Cycling My First Tank.

[Aliena]

Started cycling my tank without a test kit or any mature media on 31 Aug. Had been set up about 24 hours when I added 1.25ml ammonia. Calculator said that should bring it to 2.5ppm.

Tank is 60l (but actually contains about 54l water (declorinated) with gravel & ornaments etc. Has only plastic plants and a couple of pretend rock ornaments at present. May add real plants later - are they useful in cycle?
Tank temperature around 29*C as advised on other threads.
Should also probably add that I have put in the Nutrafin Cycle that came free with the tank. It may do no good but from what I have read it won't do any harm and may even be a free ammonia source.

Almost full water change on 2 Sept due to buying stand for tank after slight worry about table sagging. Anyone who posted on my previous thread regarding the weight pf the tank and the table can feel free to say 'I told you so' . Added 1.25ml of ammonia again after water change.

My test kit finally arrived today.

Tap water stats:

pH 7.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40 - was confused by this, thought it should be zero?

Tank stats:

pH 7.6 (using normal pH test, looks like 7.4 on high pH test kit).
Ammonia 2ppm
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 40.

Have added 1.25 of ammonia and retested about an hour later, ammonia now reads about 4, maybe 5.

Questions:
Does the fact that I have nitrite mean that some bacteria are starting to process the ammonia?
From what I have read I now carry on testing every 24 hours and add ammonia when it drops to about 1ppm, is that correct?
Do I need a kH test kit or the other one (gH I think it was)?
Can I add fish soon??

Updates:

05/09/09 (Day 6)

pH 7.4 - 7.6
Ammonia 2.0 - 4.0 (Not added any today as looked nearer 4 than 2).
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 20

06/09/09

pH 7.6
Ammonia 2 (definitely closer to 2 than 4, not sure whether to add any more)
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 20

07/09/09

pH 8.8 (Why has this changed so much and is it a problem?)
Ammonia 4
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 20

21/09/09 (Day 23) - mature media added yesterday.
pH 8
Ammonia 1
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40 or 80 (can't tell)

22/09/09
Ammonia 1-2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40 - 80 (prob closer to 80)

23/09/09 (Day 25)
pH 7.8 - 8
Ammonia 1-2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 80 (I think)

24/09/09
As 23/09/09
Added a little more ammonia to bring it up to 4ppm. Figured it couldn't harm and thought it might give things a kick.

25/09/09
ammonia 4ppm
other results as 23/09/09

26/09/09
As 25/09/09.

Note - tested my tap water again for nitrates and it is exactly the same colour as the tank water.

 

[Truck]

i would buy a KH test kit.

nitrite at 40 would have come from your tap and is normal.

i wouldnt add plants as theyll use some of the ammonia as a nitrogen source.

another 2 weeks or so and you should be ready for fish.

yes when the ammonia drops below 5ppm top it up

 

[Aliena]

i would buy a KH test kit.

nitrite at 40 would have come from your tap and is normal.

i wouldnt add plants as theyll use some of the ammonia as a nitrogen source.

another 2 weeks or so and you should be ready for fish.

yes when the ammonia drops below 5ppm top it up

Thanks truck, I'll look for a kH kit tomorrow. Hope it is only a couple of weeks - better get making somw decisions about which fish!

 

[Aliena]

Tested again today and I don't think there are many bacteria processing the ammonia as although the amount has definitely reduced from yesterday after adding it hasn't reduced much. Don't want to go too high so haven't added more today. Will try to do the testing at the same time (between half six and half seven) but I'm back at work on Monday which could affect that. Temperature seems to be staying put nicely at 29*C.

 

[Aliena]

Ammonia is definitely being processed, was down to 2ppm this evening so added 1.25mil which should bring it back up to between 4 and 5ppm. I will retest in an hour.

Already getting impatient to see some fish in there. It's so hard when I go to one of the lfs round here and they keep saying if the tank has been up and running for a week I can put fish in.

 

[glolite]

Ah but you know better don't you don't fret, try and get some mature media it will speed the process up no end.

 

[yasinullah]

welcome to the gruelling process of cycling!! you should prepare yourself for at least a months wait, probably more before its all complete. You should try asking your lfs for some mature media as glolite said above it really does speed things up for most.

although it seems daunting at first, you get used to it, as it is much better for your fishes in the long term

the appearance of nitrites on day 6, means you've got some of the ammonia processing bacteria, which is great news.
don't add any ammonia until its managed to reach 0ppm (takes a week or 2 normally) , one of the benefits of adding 5ppm of ammonia in one go is that it normally bumps your pH up to around 8 normally which is optimal for bacterial growth.

 

[Aliena]

Ah but you know better don't you don't fret, try and get some mature media it will speed the process up no end.

I wish I could get some mature media but I only know one person with a tank and he is 8 years old and has a tiny cold water aquarium. His filter is tiny and he recently lost two out of his three fish when he added the third due to what I now guess was an ammonia spike. I can't pinch his media in case it causes him problems and his last fish dies! Hopefully when I have got my head around all this I will explain it to him and try and help him put a second fish in his tank while avoiding the spike.

I'm back at work tomorrow so will ask around in case I can find someone with an aquarium willing to let me pinch a bit of media. As my nan usd to say, 'patience is a virtue'

 

[glolite]

Have you seen the pinned thread at the top of this section called "members willing to donate mature media"? It gives the location too so there may well be a member near you.

 

[Aliena]

Have you seen the pinned thread at the top of this section called "members willing to donate mature media"? It gives the location too so there may well be a member near you.

I've had a look and there are one or two members near me but I can't send pms yet so I can't contact anyone direct. I'm not sure why I can't, I just assumed it was to do with the number of posts I've made or something.

 

[Aliena]

Yesterday (06/09/09) I added some extra ammonia to bring the level back up to 4 - 5. Unfortunately I think I misread the test results, it was probably already 4 because when I retested later it was definitely 8. Did a roughly 50% water change to bring it down again, retested and it was back to 4.

Today ammonia is still 4, nitrite still 0.25 and nitrate 20. Only thing that has changed is that the pH has gone up to 8.8. Yesterday I didn't do the high range pH test so I am not sure if it was already up yesterday.

Why has this happened? Is it a problem for the bacteria? I am not adding any more ammonia until there is a definite drop on the tests. Is there anything I should be doing?

 

[coldcazzie]

Nope, at this point you sit back and wait for the tests to show something different - if it's getting to you testing every day and seeing no change you could change to testing every other day instead - that's what I did for a week while waiting for a change.

Don't add any more ammonia until it's dropped right back down to 0ppm

 

[Aliena]

Nope, at this point you sit back and wait for the tests to show something different - if it's getting to you testing every day and seeing no change you could change to testing every other day instead - that's what I did for a week while waiting for a change.

Don't add any more ammonia until it's dropped right back down to 0ppm

So, the fact that the pH has gone up to 8.8 from 7.2 - 7.4 previously isn't a problem? I was concerned because I know that it is an issue if the pH goes too low so I wondered if it works the other way and it can go too high for the bacteria too?

 

[coldcazzie]

From what I can gather 8.0-8.4 is the ideal pH for a fishless cycle, so your pH is not that far out. If it were 10, or 6 then maybe it might worth thinking about trying to lower/raise it. But for now I'd say you're fine. I don't have a high range pH kit (at least, not one that I trust!) so all I know is that my pH is above 7.6, and while it stays there I'm happy. Not too fussed about the specifics.

 

[OldMan47]

Aliena, the e-mail that you got when you first signed up needs to be used to register you as a full member. It contains a link to follow that lets the forum software know that your address matches the one you used to register. After that you should be able to use personal messaging.