Fishless Cycle In 150 Words Or Less

[Nik00117]

I found a lot of fish less cycles articles to be quite wordy and hard to follow, I decided I wanted to produce a guide with 150 words or less to cover this topic what do you guys think?
 
Fishless Cycle
Goal: Establish Ammonia and Nitrate bacteria to consume waste
Supplies: Ammonia source (EX: Dr. Tims Ammonia), Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite test kits
Process:

1. Setup the tank heat the water as high as your heater will go (82-86 is good)
2. Dose Ammonia to 3-5 PPM
3. Wait 24 hrs, test again once the tank can process 3-5 PPM Ammonia in 24 hrs test for Nitrites
4. Keep dosing 1-2 PPM after this step
5. One the tank can process all Ammonia, Nitrites to 0 within 24 hrs your good
6. Test for Nitrates (they should be sky high as in off the charts)
7. At this point your done cycling
8. 24 hrs BEFORE you add your fish do a 70-90% water change, this is the only effective way to get rid of Nitrates.

The cycle goes
Ammonia to Nitrites to Nitrates

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Overall its a good explanation that would be very helpful to beginners though there are a few things I would like to suggest to improve the text and avoid some confusion (I have changed the colour of the text to show you what I have edited). You don't have to go along with what I have suggested as it is just a suggestion. Also I have not checked if it is 150 words or less so sorry if I have gone over your limit.  
P.S I wasn't sure how to fix step 2 but it just doesn't sound right.
 
 
 
 
I found a lot of fish less cycles articles to be quite wordy and hard to follow, I decided I wanted to produce a guide with 150 words or less to cover this topic, what do you guys think?
 
Fishless Cycle
Goal: To establish Ammonia and Nitrite bacteria to consume waste produced by fish.
Supplies: Ammonia source (EX: Dr. Tims Ammonia), Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite test kits (a master test kit is good for this)
Process:

1. Setup the tank and set the heater as high as it can go (82-86 is a good temperature).
2. Dose the Ammonia to 3-5 PPM
3. Wait 24 hrs and test again. Once the Bacteria can process 3-5 PPM Ammonia in 24 hrs start testing for Nitrites.
4. Keep dosing 1-2 PPM of Ammonia after Nitrites start showing.
5. Once the tank can process the Ammonia and Nitrite to 0 PPM within 24 hrs your cycle is finished
6. Test for Nitrates (they should be sky high as in off the charts) and perform one/several waterchanges until the Nitrates are testing 5-40 PPM.
7. Continue adding Ammonia until a day before you get your fish
8. 24 hrs BEFORE you add your fish, do a 70-90% water change, this is the only effective way to get rid of Nitrates.

The cycle goes
Ammonia to Nitrites to Nitrates

 

[Nik00117]

Good changes, I'd edit it but it doesn't allow me.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I think you can ask one of the Moderators to edit it for you so send one a PM and tell them what you want changed.

 

[the_lock_man]

Good list. THe only issue I have with it, is that, for me at least, I want to see the ammonia being processed in 12 hours, not 24.
 
The Mod team are in the process of re-writing of the whole cycling section of the Beginners Resource Centre, and we've enlisted the help of one of the active members who specialises in bacteria and cycling. We'll make sure that it isn't a Wall Of Text, so please bear with us.

 

[Nik00117]

Maybe do a quick to do list with links to expanding further on the reasons why.

 

[CezzaXV]

Good list. THe only issue I have with it, is that, for me at least, I want to see the ammonia being processed in 12 hours, not 24.
 
The Mod team are in the process of re-writing of the whole cycling section of the Beginners Resource Centre, and we've enlisted the help of one of the active members who specialises in bacteria and cycling. We'll make sure that it isn't a Wall Of Text, so please bear with us.

I don't think that a wall of text is necessarily a bad thing. A quick guide similar to this one may be a good thing, but I think as well as that it's important to explain to beginners why we're doing this ("The guy in the shop told me I just had to pour this bottle in and wait three days!"), and I don't think that can be done in 150 words or less.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I agree Cezza.
 
I think there should be a section of bulleted points for someone interested in the practical "How do I do this?" and a larger section of the theory "Why do I need to do this?"
 
 
That way both level of user gets what they need.  The one who just wants to do the right thing can do it quick and simple without too much reading and the more inquisitive member gets the details on why we do what we do.

 

[daizeUK]

My comments in blue.
 

1. Setup the tank and set the heater as high as it can go (82-86 is a good temperature).
2. Dose the Ammonia to 3-5 PPM - The best method is to dose 2-3 ppm and then half that dose again once you first see ammonia level start to fall and nitrites rising.
3. Wait 24 hrs and test again. Once the Bacteria can process 3-5 PPM Ammonia in 24 hrs start testing for Nitrites. - yes if mature media is added to help speed up the cycle but in the absence of any bacterial starter material I would recommend testing only every 3 days until ammonia starts to fall. 
4. Keep dosing 1-2 PPM of Ammonia after Nitrites start showing. - a quarter dose of ammonia once every 4 days is enough to keep the A-bacs going, any more and it will simply take longer to process nitrites

 

[Chad]

The entire fishless cycling (and fish in) pin thread is going to be re-written. A member has already agreed to write it.
It's going to take a little while but we'll post it when it's done.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Simple is good, too simple may not be. I see a few problems with having only a short form:
 
1. Nothing on pH.
2. While raising the temp helps, the ideal temp for the ammonia eaters (the idea temp. for ammonia eaters, Nitrosomonas, is actually higher than the ideal temp for the nitrite eaters, Nitrospira).
3. Nothing on the need for oxygen and inorganic carbon (KH).
4. Nothing on seeding- either using cycled media/gravel or bottled bacteria.
5. Nothing on time frames to complete.
6. Most folks trying to dose 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia will likely run into serious issues, especially in the absence of #4.
7. A quick guide can be helpful until something goes wrong, then the person trying to complete the cycle will be lost.
 
Most people should be able to get a new tank cycled in 4 - 5 weeks (though it can take a week or so more in difficult cases).
 
IMO, a good cycling article must include some basics about the process, enough to help people understand what is going on and then to make it easy for them to understand what may be going wrong- i.e. dosing too much ammonia, KH is too low, how to measure nitrite when its off the scale on a test kit etc.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I agree fully... But, I think that we need an simple "how-to" maybe with bullet points to highlight the steps, as well as a much more technical portion explaining the whys and what fors.
 
 
 
Imho, it would have a simple format like this:
 
 
 
 

Fishless cycling....
 
INTRO....
(link to nitrogen cycle)
 

Quick reference guide

 
All the nitty gritty

 

[Chad]

Did I mention...

The entire fishless cycling (and fish in) pin thread is going to be re-written. A member has already agreed to write it.
It's going to take a little while but we'll post it when it's done.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yup... as did TLM.