**********************************************
EDIT Feb 22nd, 2011. I have finalized these notes in the following thread:
Your fishless cycle do and do not list
So any additional changes are being made in that thread now. This one is outdated!
***********************************************
I'm trying to create a document from which I can cut and paste to fishless cycling threads that show up in the new tank section. I see all of you (and me) answering the same questions frequently, and I'm trying to get all of those common "how do I", "where do I" questions in one spot and addressed more quickly, rather than retyping from scratch every time. (I know I'll have to change some things depending on the specific question, etc)
I welcome any suggestions/additions/verbal abuse. I'm a little spotty on the transition between reducing the level of ammonia to 2-3 ppm for the nitrite spike phase. Maybe someone can enlighten me on the time frame for exactly when to reduce ammonia "top-offs".
Thanks!
DO THE PREPARATION:
1. Raise your tank temperature to 29C/84F.
2. IF your pH level is in the 6.0 to 6.4 range (or if it drops that low during the cycle), prepare to raise the pH level with water changes or artificially (by adding baking soda). When pH drops that low, the bacteria stop reproducing. In the USA, just use Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, and in the UK, bicarbonate of soda. Experiment adding tsp or tbspns until you figure out how much you need. Get it too high? Water change it back down.
3. If you have an air pump, add an air stone to the tank, even if you don’t plan to use it once you have fish. Or if you have a Hang on Back filter, lower the tank water level an inch or so to increase surface agitation. This increases the level of dissolved oxygen – bacteria like it!
4. Get a good quality water test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, low and high pH. If you get the API Freshwater Master kit, it will give you hundreds of tests for the money, and most people on this forum are familiar with those tests if you need help.
5. Keep your tank lights off (unless you have live plants). Bacteria don’t need it, but algae would love to take over your tank at this point, and keeping light to a minimum will help prevent it.
6. PREPARE TO BE PATIENT. You should wait for the process to work. It will, eventually. And, yes, it can take many weeks sometimes. (mine took 72 days)
START THE CYCLE – AMMONIA PHASE:
1. Make sure your tank has been running for a day or so with all the equipment (heater, filter, bubbles) and DECHLORINATED water.
2. Important FILTER MEDIA information: chemical filter media - CARBON - is not recommended to use during your fishless cycle. You normally only need to use carbon media to remove medicine or other chemicals, and it can be placed in the filter as needed later on, after the cycle. Unless it is in the form of a sponge, this type of media saturates and needs replacing after 4-6 weeks (in most cases), and, upon replacing it, you could be discarding a lot of helpful bacteria that have colonized the cartridge! It is better to use mechanical and bio-media such as ceramic pellets and sponges rather than carbon.
3. Use pure ammonia to raise the ammonia level to 4-5 ppm. In the USA, you can get Janitorial Strength Ammonia (10%) at ACE Hardware; in the UK you can order it in at Boots. (you want to find ammonia that just has ammonia and water – no additives like detergents or scents)
4. Test ammonia daily, and log your results. When the level drops to 1 ppm or less, dose more ammonia to raise it back up to 4-5 ppm.
5. The time it takes ammonia to drop to zero will decrease as your bacteria colonies multiply.
6. Test and log your pH every few days to make sure it is not crashing to the 6.0 zone, and also test nitrites, nitrates and note the tank temperature at the same time.
When you get your first ammonia drop to zero, start testing for nitrites more often.
TWEAK THE CYCLE – NITRITE PHASE:
1. Once you see a spike in the nitrite level, and ammonia is processing fairly quickly, reduce the level of ammonia “top-offs” to 2-3 ppm rather than 4-5 ppm.
2. The nitrite phase, when the nitrite-processing bacteria are growing, can take much longer than the ammonia phase – in the range of twice as long.
3. Once you start to see nitrite levels processing to zero within a few days, you should be able to raise the ammonia level “top-offs” back to 4-5 ppm.
4. You should also see a rise in the level of nitrates due to the processing of nitrites. Don't worry about the nitrates at this time.
FINISH THE CYCLE: You want to reach the point where you are:
1. Testing for ammonia and nitrite at 12 hour intervals (so twice per day), and they should be zero.
2. Feeding ammonia into the tank ONLY every 24 hours.
3. Run for seven days like this, with zero stats, and you are ready for fish!
4. You should continue to "feed" ammonia into the tank until you are ready to add fish. PRIOR to adding fish, you will do a 100% water change (dechlorinated, etc.) to remove as much of the nitrates as possible. Then let the tank heat back up to the desired temperature.
DO NOT:
1. DO NOT stock fish after your first ammonia/nitrite drop to zero in 12 hours. Try to hold out and let the tank settle in for an extra 7 days after.
2. DO NOT be afraid to do water changes as needed during the cycle, as long as you DECHLORINATE the new water going in. (perhaps you overdosed ammonia, or pH is too high, or there is a bacterial bloom not clearing up – go ahead and water change when needed)
3. DO NOT clean your filter during the cycle unless water flow is reduced by debris. If you must clean, just gently clean media in a bucket of tank water.
4. DO NOT worry about missing a day or two of adding ammonia to the tank. You will not lose many bacteria if that happens.
INITIAL STOCK:
DO make your own decision about how many fish to stock at once. You will get a broad sprectrum of answers to this question – 50%, 80%, 100%. Your tank is cycled enough to handle more than a full load of fish, however, new tanks are prone to fluctuations in water quality without much warning. “New tank syndrome” can kill some fish that would otherwise handle being introduced into a mature tank. Also, any time you get new fish there is the possibility that those fish will bring disease into the tank that might not show up for several weeks. Only you can decide what you want to do after you look at all considerations.
