fishless cycle question

[clutterydrawer]

i bet there's more questions about fishless cycling than anything else, right?

anyway. i read about fishless cycling on this site and decided I'd try it when helping my friend set up her new tank. We started it yesterday and ammonia has decreased and nitrite has increased but now im confused....the instructions i was following say:

> Add ammonia to the tank initially to obtain a reading on your ammonia kit of ~5 ppm. Record the amount of ammonia that this took, then add that amount daily until the nitrite spikes


does this really mean to add the same amount of ammonia every day as you did on the first day? because wouldn't this mean that every day, there would be 5ppm plus however much was left from the day before, so it would increase and increase? the same article says further on that adding too much ammonia inhibits the bacterial growth and causes the ammonia spike to last for aaaages. it would seem more logical to me to add enough to keep the level consistently at 5ppm?

please help; my friend thinks i actually know what i'm doing, i want to keep it that way.

 

[Weirdfish]

Yep you read it right. Add the same ammount untill the nitrites spike off the scale then half it.

Remember theres no fish in the tank so it aint causing any problems, and your building a large bacteria base.


I've just completed a fishless cycle in just over 3 weeks and it worked exactly as it reads.

HTH

 

[heresmike]

Actually what I do is add enough daily to bring it up to 5 ppm. That method works very well for me.

 

[clutterydrawer]

hmmm, complications well it seems it'd work either way then? thankyou both.

 

[Weirdfish]

Different routes but you'll still have to go through the fishless jitters, thats when after the 4th day of no drop in nitrite you start to pace up and down and shout at the tank hoping it'll speed up the cycle. If you really get it bad you'll end up staring at the tank convinced a fish is gonna appear from somewhere

 

[gixer]

both ways will work fine.

the way you originally read will get you a big enough colony to fully stock your tank in one go.

i have done it that way a few times and very hevily stocked the second time..all was fine

 

[clutterydrawer]

Different routes but you'll still have to go through the fishless jitters, thats when after the 4th day of no drop in nitrite you start to pace up and down and shout at the tank hoping it'll speed up the cycle. If you really get it bad you'll end up staring at the tank convinced a fish is gonna appear from somewhere

oh my! why does that happen? the long nitrite spike i mean? or are you jsut winding me up?

 

[gixer]

the nitrite dropping is the longest bit...once it starts though it doesnt take long,,,,

 

[heresmike]

Yup, you'll see the nitrites spike for many days... even a couple weeks or more. I've had longer nitrite spikes when I went the "add the same dose every day" route vs. the "get it up to 5ppm" route. Like gixer said, they'll drop fast. IME it goes from off the scale one day to 0 the next. Quite a thrill when that happens!!

 

[Weirdfish]

I was ecstatic when I tested first thing in the mornig on the day the nitrite was zero. I even went and woke up Em, my wife, to tell her. She was less ecstatic

 

[clutterydrawer]

wow, i'll look forward to it then

 

[clutterydrawer]

Riiiiight so now both ammonia and nitrites have suddenly dropped right down? I'm so confused! It seemed simple when i read about it!

 

[Sky042]

i bet there's more questions about fishless cycling than anything else, right?

anyway. i read about fishless cycling on this site and decided I'd try it when helping my friend set up her new tank. We started it yesterday and ammonia has decreased and nitrite has increased but now im confused....the instructions i was following say:

> Add ammonia to the tank initially to obtain a reading on your ammonia kit of ~5 ppm. Record the amount of ammonia that this took, then add that amount daily until the nitrite spikes


does this really mean to add the same amount of ammonia every day as you did on the first day? because wouldn't this mean that every day, there would be 5ppm plus however much was left from the day before, so it would increase and increase? the same article says further on that adding too much ammonia inhibits the bacterial growth and causes the ammonia spike to last for aaaages. it would seem more logical to me to add enough to keep the level consistently at 5ppm?

please help; my friend thinks i actually know what i'm doing, i want to keep it that way.

You're forgetting about one factor in that theory though. Your ammonia won't continue to build up higher and higher. if you have 5ppm one day 24 hours later when you go to add more ammonia the bacteria will have already started working on the ammonia that was in the tank and the levels won't be anywhere near 5ppm anymore.

 

[luxum]

Riiiiight so now both ammonia and nitrites have suddenly dropped right down? I'm so confused! It seemed simple when i read about it!

Heehee, that means you are done or almost! Well, to be on the safe side, continue to feed the tank ammonia and test daily, after 3 days of the colony converting ammonia and nitrite levels to zero within 24 hours, you are ready to reduce the nitrates with some massive waterchanges and get your new fishies!

Edit: that does seem extraordinarily fast even for a fishless cycle though...

 

[clutterydrawer]

That's what i thought...very odd. would it make any difference that it's a really small tank? about 3g? I read once that these tanks are actually too small to cycle properly at all but I'm not sure why this should be so and I've heard a lot of people claim they've been successful cycling such a small tank.

It's my friend's tank too. I've told her to continue adding the ammonia for a few days and I'm presuming if the levels are ok then putting in fish can't hurt...



I had the best phone call ever with her earlier though.

Me: hey ellie! how's your ammonia today? have you tested it yet?
Ellie: help! i can't get the top of the reagent bottle off! damn childproof caps!

(she's 17!)