Cyclyng Saga

[frodo11]

A couple of weeks ago I posted the following as a response in another thread:

I started a 12 gal Fluval Edge a week (7 days) ago (all contents brand new) ... initial doses of Prime, Stability and StressZyme ... and Stability each morning since ... tested water last night - PH: 7.0, Ammonia: 0.0, Nitrites: 0.0 and Nitrates: 0.0 ... plan to dose with StressZyme and introduce a couple fish tomorrow ... if the cycling never started at least the water seems to be clean and should have enough hungry "bugs" that will be fed with fish introduction ... have I screwed up? Any comments?


Basically, I was advised: no harm, no foul - no ammonia source, no cycling - at least no fish ... undeterred and undissuaded (as a good child of the 60s I "know" that there is better living through chemistry ) I introduced fish. Following are water readings and my actions (water changes & bacteria introductions) to date. I did not take readings for each test every day. And I was out of town for a few days and someone took care of feeding & Stability introduction.

Water Test Results & Tank Activity
Tank Initial Setup 2/11/12

Test & Reading
Date---------PH---------Ammonia---------Nitrite---------Nitrate---------Action
2/16/2012----7.0--------0.0-------------0.0-------------0.0
2/18/2012---------------------------------------------------------------StressZyme & 12:25 pm introduced 4 Zabra Danios
7:00 PM-----------------0.0
2/19 8 AM--------------0.0-------------0.0-------------0.0
8:00 PM-----------------0.0-------------0.0-------------0.0
2/20 8 AM---------------0.0
8:00 PM------7.2--------0.0-------------0.0-------------0.0
2/21 8 AM---------------0.0-------------0.0
1:00 PM-----------------0.0
9:00 PM-----------------0.0-------------0.0-------------0.0
2/22 8 AM---------------0.0-------------0.0
7:00 PM----------------0.25-------------0.0
9:00 PM-----------------------------------------------------------------20% H20 change & Stability
2/23 4 AM--------------0.25-------------0.0-----------------------------StressZyme
2/24--------------------------------------------------------------------Stability
2/25--------------------------------------------------------------------Stability
2/26 7 PM----7.8--------1.0-------------0.0-------------0.0-------------25% H2O change & StressZyme
2/27 8 AM---------------1.0-------------0.0
8:00 PM-----------------1.0-------------0.0-----------------------------25% H2O change
2/28 8AM---------------1.0-------------0.0
9:30 PM-----------------1.0-------------0.0-----------------------------25% H2O change
2/29 1 PM----7.0--------0.5-------------0.0-------------0.0-------------Stability into filter
3/1 6 PM-----7.2--------0.5-------------0.0-------------0.0-------------25% H2O change

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? The ol' Zebras seem to be doing OK

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Looks pretty standard so far. I'd expect an increase in nitrite in the next day or two. As long as you're dosing with Prime to detoxify the ammonia it should all be OK.

 

[CezzaXV]

You need to do bigger water changes. Ideally you want to ensure that your ammonia or nitrite never rises above 0.25ppm. There were times where you had 1ppm ammonia and did a 25% change, which would still leave you with 0.75ppm ammonia, which is still too much as it's poisonous to your fish. The filter will still cycle with amounts that our test kits won't even detect, so you don't need to worry about removing too much.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome frodo.
As it turns out, you are in the earliest stages of a typical fishless cycle, in terms of chemistry. As long as you dose your tank with ammonia whenever the ammonia reading drops to zero, you will do fine.

 

[frodo11]

I suspect that you can't have a fishless cycle with fish in the tank - 4 Zebras

 

[OldMan47]

4 zebras is not a real problem to cycling. It simply means that you cannot tolerate the high ammonia levels present in a fishless cycle. We also have advice for that, which you can find by following my link to fish-in cycling.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Welcome frodo.
As it turns out, you are in the earliest stages of a typical fishless cycle, in terms of chemistry. As long as you dose your tank with ammonia whenever the ammonia reading drops to zero, you will do fine.

Just to clarify for frodo11, in case this statement confused him: you don't add ammonia when you have fish in the tank!

 

[frodo11]

Thank you, Prime. I suspected as much.

The Zebras appear to be doing well. Very active, especially when the white light is on. May even be observing some mating behavior from a pair ... of course thats an observation of a fairly inexperienced observer, but it is definately something different than the Zebras normal zipping to and fro around the tank.

Again, thanks for the comments and help.