Fish Food Fishless Cycling

[FishFixation]

Hey everyone -

I have a three gallon eclipse aquarium that I'm setting up for a single betta. Right now I'm trying to cycle it. Because I can't find surfactant-free ammonia at any of the stores near me, and because I don't have a trusted source for established media, I've opted to go with the fish food method for cycling. Today is day three of adding fish food (~six leftover goldfish pellets once daily), and when I checked my ammonia and nitrite levels today, they're both still ZERO. That fish food has been rotting for two days, and the ammonia is still zero? Really? Please tell me - does is normally take this long, or should I be concerned that my test kits are bad?

I'm so impatient... I want it to be ready for a fishy TODAY! Thanks for your help!

 

[fatheadminnow]

What kind of test kit are you using?

-FHM

 

[Knox213]

PS : May help me with my cycling

 

[arobinson1984]

Hey everyone -

I have a three gallon eclipse aquarium that I'm setting up for a single betta. Right now I'm trying to cycle it. Because I can't find surfactant-free ammonia at any of the stores near me, and because I don't have a trusted source for established media, I've opted to go with the fish food method for cycling. Today is day three of adding fish food (~six leftover goldfish pellets once daily), and when I checked my ammonia and nitrite levels today, they're both still ZERO. That fish food has been rotting for two days, and the ammonia is still zero? Really? Please tell me - does is normally take this long, or should I be concerned that my test kits are bad?

I'm so impatient... I want it to be ready for a fishy TODAY! Thanks for your help!

Are you in the UK?

If so, go to www.boots.co.uk and search for ammonia

Andy

 

[FishFixation]

What kind of test kit are you using?

-FHM

It's a liquid kit made by marineland which includes only ammonia and nitrite, and which takes forever (like 30 min for both tests). Although I don't really have the money, I'm about ready to go pay for something that's a bit more efficient.

Are you in the UK?

If so, go to www.boots.co.uk and search for ammonia

Andy

No, I'm in the US.

 

[fatheadminnow]

What kind of test kit are you using?

-FHM

It's a liquid kit made by marineland which includes only ammonia and nitrite, and which takes forever (like 30 min for both tests). Although I don't really have the money, I'm about ready to go pay for something that's a bit more efficient.

Are you in the UK?

If so, go to www.boots.co.uk and search for ammonia

Andy

No, I'm in the US.

30 minutes, wow. Anyways, if it is a liquid test kit like you said it is, then it should be fine.

-FHM

 

[Knox213]

wait how do oyu actuly do a food cycle then i know its something to do with decaying food..

 

[FishFixation]

wait how do oyu actuly do a food cycle then i know its something to do with decaying food..

I'm new to this too, but my understanding is that once the food starts rotting, it will produce ammonia, and once the ammonia is present, you'll start growing/feeding those bacterial colonies that you want. Then watch the water levels until the nitrite drops to zero. You're supposed to add food daily because the food rotting mimics the effects of fish excrement in the tank and feeds our friendly bacteria. ...at least that's what I think I understand... It's like adding pure ammonia daily, just not as efficient and messier.

Seriously, I wonder how much harm a few drops of surfactant-containing ammonia would cause in the long run...

 

[Knox213]

i thought food causes nitirates??

 

[Truck]

i thought food causes nitirates??

It degrades and creates ammonia, which is converted to nitrite and then to nitrate by filter bacteria.

 

[Knox213]

Ok Im going to start doing this now as i have plenty of uneeded goldfish food

 

[Truck]

to make it easier you can throw a few prawns in a filter sock, because it makes less mess.

 

[FishFixation]

I said my test kit is liquid, but it is actually powders instead of drops. I meant that it wasn't test strips (are they really THAT innaccurate?).

Last night I had like 0.2 nitrite, but still no ammonia. I'm not sure how that's even possible, but this whole situation is starting to frustrate the heck out of me. I've switched to betta food because I think those goldfish pellets played a huge role in causing this situation:



I got fed up with the nastiness and did a huge water change yesterday afternoon, and since my replacement light bulb came last night, I'm finally able to see my pretty tank in all its glory:



So it looks great (if I do say so myself), but the fact remains that I don't have good evidence that it has cycled or even started to cycle. I've been using something called Stability (the dude at the aquariums-only store told me I HAD to get it), and I wonder if that is making my test results zero even if the tank really is cycling. Also, my tap water pH is about 7.6, so I'll have to do/buy something to bring that down, too.

Ughhh... what should I do? The fish food method doesn't seem to be working, I hate my test kits, my pH is high, and I've already exceeded my budget. Fish tanks are neither cheap nor easy.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you are simply re-creating the frustration that led to the popularity of this beginners forum! Using rotting organics to provide an indirect ammonia source is a legitimate way to perform a fishless cycle. Lots of fish flakes, prawns/shrimp or dead bacteria (from stability or other expensive bacteria in a bottle products) can be used with varying success rates. One problem is the smell (which can get awful!) but the really big one is -lack of control- which can drive people crazy. This is clearly a main reason that people choose to go all out to find a pure household ammonia source and/or find mature media to speed the process.

In the USA, one of the good souces seems to be the ACE hardware chain of stores. In the southeast, good ammonia can be found in the Harris-Teeter and other grocery store chains. In all cases its good to look in mop and broom sections.

Your other problem is not having a handle on the timelines here. The two specific species of bacteria we need to grow are SLOW growers. The whole process, at best, is quite slow and if you add the confusion of organic ammonia creation it gets even slower in many cases. (On the other hand, it can be less fussy once you get a handle on the amount of organics to provide, which takes experience.) The process is wildly unpredictable in overall time. This is because the number of bacterial cells you start with varies wildly and it makes a big time difference. We like to say 3 weeks to 2 months, but many of the cases we watch seem to take slightly more than two months, often coming in at between 60 and 70 days of careful work. Everybody seems to make a few mistakes along the way and this is what adds time to the optimum, although not as much as just not having very many of the right bacteria in your tap water!

You felt frustration at 3 days. It sometimes takes -3 weeks- before the first ammonia dosing drops all the way to zero ppm for the first time. So at 3 days we would expect nothing. Another thing the members will need to consider for your case is that this a small 3 gallon which will make things a bit harder and we also haven't reviewed the filter to make sure its doing ok.

~~waterdrop~~