EDIT Feb 22nd, 2011. I have finalized these notes in the following thread:
Your fishless cycle do and do not list
So any additional changes are being made in that thread now. This one is outdated!
***********************************************
I'm trying to create a document from which I can cut and paste to fishless cycling threads that show up in the new tank section. I see all of you (and me) answering the same questions frequently, and I'm trying to get all of those common "how do I", "where do I" questions in one spot and addressed more quickly, rather than retyping from scratch every time. (I know I'll have to change some things depending on the specific question, etc)
I welcome any suggestions/additions/verbal abuse. I'm a little spotty on the transition between reducing the level of ammonia to 2-3 ppm for the nitrite spike phase. Maybe someone can enlighten me on the time frame for exactly when to reduce ammonia "top-offs".
Thanks!
DO THE PREPARATION:
1. Raise your tank temperature to 29C/84F.
2. IF your pH level is in the 6.0 to 6.4 range (or if it drops that low during the cycle), prepare to raise the pH level with water changes or artificially (by adding baking soda). When pH drops that low, the bacteria stop reproducing. In the USA, just use Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, and in the UK, bicarbonate of soda. Experiment adding tsp or tbspns until you figure out how much you need. Get it too high? Water change it back down.
3. If you have an air pump, add an air stone to the tank, even if you don’t plan to use it once you have fish. Or if you have a Hang on Back filter, lower the tank water level an inch or so to increase surface agitation. This increases the level of dissolved oxygen – bacteria like it!
4. Get a good quality water test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, low and high pH. If you get the API Freshwater Master kit, it will give you hundreds of tests for the money, and most people on this forum are familiar with those tests if you need help.
5. Keep your tank lights off (unless you have live plants). Bacteria don’t need it, but algae would love to take over your tank at this point, and keeping light to a minimum will help prevent it.
6. PREPARE TO BE PATIENT. You should wait for the process to work. It will, eventually. And, yes, it can take many weeks sometimes. (mine took 72 days)
START THE CYCLE – AMMONIA PHASE:
1. Make sure your tank has been running for a day or so with all the equipment (heater, filter, bubbles) and DECHLORINATED water.
2. Important FILTER MEDIA information: chemical filter media - CARBON - is not recommended to use during your fishless cycle. You normally only need to use carbon media to remove medicine or other chemicals, and it can be placed in the filter as needed later on, after the cycle. Unless it is in the form of a sponge, this type of media saturates and needs replacing after 4-6 weeks (in most cases), and, upon replacing it, you could be discarding a lot of helpful bacteria that have colonized the cartridge! It is better to use mechanical and bio-media such as ceramic pellets and sponges rather than carbon.
3. Use pure ammonia to raise the ammonia level to 4-5 ppm. In the USA, you can get Janitorial Strength Ammonia (10%) at ACE Hardware; in the UK you can order it in at Boots. (you want to find ammonia that just has ammonia and water – no additives like detergents or scents)
4. Test ammonia daily, and log your results. When the level drops to 1 ppm or less, dose more ammonia to raise it back up to 4-5 ppm.
5. The time it takes ammonia to drop to zero will decrease as your bacteria colonies multiply.
6. Test and log your pH every few days to make sure it is not crashing to the 6.0 zone, and also test nitrites, nitrates and note the tank temperature at the same time.
When you get your first ammonia drop to zero, start testing for nitrites more often.
TWEAK THE CYCLE – NITRITE PHASE:
1. Once you see a spike in the nitrite level, and ammonia is processing fairly quickly, reduce the level of ammonia “top-offs” to 2-3 ppm rather than 4-5 ppm.
2. The nitrite phase, when the nitrite-processing bacteria are growing, can take much longer than the ammonia phase – in the range of twice as long.
3. Once you start to see nitrite levels processing to zero within a few days, you should be able to raise the ammonia level “top-offs” back to 4-5 ppm.
4. You should also see a rise in the level of nitrates due to the processing of nitrites. Don't worry about the nitrates at this time.
FINISH THE CYCLE: You want to reach the point where you are:
1. Testing for ammonia and nitrite at 12 hour intervals (so twice per day), and they should be zero.
2. Feeding ammonia into the tank ONLY every 24 hours.
3. Run for seven days like this, with zero stats, and you are ready for fish!
4. You should continue to "feed" ammonia into the tank until you are ready to add fish. PRIOR to adding fish, you will do a 100% water change (dechlorinated, etc.) to remove as much of the nitrates as possible. Then let the tank heat back up to the desired temperature.
DO NOT:
1. DO NOT stock fish after your first ammonia/nitrite drop to zero in 12 hours. Try to hold out and let the tank settle in for an extra 7 days after.
2. DO NOT be afraid to do water changes as needed during the cycle, as long as you DECHLORINATE the new water going in. (perhaps you overdosed ammonia, or pH is too high, or there is a bacterial bloom not clearing up – go ahead and water change when needed)
3. DO NOT clean your filter during the cycle unless water flow is reduced by debris. If you must clean, just gently clean media in a bucket of tank water.
4. DO NOT worry about missing a day or two of adding ammonia to the tank. You will not lose many bacteria if that happens.
INITIAL STOCK:
DO make your own decision about how many fish to stock at once. You will get a broad sprectrum of answers to this question – 50%, 80%, 100%. Your tank is cycled enough to handle more than a full load of fish, however, new tanks are prone to fluctuations in water quality without much warning. “New tank syndrome” can kill some fish that would otherwise handle being introduced into a mature tank. Also, any time you get new fish there is the possibility that those fish will bring disease into the tank that might not show up for several weeks. Only you can decide what you want to do after you look at all considerations.
