Fishless Cycle

[Wordy]

This way you will get experience handling both a fishless and a fish-in cycle. I predict that with it still showing 1ppm of nitrite after 12 hours right now that it will still have quite a way to go on the cycle, necessitating significant water changing, especially for sensitive fish like cardinals, unfortunately.

~~waterdrop~~

I thinking of how to ask this very same question WD, you've put it alot better than I could think of

I was happy to carry on with the cycle until it was complete, but the fact that 2 of my existing fish have died this week and 4 in total due to injury in my BiOrb means I either risk it in my big tank or risk it in the BiOrb I'm afraid

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it is a risk either way, and when it coems to a situation like that you just have to make a decision by yourself usually.

but perhaps it would help if a few more members chipped in with their opinions on the liklihood of a mini cycle if you added a few fish at this point in the cycle, see if we can reach a consensus or something like one between us!

 

[Wordy]

Do you think it would be worth adding Amonia for the last time tonight, or if the nitrite level is still around 1ppm leave it and let the Nitrite level drop before the weekend?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you decided to add the fish you'd just do a 100% water change before you added them to remove any remaining ammonia and nitrite.

you still want to be plugging the ammonia in for now to grow as much extra bacteria between now and the weekend as possible!

 

[Wordy]

Fishless Cycle: 110L Tank - Day 9
Results 24 hours after 5ml amonia added to tank.

PH 7.6
Amonia 0ppm
Nitrite 1ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

It's stayed pretty much the same over the last two days. I'm wondering if the temperature of my water is too high, the thermometer is showing 31/84 as I read the temp was supposed to be raised while cycling. I've not set it too high though have I?

 

[Wordy]

Fishless Cycle: 110L Tank - Day 10
Results 12 hours after 5ml amonia added to tank.

PH 6.6
Amonia 0ppm
Nitrite 1ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Would anyone be able to answer the question in my last post, regarding the temperature?

Thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

don't think the temp is too high

 

[Wordy]

Thanks Miss Wiggle

My Nitrite has been stuck at 1ppm for the last few days, is that normal or could it indicate the cycle has stalled?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Normal, this last bit where nitrite won't shift down to 0 is the worst bit in terms of patience, so close yet so far and it sometimes seems to take an age to drop to 0 from here

 

[Wordy]

It's been a funny old day. If you've read the thread then you'll be aware that I was having a bit of a dilema about leaving fish in a Baby BiOrb, or moving them to my main tank that was still in it's fishless cycle. I'd got 6 Cardinals in the BiOrb to start and 4 had injured themselves and later died by panicing during water changes and swimming to and getting stuck under the cermaic media that the tank comes with.

This morning the decsion appeared to have been made for me when I came down to feed them and found one was missing, I removed the plant decoration thing and the filter to see if it had managed to get stuck in there, it hadn't. Unfortunatley I'd not got time to remove all the media and do a proper search for him as I had to go to work. So thinking that the fish could have been buried alive for up to 8 hours it was dead, I decided to move the last surviving Tetra to my main tank this evening.

When I got home from the gym I did a 100% water change, got the water temp the same and waited an hour and tested the water.

Here are the results:

PH 7.6
Amonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm.

Excellent. It meant the tank was ok to add the last surviving fish.

So in the main tank he went and we changed his name from Larry to Lucky as he was the only one to survive to see the new tank. After I'd done this I decided to clean the BiOrb out so I could put it away, I emptied the water and media into the sink and started cleaning the tank out, while doing this I looked in the sink and saw the corpse of the other fish(called Speedy). As I went to pick it up and put it in the bin it flipped itself over and I looked at it I saw it was still breathing(god knows how, as there was no water in the sink). I rushed it to the main tank and dropped it in and apart from it's tail fin being a bit torn from being stuck under the BiOrb media fingers crossed it'll be fine. So that fish has now been named Lucky and the other one is back to being called Larry

Another Test 4 hours later showed that the water is still the same as it was after the water change, and to stop the bacteria I'd built up during the cycle dieing out I'm going to be stocking my tank up with another 8 cardinals tomorrow

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to offer me advice, it's helped out alot.

 

[waterdrop]

Larry, Lucky, Larry, Lucky (definately enjoyed that!)

Yes, good idea to stock some more (a few) quickly to keep a bit more of your bac population. But do you plan to have any other hardier species (say zebra danios or someting?) as you would have a better chance than cards, which we normally say to wait another 6 months for (or at least several months) and for which guideline there still seems to be some reasonable basis for given continuing stories from various beginners here...

Boy, the dodgy biorb stories do seem to continue, don't they? (although if I remember, shelaghfishface and some others seem to have figured out how to setup, stock and enjoy these odd little tanks...)

Anyway, glad to here your story. I'm sure plenty of us would have made the same move of a last fish like that. I hope things continue to go well with your new setup.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Wordy]

Yesterday we went and bought 8 Carndial Tetras to keep the other two company and when we got back from ther shop we realised the guy had given us twelve by mistake. The price was 6 for £10, and we got 12 for £10 even though we wanted 8. Work that out

So in the tank they went and We left them to it for an hour and I tested the water at about 19:00.

PH 7.6
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40

After we'd got back from a meal at my parents I did a 30% water change.

I've just tested the water and the results are.

PH 7.6
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20-40

I'm happy with the PH Amonia and Nitrite levels, the Master Test Kit says 40 or below is ok for Nitrates levels, could anyone confirm that for me please?

With regards to the BiOrb I've seen Jennybugs's pictures in the pics forum and will be doing the samw with mine, getting a small filter and attach it to the side of the tank, use a sand substrate, some pebbles, a couple of plants and I plan to keep a single male Betta in there.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

phew, drama!

glad your readings are holding out though, keep checking them daily for a week or so to make sure they hold steady.

it's best to try and keep nitrite no more than 20ppm higher than it comes out of the tap, this signifies a good maintenance routine and sensible stocking.

although some studies suggest that levels of 400ppm or even 1000ppm are fine for a lot of community trops so no need to panic at 40ppm

 

[Wordy]

phew, drama!

Yeah, never a quiet moment in this house

 

[Wordy]

Tonights results

Tested at 19:30
PH 7.6
Amonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

All seems to be ok, I've added another 5 plants today, gave the fish some frozen blood worm and everyone is happy