Fishless Cycle

[Nexorcist]

Hi everyone,
I'm setting up a new 10Gal tank and used about 3gal of my old tank water and my existing HOB filter that has been in my main tank for 6 months.
Its been running for about a week and ammonia spiked a few days ago to 0.4 and now dropped to 0.1, Nitrites been 0 all this time.
So im wondering how do i know if its safe to add fish or shrimp (given that i wait for ammonia to drop to 0).
I realize if i wait too long all my existing filter bacteria will die out without new ammonia.

So how do we know if its ready ?

 

[fatheadminnow]

When doing a fishless cycle, you know when it is completed when your bacteria are processing 4-5 ppm of ammonia to zero within 12 hours. Also at the end of those 12 hours, your nitrite must also be zero. When this is happening every day for 1 week, then you know you are cycled. At the end of that week do a large (90%) water change and add your fish. If you are doing the add 4-5 ppm of ammonia method, by the time your cycle has completed you should have colonized enough bacteria in your filter to handle a full stocking of fish for your tank.

-FHM

 

[Nexorcist]

When doing a fishless cycle, you know when it is completed when your bacteria are processing 4-5 ppm of ammonia to zero within 12 hours. Also at the end of those 12 hours, your nitrite must also be zero. When this is happening every day for 1 week, then you know you are cycled. At the end of that week do a large (90%) water change and add your fish. If you are doing the add 4-5 ppm of ammonia method, by the time your cycle has completed you should have colonized enough bacteria in your filter to handle a full stocking of fish for your tank.

-FHM

Thanks for all your help.
As i said in my post im using my HOB filter from my main tank, so it should have bacteria developed for a while now.
So should i just buy ammonia from my lfs and test for few days to make sure the bacteria from the old filter is still good, then as you suggested to do a 90% water change and add fish.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yes, I would add ammonia up to 4-5 ppm, and see where the ammonia and the nitrite is at after 12 hours. Just to be on the safe side.

-FHM

 

[Nexorcist]

Yes, I would add ammonia up to 4-5 ppm, and see where the ammonia and the nitrite is at after 12 hours. Just to be on the safe side.

-FHM

I went to my lfs and they don't have any ammonia. So im just moving some of the waist from my main tank, and also adding some food to tank and hoping after few days it should create some ammonia.
Is there anything else i can do if i cant find any ammonia ?

 

[OldMan47]

Fish stores never carry ammonia. You get ammonia in the cleaning aisle of a hardware store or a building supply store. In the US that means looking in your local True Value hardware store, it seems to be a place that it can always be found.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Yeah, fish stores do not carry ammonia.

I found mine at my Hardware store.

-FHM

 

[Marve99]

I may be missing something...

But, if your filter has been in another tank containing fish, then it will be full of healthy bacteria and should not need you to add ammonia (which is essentail to cycle an uncycled filter), instead just add fish ?!?

 

[Nexorcist]

I may be missing something...

But, if your filter has been in another tank containing fish, then it will be full of healthy bacteria and should not need you to add ammonia (which is essentail to cycle an uncycled filter), instead just add fish ?!?

That was the whole point of my post, but strangly enough after the initial setup I checked almost daily and I see some minor ammonia spikes despite having bacteria rich filter. That's why I'm puzzled. My main tank has a heavy fish load so I should had a higher than normal bacteria buildup.