Fishless Cycle: To Be Expected?

[mark4785]

Ok, on the 06/3/2013 I started a fishless cycle in which I dose my 120 litre aquarium with 4.2ml of pure ammonia and re-dose every time the ammonia reading goes back to 0 ppm.
 
I just wanted to check that my ammonia and nitrite readings are where they should be by bringing your attention to my fishless cycle log, given below:
 
11/3/13: Ammonia 1.0+ ppm , Nitrite 0.25 ppm
12/3/13: Ammonia 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.25 ppm
13/3/13: Ammonia 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.25 ppm
14/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.25 ppm
15/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.25+ ppm
16/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.50 ppm
17/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.50 ppm
18/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.50 ppm
19/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.50 ppm
20/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.50 ppm
21/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0+ ppm, Nitrite 0.50 ppm
22/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0 ppm, Nitrite 0.50 - 1.0 ppm
23/3/13: Ammonia: 1.0 ppm, Nitrite 0.50 - 1.0 ppm
 
My PH level is 7.8 - 8.0. I am not raising this as I'm not sure of the suitability of putting bicarbonate of soda in the water.
Aquarium temperature was 27.5 degrees C up until the 22/3/13 when I raised it to 28.5 degrees C.
I do weekly 10-20% water changes / dunking of the filtration media to stop gunk build up which has occurred before when I DID NOT dunk the filtration media. The ultimate outcome was that a super-bacteria grew on the filtration media, ravished the tank and made the water devoid of oxygen.
 
 
Are there any issues with the cycle that I'm doing according to the results above or am I on track?
 
 
Thanks.

 

[cowboy507]

Looks good really, although there really shouldn't be a need to do water changes until the very end. This may be slowing you down a bit.

 

[the_lock_man]

Now that you are starting to see some nitrite build-up, you need to be dosing ammonia every day, at the same time every day. Nitrite should then start to go off the charts, and will eventually come back down.
 
Generally speaking, you don't need to water change during a fishless cycle, until it's complete,, but so long as you aren't removing too much ammonia, it won't be a problem. I would also turn your temp up another couple of degrees.

 

[CezzaXV]

All looks good and is progressing well.

The optimum temperature for the bacteria you're trying to culture is 29C I believe, and higher than that can cause problems so if I were you I'd leave it where it is.

I'd carry on dosing up to 1ppm ammmonia every time it goes down to zero, though soon enough you will find this is every day. I found that in my cycle, dosing any higher than that means you end up with ridiculously high levels of nitrite and it takes some time for the bacteria to get through, and you've got no idea if anything is happening. While it is the case that the bacteria will eventually eat through it, there's just no need in your fish tank to be able to process that amount of nitrite.

Keep up the good work.

 

[mark4785]

Looks good really, although there really shouldn't be a need to do water changes until the very end. This may be slowing you down a bit.

 
Well thats what I thought initially but I had significant problems with a orange slime and surface film, of which took all the oxygen out of the water, when I neglected water changes for the several months in which I was doing my previous fishless cycle. Either something from the air got into the tank or the mucky filtration system created optimum conditions for an unwanted bacterial/fungal strain.
 
 
 
If I keep taking out 20% of the water weekly which is the amount needed to dunk the filtration media into, and I keep the ammonia level at 1-2 ppm, I shouldn't run into problems with the cycle should I?

 

[the_lock_man]

Shouldn't do, no.

 

[CezzaXV]

No, it shouldn't cause any problems. At the end of my cycle I was doing water changes every day to keep nitrite at readable levels, so it certainly doesn't hurt to do it once a week, as long as you're not ridding the bacteria of their food source.

 

[stubzy]

can i ask where you got your ammonia from? its very difficult to find in the uk. thanks

 

[the_lock_man]

It looks like you can only get it online at the moment.
 
Apparently, if you were so inclined, you could use it to make a bomb. Therefore, if you don't sell it in your shop, people who want to make a bomb won't be able to. You can get it online (Amazon, Ebay), so apparently if you're the sort of person who wants to make a bomb, you don't have internet access. Which is strange, as that's the best place to go to find out how to make a bomb.
 
That's life.

 

[Mamashack]

Apparently, if you were so inclined, you could use it to make a bomb. Therefore, if you don't sell it in your shop, people who want to make a bomb won't be able to. You can get it online (Amazon, Ebay), so apparently if you're the sort of person who wants to make a bomb, you don't have internet access. Which is strange, as that's the best place to go to find out how to make a bomb.

You've researched bomb-making? I had you tabbed as a peaceful man! lol
Got mine from Ebay - make sure it's something like Kleenoff which is suitable for tanks. Some ammonia products have detergents added and are totally unsuitable. Kleenoff is 9.5% pure ammonia and the rest is water.
Happy shopping, Stubzy

 

[the_lock_man]

Apparently, if you were so inclined, you could use it to make a bomb. Therefore, if you don't sell it in your shop, people who want to make a bomb won't be able to. You can get it online (Amazon, Ebay), so apparently if you're the sort of person who wants to make a bomb, you don't have internet access. Which is strange, as that's the best place to go to find out how to make a bomb.

You've researched bomb-making? I had you tabbed as a peaceful man! lol

 
How very dare you!

 

[Mamashack]

How very dare you!

Dunno!

 

[mark4785]

can i ask where you got your ammonia from? its very difficult to find in the uk. thanks

 
I bought it from Amazon. I use the one called 'Power Max Ammonia'.
 
 
I've decided to boost my PH to 8.2 as it was staying at around 7.2 and I think this might be making the cycle sluggish. I still have the same water results as described at the end of the list in my first post.
 
I'm using NT Labs KH up powder which does the same job as bicarbonate of soda but it's not for use in the kitchen. 
 
I'm trying to prevent any nasty stuff from getting into the aquarium and causing hard-to-remove growths as is what happened last time so won't be touching bicarbonate of soda or other things not specifically used in fish keeping.

 

[Mamashack]

I got mine as Kleenoff from Ebay - 9.5% ammonia the rest water. Seems to be doing the trick for my fishless cycle. I've left my pH at 7.8 which is where it runs naturally - I'm too scared to interfer with that! lol

 

[mark4785]

I got mine as Kleenoff from Ebay - 9.5% ammonia the rest water. Seems to be doing the trick for my fishless cycle. I've left my pH at 7.8 which is where it runs naturally - I'm too scared to interfer with that! lol

 
I think when your ammonia is converted into nitrite, the pH drops since nitrite waste has an acidic pH value. In some cases I've known it take the pH down to 6.5 which brings the cycle to a halt.
 
When I first joined the forums a couple of people advised that I added calcium carbonate (they called it bicarbonate of soda which I no longer use due to the possibility of it having unsuitable cookery-related components in it) which increases the kH and pH value of the water. The former keeps the pH steady if there is 5-6dH of it in the water.
 
Since adding the KH up (or calcium carbonate) my nitrite level has fallen to 0 ppm and I'm hopeful the ammonia will drop too really soon. This is the first time I've seen the nitrite drop!