Cycling - What Now?

[juhill]

Hi

I'm hoping for a little advice here. I wish I'd found this forum before the weekend as the cycling section looks brilliant. Anyhow...

I got my new tank on Saturday. It's 35l. I don't have access to established media etc so have to fishless cycle on my own. I wasn't able to go and get fish flakes or ammonia (my cat just got run over and I'm playing nurse) so I thought the next best thing would be to cut up a bit of frozen sardine out of the freezer which I chucked in an old stocking. I put the heater up to 82 and added some stress zyme. I have an API tester kit.

Day 1
PH 6.0 (or less)

Day 2
PH 6.8
Ammonia and Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0 (does this mean it's in my tap water)

Day 3
PH 6.0 (I added bogwood today)
Ammonia and Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0

Day 4
PH 6.0
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0 (but looks like it has increased, just not up to next level)
Nitrate 5.0

Day 5
PH 6.0
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0 (as day 4)
Nitrate 5.0

I threw out the bit of sardine after work today as it was making my bedroom stink but I did manage to get a bottle of ammonia at lunchtime.

What should I now do with the Ammonia? I would like to do the add and wait method but am not sure how to start since I have an ammonia reading already. Do I just follow the instructions as normal?

Also, should I be worried about my PH or will that sort itself out? I live in Devon and have very soft water.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bullrock74]

I threw out the bit of sardine after work today as it was making my bedroom stink but I did manage to get a bottle of ammonia at lunchtime.

What should I now do with the Ammonia? I would like to do the add and wait method but am not sure how to start since I have an ammonia reading already. Do I just follow the instructions as normal?

Also, should I be worried about my PH or will that sort itself out? I live in Devon and have very soft water.

You should search on this forum for fishless cyling. You will learn all you need to know.

Your pH seems pretty stable to me, usually reads 6.0. I wouldn't worry about it. I believe that messing with pH is just asking for trouble. One false move and you're in trouble. I just stock the fish that can live in my tap water (minus the chloramines, of course).

 

[juhill]

Thanks for your reply.

Maybe I haven't explained myself very well. I have found all the information on here for fishless cycling. I wanted to know if I needed to do anything differently since I already have a reading for ammonia.

I threw out the bit of sardine after work today as it was making my bedroom stink but I did manage to get a bottle of ammonia at lunchtime.

What should I now do with the Ammonia? I would like to do the add and wait method but am not sure how to start since I have an ammonia reading already. Do I just follow the instructions as normal?

Also, should I be worried about my PH or will that sort itself out? I live in Devon and have very soft water.

You should search on this forum for fishless cyling. You will learn all you need to know.

Your pH seems pretty stable to me, usually reads 6.0. I wouldn't worry about it. I believe that messing with pH is just asking for trouble. One false move and you're in trouble. I just stock the fish that can live in my tap water (minus the chloramines, of course).

 

[countdown]

No you dont need to do anything different, having an ammonia reading already shouldnt be a problem.

The idea is just when your ammonia falls to close to zero put it back to around 4ppm.

You will need to work out how much ammonia to add, get a 10litre bucket and play about until you get 4ppm (you wont need much , go a few drops at a time) then simple maths to work it out for 35L.


i had my 60L tank cycled in 2 weeks using the add and wait method

 

[Boids-n-more]

i don't understand what the decaying sardine piece was suppose to do. I'm asking cause i don't recall seing anything like that for fishless cycling. the concern i have about that is a sardine is salt water with different parasites and diseases than fresh water. Also decaying fish can't be too good for a tank. If i am wrong or missing something here please let me know cause this fishless cycle stuff is new to me.

 

[voo]

A decaying fish will create ammonia and since it was frozen i think all the bacteria would have died?

I think ammonia is still a much safer option though

 

[scubadoo]

To make things a bit easier, if your tank is 35l, then that is 35000ml.

so 1 ppm of 35000 is 0.035ml
therefore to get to 5 ppm you would need to add 0.175ml of PURE ammonia.

Most household ammonia is about 10% concentration - but this varies - so check the bottle first.

If it is 10% you should need 1.75ml of the ammonia solution to get a reading of 5ppm.

Given that you already have a slight reading, I suggest you add about 1ml and test for concentration, then add a bit more to get to about 4-5ppm.

Hope it helps

 

[juhill]

Thanks scubadoo and countdown. That was really useful. I have added ammonia and will test every day.

I only used a bit of sardine as I couldn't get to the shop to buy ammonia or any flake food and was feeling very impatient. I read about it on a couple of sites and thought at least it would start things off until I could get some ammonia. Seems to have worked a bit anyway.

Am dying to get some fish in there but I think it's cruel to make them suffer unnecessarily so will wait (sigh).

Thanks again, this site is a great help.