"Fishless cycle" Almost there

[George&Ade]

Hi.I started a "fishless cycle" on my "Rio 190" (Approx.42 gallons) 14 days ago.

Ive been adding a few drops of Ammonia every day to the tank and have been keeping an eye on the readings.

After 4 days the readings went sky high Ammonia..7.3
nitrites...3.3
nitrates..110

A week later they came down......Ammonia...0
nitrites....1.6
nitrates...50

They are now.....Ammonia...0
nitrites...0.1
nitrates..10

Does this now mean i have a fully "cycled tank"?

Also,do i have to keep adding ammonia to the tank until i add some fish.

(My reason for asking this is,im going on holiday next tuesday for 2 weeks,and im not going to add any fish until i return)
Or do i just leave the tank alone(apart from leaving the pump running of course)

Thanks.

 

[corrosive]

Looks good, whats your ammonia level reading?

 

[wuvmybetta]

I've never done a successful fishless cycle so I can't help you much. But 0.1 nitrite would imply that your cycle is not quite done,but almost. Also leaving the tank now wouldn't be good because all of that bacteria you worked so hard for,will die without a steady source of food.

I hope some of our fishless cycle gurus come along to help you soon

 

[pendragon]

Not a fishless cycler here, but the principles you're asking about are common, regardless of how you cycle.

Your cycle is finished when all three of the following criteria are met, with no exceptions:

1.) Ammonia goes to zero and remains there
2.) Nitrite goes to zero and remains there
3.) Nitrate is detectable and steadily increases

Personally, once ammonia AND nitrite have both peaked and then dropped to zero I take a nitrate reading. I wait 48 hours and test again. If ammonia is still zero, nitrite is still zero, and nitrate is higher that two days ago, I consider it cycled.

Once your tank is cycled (or is in the process of cycling, for that matter), it must have a constant input of ammonia, either from fish or manual injection. If ammonia input stops for more than a day or so, your ammonia-consuming bacteria will die off, starting a chain reaction that breaks your cycle, and leaves you starting at square one again cycle-wise.

In summary: unfortunately, if your tank goes two weeks without an ammonia source, you're going to come home to an uncycled tank. No doubt about it.

pendragon!

 

[luxum]

You are close enough to cycled that you could cheat a bit, do a large water change to get rid of the last of the nitrite and stock the tank, unless you have someone who could come by to add the daily ammonia dose while you're gone. Fish would be ok without feeding for 2 weeks, and you'd have a couple days to observe them before time to leave. It's sort of a difficult situation.

Then again, you basically cycled the tank in 14 days, you may elect to just re-cycle it when you get home and it would probably be even quicker the next time. It's up to you really.

 

[George&Ade]

WOW......Thanks for all your replies
I really dont want to give someone else the responsibility of either adding ammonia every day,or having to come in and feed new fish(couldnt burden them if something were to go wrong while i was away)
So i think my only alternative is to recycle the tank when i get back from holiday.
Could i just ask if it would therefore be ok to switch everything off till i get back?

 

[luxum]

I'd leave the filter circulating personally so the water doesn't get stagnant and to give the bacteria the best chance to stay alive. Your whole colony won't make it through 2 weeks with no ammonia source, but some of them may live, they seem to have an ability to sort of hibernate for lack of a better word, and if you can minimize the stress to them (maybe add a double dose of ammonia before you leave to delay die off) you'll have a shorter wait when you come back and begin anew.

Truthfully fish would be fine for 2 weeks with no food (that's the preferred method for vacation feeding actually, since well meaning fish sitters tend to overfeed the fish and create water quality problems they aren't prepared to deal with), however i probably would not elect to stock the tank and immediately go on vacation since the initial introduction to the tank may require water changes or medication, etc.

 

[pendragon]

I agree 100% with Luxum. Leave the filter running (and heater, if it's a tropical tank) but don't expect much in the way of bacterial survival.

Folks say healthy, acclimated fish can go 2 weeks without food (although I would think that's approaching their reasonable limit), but I've never tried it. I would if I had to, but I hope not to ever need to. But I agree that stocking before you leave is not the best idea from a fish acclimation stress/emergency standpoint. If something unfortunate were to happen and a fish died within a day or so of your leaving, that's a really long time for a dead fish to foster all sorts of potential problems (disease, fungus, etc.) in your water. Fish newly introduced shouldn't really be left unsupervised for that period of time.

If you are willing to (and it sounds as though you are), just re-cycle once you return. It's the safest bet. And may God bless you for your patience, which is scarcer than it should be among fishkeepers - much less beginners.

pendragon!

 

[George&Ade]

Thanks for the very helpfull advice you two

Looks like a recycle jobby when i get back then.......ha ha