Cycling, Maintenance And Stocking

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

paul6294

Mostly New Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2013
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Location
GB
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
 
Q1, 2 and 3: Read the cycling article again (and again and again). You're adding far too much ammonia far too often, which means your nitrites are going to be off the scale and your cycle is most likely stalled. 3ppm not 4, and you're not waiting for the nitrite to drop. May I suggest a massive water change and start over? If your filter stays wet in the process your bacteria will live through it and you won't be starting from day zero, but your nitrites will most likely not fall if you leave things as they are.

Q4: your bacteria will stay alive for a few days with no ammonia. In fact if I remember, they don't die, they just go dormant and may take a day or two to wake up. A small snack (1ppm) twice a week will keep them going. But after waiting more than a month, why wait any longer for fish?

Q5: once you add any fish, do not add ammonia under any circumstances! Your bacteria may decrease if there isn't sufficient ammonia for them, but as you add more fish, you have a healthy colony that can increase to cope with the increased bio load.
 
Thanks Gruntle.
 
Re-reading the article, I see where I have gone wrong.
 
I have done an 80% water change today, hopefully things continue as they should and it's not all toast now.  
 
It's a learning experience, at least I'm doing it without the fish!
 
It's great to see that you've started without fish, a lot of us here have gone through the unfortunate process of adding fish before the cycle is complete, usually on the recommendation of a LFS employee who just wants to sell stock.
 
Keep us updated. I'm no expert but I think I have a fair handle on the cycle as per the article posted here, which was invaluable in the setup of my new tank.
 
I think when I was getting to the end of my cycle I was adding ammonia every three days. Add it, check the levels, if ammonia and nitrite weren't 0/0 I'd wait a couple of days before adding more ammonia. It gave the nitrite bacs a chance to process all of the nitrite and that ensured there was no stalling of the cycle.
 
Just make sure to do a massive water change at the end before adding fish, because your nitrates will be off the chart!
 

Most reactions

trending

Back
Top