would be better for the EC not to dry out. Stupid me, I forgot that we have chlorine in our tap. I didn't add any neutralizer, btw, as I didn't think/didn't have any at the time.

So, two days later, my filter comes, and I set up and start it running and put in shrimp to start a cycle... But the next day it started smelling a bit (dead bacteria, of course...) and I put two and two together. So, I did an 80% water change (can't have the smell, as I rent), worked out some kinks, and have everything back up and running again last night. But now, I need to get confirmation on what all the numbers mean. So, I'll list below.

Normal pH Test: > 7.6
High pH Test: 7.4-7.8 (closer to 7.4)
Ammonia: .50-1.0 ppm (closer to 1.0)
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm (closer to 10)

I'm kind of confused. I've only done the one test with ALL the number, so I have no comparison yet.

 

[rdd1952]

I'm not really a believer in the EC containing bacteria. I used it in my 75 gallon tank and it still took me 3 weeks do a fishless cycle. It is great for plants though. When you say you added shrimp to start the cycle, do you mean live shrimp or dead shrimp (to rot and decay)? The smell could be from the shrimp if they are dead. I would also suspect the nitrate is from your tap water.

 

[tiffie]

I'm not really a believer in the EC containing bacteria. I used it in my 75 gallon tank and it still took me 3 weeks do a fishless cycle. It is great for plants though. When you say you added shrimp to start the cycle, do you mean live shrimp or dead shrimp (to rot and decay)? The smell could be from the shrimp if they are dead. I would also suspect the nitrate is from your tap water.

Dead shrimp.

And nitrate is in tap water? Thanks! I didn't know that!

 

[Seed]

Test your tap water to find out. My tap has either zero nitrates, or a level so low that my test kit cannot detect it. But that is just my water, yours may have a lot.

 

[waterdrop]

It's also nice to run that whole battery of tests on your tap water, perhaps twice even, and have that as the very first entry in the daily log section of your aquarium notebook (you do have one of those, right? ) The experts will be along in a bit and they'll probably want to know some other nice tidbits to start them off, like your tank volume and your water temp.

Why did you choose shrimp to be your ammonia source instead of just pure ammonia? Doesn't it make it harder to produce a stable 4 to 6ppm ammonia level for the first stage?

Its great that you've put down the whole set of tests, a lot of people don't do that, so you're off to a good start. You might want to communicate the timeline of your activities more clearly. The experts can diagnose better if they know how many days or weeks are involved and when you added what.

Good Luck from another newbie!

 

[tiffie]

You were right! Same ppm on nitrates on tap as in tank. Also, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 7.4 pH.

Tank is 55 gal with a water temp of 78 degrees F.

 

[Mikaila31]

Yeah, I have 20ppm out of my tap it is kinda annoying. But I have well water, so no chlorine. So, I don't use dechlorinator and that is sorta a win. Until I move to a place that has chlorinated water, then I will most likely forget to add dechlorinator.