Fishless Cycle 1 Week Ahead Of Me

[shipley92]

Hi, thanks for viewing this topic.

So yesterday I started my fishless cycle with ammonia. I added 5ml and raised the ammonia to 4ppm.

Today I came home, tested the ammonia which seems to have dropped slightly already but I thought I read this should take around a week? Because of this I decided to test the nitrites and to my surprise its showing what looks like 1pp(nitrite is hard to read above 0)

This then lead me to test for nitrates and they are definitely not 0. Id say they were 20ppm.

The tank itself was sadly a victim of white spot and as a result was left fishless at 80c for a good 3 weeks with the filters running. I bought a new filter and added the old media to it and changed the substrate. I thought that after leaving it so long with no source of ammonia my bacteria colony would have diminished ?

Any questions please ask !

Thanks

Nitrates are now looking more like 30/40 (testing it as I type)

 

[Ch4rlie]

Are you following this fishless cycle method ?
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
 
And I'd suggest you dose the tank for 3ppm ammonia, not higher.
 
As for bacteria, think should be fine if left in water with filter running, normally during lean times of ammonia for them , they simply go dormant. Takes a little while to get them back up to strength once ammonia is in tank.
 
But since you replaced the substrate, you may have taken some bacteria away but will soon regain the bacteria numbers again once cycle is in progress.

 

[shipley92]

No it wasn't that exact method but another one that was highly rated and reviewed. Tbh I don't think it did hit 4ppm it was about 3. When I changed the substrate I left a few cupfulls in a stocking in the tank for about a week to try and transfer some of the bacteria. Is it at all possible that my tank stayed cycled ?

Thanks

 

[Ch4rlie]

Well a fishless cycle generally takes between 4 to 8 weeks, depending on many variables.
 
I would say to follow the article i linked as i have followed that fishless cycle twice from scratch and never had issues either times.
 
Testing your water parameters on a regular basis will tell you far more and posting the results will help give an idea of whats happening with your cycle.

 

[shipley92]

Its a little hard to follow these instructions when my readings are already ahead of them ...

 

[Ch4rlie]

What are your readings exactly?
 
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph if you have that test.

 

[shipley92]

Haven't tested Ph .. I broke one of my test tubes.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Well, theres a fairly simple solution, clean out one of the other test tubes and then test the ph, after noting down the results of the previous tests first of course.

 

[shipley92]

Ammonia - 2ppm
Nitrite - .25 maybe slightly over
Nitrate - 40 I'd say
Ph is very dark blue so 7.6 I guess but high range is a dark brown which looks like 8.2.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ok, i think you are still at the early stages.
 
But I would say to test again in 24 hours and see what the results are then to see if any changes and post the results here.

 

[shipley92]

Ok will do

 

[Mamashack]

Try testing your tap water to see what you started out with. Some water supplies already have high nitrate levels to start with. It will give you a good comparison with your tank water tests too.

 

[shipley92]

How can I reduce the size of an image ? I cannot post one of my test results. I have not yet tested my tap water but after testing again today, ammonia seems to have dropped again to .50/1ppm , nitrites are looking very high at what id say was near the 5ppm mark and nitrates are also very high looking around 80ppm (have not added any ammmonia since Monday) ill test my tap water now.
Just tested the tap water and its looking around 40ppm for nitrates. Doesn't explain the huge nitrites though?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thats your tank cycling in progress now. 
 
read that link again i posted before, and you'll soon start to see how the process works.
 
High nitrites is coming from the bacteria processing the ammonia, so you have a peak now, and the nitrites will soon start coming down.
 
A waiting game now.
 
Tap water at 40ppm nitrates is unfortunately pretty common in UK, I too have fairly high nitrate coming from my tap since i live fairly near London.
 
Live plants can help consumes some nitrates.
 
As for reducing the picture sizes, this may help -
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/422939-uploading-pictures-to-forum/

 

[shipley92]

I've got that link pinned to my start screen. I'm going to ignore the nitrates for now theyre not really necessary until the nitrite and ammonia are constantly 0. I'm guessing I'm not going to be cycling this tank for a month (not definitely) but after 2 days the ammonia needs topping up and my nitrites are crazy as well as the presence of nitrates. I know it was in my tap water but the tank was reading much higher than the tap. Just seeems the cycle is well ahead of schedule atm. I had live plants before and being a noob, I bought them from pets at home and riddled my tank with chemicals (pesticides I'm guessing) so I'm still a bit off of live plants atm.