Hello,
After my initial attempt at cycling my 125L tank for 33 days without any drop in ammonia, I cleaned out the tank and filter completely and started again.
On the second attempt the only difference was that instead of using water from the tap I filtered if through a Pozzani to remove the nitrates (my tap water seems to have around 40ppm nitrates, reduced to 0ppm by the water filter), and hey presto, things moved along.
After 14 days my 4ppm ammonia all of a sudden dropped to 0ppm.
On day 15 I topped back up to 4ppm ammonia and the next day this had dropped to 0ppm again and nitrites had started showing slightly. Again I topped up to 4ppm ammonia and by day 16 this had dropped to 0 again, nitrites were off the chart and nitrates were at around 40ppm.
Yesterday was day 17 and this morning the ammonia had dropped again to 0ppm, nitrites are still off the chart and nitrates are above 80ppm.
Last night I did a 25% water change with treated and filtered water and this morning again I topped back up to 4ppm ammonia as it had dropped to 0ppm.
Q1:
It seems within 12 to 14 hours my 4ppm ammonia drops to 0ppm, and I am adding ammonia back to the tank to take it back up to 4ppm every morning at 7am (so every 24 hours) - is this correct?
Q2:
Am I to continue with adding back up to 4ppm ammonia each 24 hours until the nitrites drop to 0ppm without doing anything else (ie: no water changes) and just leaving the nitrites and nitrates to rise as they are with each addition of ammonia?
Q3:
As I understand it, the day I get from 4ppm ammonia to 0ppm as well as 0ppm nitrites I am cycled and am ready for my 90% water change and then to get some stock for the tank?
Q4:
If I cannot stock my tank after the ammonia and nitrites are sorted out (the tank is cycled) how do I maintain the bacteria, do I keep adding up to 4ppm ammonia every 24 hours or do I add a smaller amount, say 1ppm each 24 hours, until I am ready to stock the tank and then do my 90% water change?
Q5:
I am very new to this and so want to take it slowly and not fully stock the tank, so let's say I got only 8 Neon Tetra's initially and kept them for a week or two (the tank is a 125L) would their waste create sufficient ammonia for the bacteria or would it die back, only to have to grow again when I add more stock, or while the stock is so small, would I add a very very small amount of ammonia to the tank in order to (of course not affect the fish) but to keep the bacteria stable?
Sorry quite a few noob questions but after such a long time of trying my first cycle and this one working so nicely and so quickly, I really don't want to mess it up now!
Thanks,
Paul
After my initial attempt at cycling my 125L tank for 33 days without any drop in ammonia, I cleaned out the tank and filter completely and started again.
On the second attempt the only difference was that instead of using water from the tap I filtered if through a Pozzani to remove the nitrates (my tap water seems to have around 40ppm nitrates, reduced to 0ppm by the water filter), and hey presto, things moved along.
After 14 days my 4ppm ammonia all of a sudden dropped to 0ppm.
On day 15 I topped back up to 4ppm ammonia and the next day this had dropped to 0ppm again and nitrites had started showing slightly. Again I topped up to 4ppm ammonia and by day 16 this had dropped to 0 again, nitrites were off the chart and nitrates were at around 40ppm.
Yesterday was day 17 and this morning the ammonia had dropped again to 0ppm, nitrites are still off the chart and nitrates are above 80ppm.
Last night I did a 25% water change with treated and filtered water and this morning again I topped back up to 4ppm ammonia as it had dropped to 0ppm.
Q1:
It seems within 12 to 14 hours my 4ppm ammonia drops to 0ppm, and I am adding ammonia back to the tank to take it back up to 4ppm every morning at 7am (so every 24 hours) - is this correct?
Q2:
Am I to continue with adding back up to 4ppm ammonia each 24 hours until the nitrites drop to 0ppm without doing anything else (ie: no water changes) and just leaving the nitrites and nitrates to rise as they are with each addition of ammonia?
Q3:
As I understand it, the day I get from 4ppm ammonia to 0ppm as well as 0ppm nitrites I am cycled and am ready for my 90% water change and then to get some stock for the tank?
Q4:
If I cannot stock my tank after the ammonia and nitrites are sorted out (the tank is cycled) how do I maintain the bacteria, do I keep adding up to 4ppm ammonia every 24 hours or do I add a smaller amount, say 1ppm each 24 hours, until I am ready to stock the tank and then do my 90% water change?
Q5:
I am very new to this and so want to take it slowly and not fully stock the tank, so let's say I got only 8 Neon Tetra's initially and kept them for a week or two (the tank is a 125L) would their waste create sufficient ammonia for the bacteria or would it die back, only to have to grow again when I add more stock, or while the stock is so small, would I add a very very small amount of ammonia to the tank in order to (of course not affect the fish) but to keep the bacteria stable?
Sorry quite a few noob questions but after such a long time of trying my first cycle and this one working so nicely and so quickly, I really don't want to mess it up now!
Thanks,
Paul