First Fishless Cycle..

[Tag2008]

Hi Guys,

Well I have my Rio 180 going through a fishless cycle ..

I started it last Friday and added 10 ml of ammonia as the chart in here reccomended in the fishless cycle thread..

So I looked at the ammonia readings yesterday and they were still at about 4 ppm... The tutorial article suggests it can take a week to get through the first stage of the Add & Wait method so i was not surprised there..

This morning at 11am I did another amonia check and it was back at zero... I did a second test to confirm and it was the same.... So I did a Nitrate and Nitrite test to confirm the ammonia had been converted and they were offf the scale..... well so far so good I think according to the turorial...

So I added a little less ammonia and took the level back to about 4 ppm and am guessing tommorrow or there abouts it should be back at 0 again??

So Now I have the build up of nitrate can anuone tell me how long it took for the nitrate eating bacteria to grow in their tanks? the article suggests its slower?

Also id like to confirm Ive done no water change yet is that correct? If im reading right I dont do a water change till I see the nitrates getting eaten up and the amonia going within 12 hours then I can do a big change and add my fish yea?


Thanks aain advance for your thoughts and suggestions..
Cheers Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hiya tag, so you added 5ppm on froday and today it's down to 0ppm? you need to be clear to differentiate between nitrite and nitrate, they are different things and either of them being 'off the sclae' means something different. so it's best to give us the actual numbers you recorded for each one.

what you do now is top it up to 4/5ppm again, it may take several days to drop down to 0, then you top it up again and it'll drop again, over the course of a week or two it get to a point where it drops in 12 hrs, then your population of Ammonia consuming bacteria has grown to where it needs to be, this is what's usually called phase one of the cycle.

by this time you will have built up quite a lot of nitrite in the tank, it's not essential but some people have found it helps to do a really big water change at this point. The reason for this is every 1ppm of ammonia produces about 2/3ppm of nitrite, so you end up with absolutley loads of nitrite which can take a long time to clear whereas you actually only need it to process what's produced by the 5ppm of ammonia. so if you like, at this point do a 90% water change, then following on from that keep adding your 5ppm of ammonia every 24 hrs, the nitrite will rise up then start to fall, when the nitrite is at 0 12 hrs after adding ammonia then the tank is cycled. it's wise to keep adding for a few days afterwards as tanks sometimes have a little blip a few days after cycling. then when you're ready to add fiish you do another big water change and stock the same day.

 

[Tag2008]

Thanks Mrs Wiggle,

My Nitrate & Nitrite are measured with a wee test strip... when i tested this morning they were both very pink and generally they dont colour at all... so I think they were at about the maximum the text kit measures in.. I will take more note of them later tonight when i will do a check and post my readings..

Also If when my tank is cycled I dont put fish in that day do I just keep adding ammonia each day to feed the bacteria till I get my fish organised?

Thanks again
Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

need to get a proper liquid test kit mate, can totally discount any readings taken on the strips i'm afraid.

keep adding bacteria each day until you're organised for fish, it's advisable to wait a few days to make sure it's stable. people will often keep going until they have a free weekend or can get the fish they really want.

 

[Tag2008]

need to get a proper liquid test kit mate, can totally discount any readings taken on the strips i'm afraid.

keep adding bacteria each day until you're organised for fish, it's advisable to wait a few days to make sure it's stable. people will often keep going until they have a free weekend or can get the fish they really want.

Thank you,

Yes my local fish shops have stunning fish at timees but are never sure when new fish come in and if your not in on the right day they come in and get sold without you seeing.... and I dont want to buy fish because thats all the shop had , Ive been snooping round the net to try and find some local breeders up my way in aberdeen as Id like to get fish from a breeder who can tell me better about the fish I tend to think the fish shops just sell you what they want and dont realy care its pounds and pence to most of em.....

Ive found the 2 shops I go to disagree with a lot I read in here or the net so its confusing to know what to do at times eh..One shop I was in this week hadnt heard of the fishless cycle and put it down as a new american fad!! and basically dismissed me when i said this was what I was doing he prety much too the huff and his assistant thought I was mad when i said i was puting ammonia into the water..."He said you do know thats like bleach your putting in your tank!!!" lol

But its all over the net american or not I dont care its going to save me killing of loads of fish to get my tank right...

