Fishless Cycle In 35L Tank

[cybergibbons]

Morning all,

We've just started the fishless cycle on our new 35l Arcadia Arc tank.

After washing the moon sand (which took a long time and made a lot of mess), it was added to the tank, and then approx 33l of water went in on top. The tap water tests at ph 7.8, ammonia and nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 10ppm.

The filter (Classica PowerBio 200) and heater (Hydor Theo 50W) went in and were turned on. The filter has foam in the first chamber and a bag of carbon pieces in the second chamber.

5ml of StressCoat water conditioner was added to the tank (I don't think this is strictly necessary though).

We then waited 24 hours for the temperature to come up.

We're using Boots household ammonia 9.5% to dose the tank. I added approx 1.8ml (suggested by the calculator) to get the level to about 5ppm. At the same time I added 10ml of Stress Zyme.

We're using an API test kit, and 12 hours later I found that the pH had changed to 8.4 and the ammonia is somewhere between 4 and 8ppm (colour is closer to 4ppm though).

I'm logging everything to a Google spreadsheet

Just one question. The filter has one chamber with carbon in it. I have read that bacteria will grow on this as well as sponge or ceramic. Is this the case or should I swap it out for foam?

 

[AdAndrews]

Just one question. The filter has one chamber with carbon in it. I have read that bacteria will grow on this as well as sponge or ceramic. Is this the case or should I swap it out for foam?

carbon removes toxins from the water, such as tannins from wood, making the water clear. Bacteria does grow on it yes, as it will have a larger surface area, so keep it in your filter, as thats what you want to happen.

 

[cybergibbons]

Thanks, I'll leave them in there for now. The plan is to visit the LFS on Saturday and get some plants for the tank.

I was going to get some filter media from a friend but their tank has a bit of a snail issue, so we figured it wouldn't be a good idea. Hopefully the LFS will give us some filter squeezings.

 

[AdAndrews]

Thanks, I'll leave them in there for now. The plan is to visit the LFS on Saturday and get some plants for the tank.

I was going to get some filter media from a friend but their tank has a bit of a snail issue, so we figured it wouldn't be a good idea. Hopefully the LFS will give us some filter squeezings.

snails arent all that much of a problem if kept in check, if not, a single assasin snail will soon sort them out!

Good luck.

 

[cybergibbons]

Everything seems good still, obviously no change in ammonia yet. I added the venturi aeration tube to the pump to get a bit more oxygen into the water.

 

[Wills]

Wow that really is a high Ph reading - have you considered your stocking? I think your Ph could limit your choices.

 

[AdAndrews]

Yea, aeration helps, upping the temp to about 30 celcius speeds it up too.

Wow that really is a high Ph reading - have you considered your stocking? I think your Ph could limit your choices.

The ph is naturally higher when there is ammonia present. And also, most tank bred species are adjusted to alkaline water now anyway.

 

[cybergibbons]

Wow that really is a high Ph reading - have you considered your stocking? I think your Ph could limit your choices.

The tap water in London tends to be around 7.5-8.0pH depending on recent rainfall and the time of year (I used to test make-up water conditions in steam systems, I've seen 8.2 come out of the tap before). The ammonia is going to have had an effect as well.

I've not got a KH test kit yet, but it will be relatively high in London which should mean the tank's pH can be kept relatively stable. The two places I've spoken to in London who sell bettas think that it will be fine as their stock is used to similar conditions.

Sorry - edit to add - the plan is to get a betta and some dwarf corys at the moment.

 

[cybergibbons]

I noticed when disposing of the ammonia test it gives off a slight whiff of chlorine, and it made me want to work out what exactly the test reagents were. This pdf seems to be about the most concise explanation of the salicylate ammonia test.

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks for the pdf link cybergibbons, interesting! Your London water will be quite nice for the "bacterial growing soup" of fishless cycling. Hovanec et. al. have taught us that a pH of 8.0 though 8.4 makes for optimal growing speed. Combining that with 84F/29C temp and the trace calcium and iron usually found in tap water helps to encourage growth down in the dark filter about as much as we can.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[cybergibbons]

Morning All,

I did the pH and ammonia test this morning, and felt that the ammonia green had become less pronounced (it's actually pretty hard to tell 2-8ppm apart). So I then tested the nitrite and found it had come up to 0.25ppm! Looks like the bacteria magic has begun. I never thought it would be this exciting

 

[waterdrop]

Its quite fascinating and reading all the different cycling threads here can be fun, it gives you a feel for the overall variaties of processes we see.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[cybergibbons]

A quick chart of the progress so far.

 

[cybergibbons]

Swapped out the carbon in the filter for Fluval Biomax chips (the ones from the Fluval Edge), leaving the carbon bag near to the filter intake.

Added a few smaller plants and some other tank decorations.

Ammonia seems to not be decreasing as rapidly now - maybe due to the fiddling about.

 

[cybergibbons]

The ammonia was down to 0ppm this morning, and the nitrites were off the scale. Dosed to bring the tank up to 3ppm again, so all is well.