If anyone can point me to breeders of any kind im aberdeen or shire Id appreciate a pointer to nice fish, we havent set for sure what we will put in there as yet and are open....

Thanks again Tag

 

[doresy]

Well, I have just caught up with this thread and don't have anything to add after Miss Wiggle has finished with it

She has served you good stuff and I will also say that you are better off with something like the API Freshwater Master Kit as those strips are not much better than useless.

One thing to add.......PATIENCE

 

[Tag2008]

Thanks Guys,

Well its 11.30 PM 12 hours since i added the second lot of ammonia and my kits saying im back to zero again...

Ive yet to get a new test kit for the nitrate & Nitrite but the strips i have are both colouring darker than the maximum on the container chart they came with..

My Ph has lowered a little to now down at 7.2 ish

So what now? More amonia? I seem to be eating up the amonia faster than I excpected or is this OK?

Thanks for the support guys..

Tag ...

 

[doresy]

Thanks Guys,

Well its 11.30 PM 12 hours since i added the second lot of ammonia and my kits saying im back to zero again...

Ive yet to get a new test kit for the nitrate & Nitrite but the strips i have are both colouring darker than the maximum on the container chart they came with..

My Ph has lowered a little to now down at 7.2 ish

So what now? More amonia? I seem to be eating up the amonia faster than I excpected or is this OK?

Thanks for the support guys..

Tag ...

Keep adding the ammonia if you are going down to zero otherwise the bacteria you are developing will die. Get that testeing kit ahd check your nitrite and I suspect it will be extremely high. You need to do this quite quickly so you can be sure that it peaks before dropping to zero.

 

[Tag2008]

Thanks dorsey,

I will get more ammonia in and keep them going.. How long does it take for the ammonia eating bacteria to die?

Im getting muddled with nitrate and nitrite now...

The bactria eat the ammonia and leave nitrite new bacteria grows and eats the nitrate and leave nitrate.... we only lower nitrate with water changes? is that about right?

Im wondering why I need a better nitrite test when i can see its darker than the max that I have on the kit im using?

If I have nitrate this means i have the nitrate eating bacteria yea?

Im in no rush to get this done as I wont get fish till next week Just need to get this right...

I cant get into town to get a new test kit till tommorrow so is there something I can do with my nitrite just now or do I just wait still and add more ammonia to keep feeding the bacteria.

Thanks again.
Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you only add ammonia once a day, every 24hrs. so even if it drops to 0 in a couple of hours you still leave it until the following day to add more ammonia.

re the test kit, the reason we say get a decent liquid kit for nitrite and nitrate is because the test strips are useless. very inaccurate. so while it may look like you can see progress, really what you're seeing is fiction, it's not a genuine reading and when you do get a liquid test kit you'll probably find it's significantly different to what the strips are telling you.

 

[Tag2008]

Hi Guys,

I just got 2 individual kits for nitrite and nitrate..

Here are my readings...

Nitrate: Between the 80 -160 on the chart.. Its quite RED in colour

Nitrite: 0.50 seems a lavender colour

Does that sound about right for the stages im at?

I added another dose of ammonia this morning around 11am as I did yeaterday.

Thanks again
Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup sounds about right for now, the nitrite will be all over the place for the next little bit, then it'll get to the point where it starts to rise up shortly after adding ammonia then drop back down again within the space of a day, then it's just a case of waiting for it to start dropping back down to 0 12 hrs after you add your ammonia.

don't worry over the nitrate for now, it'll be sky high throughout the cycle but you remove it witht he big water change at the end.

 

[Tag2008]

yup sounds about right for now, the nitrite will be all over the place for the next little bit, then it'll get to the point where it starts to rise up shortly after adding ammonia then drop back down again within the space of a day, then it's just a case of waiting for it to start dropping back down to 0 12 hrs after you add your ammonia.

don't worry over the nitrate for now, it'll be sky high throughout the cycle but you remove it witht he big water change at the end.

Thanks Miss Wiggles..

Im all over the place with this new way and am worried I get it right...

Thanks again
Tag

 

[Miss Wiggle]

just keep a record of your results and if you're ever unsure of where you are just post them all up and we'll make sure you're on the right track.

 

[Tag2008]

Thanks,

I will keep posting my readings and if im all over the place Hopefully someone will see ...

Regards as ever
Tag