Fishless Cycle

[iamspartacus]

Hello all.

First post here so be gentle! After reading up a lot I have decided to get into keeping tropical fish. I have bought a 35 litre tank and have the external filter and thermostat heater, gravel substrate with no fish or plants. Filled with dechlorinated water, added nutrifin cycle (on the salesman's recommendation as I said I wanted to get started straight away), added some flakes to the water and sat back to let it go through its cycle. Clear for 24 hours then BOOM! Milky water.

I know there are lots of posts with the same starting point as I have read every single one! I'm guessing I have what you guys call a 'bacterial bloom' which I also understand (nitrogen cycle etc)

The questions I have though are the following:

Do I just leave it to clear by itself and then test for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates etc?

Do I carry on adding flake food?
Keep the light turned off?
Temperature I should maintain etc

I am desperate to get some fish and plants in there, but at the same time the last thing I want is to put any fish I buy through distress.

Any advice would be greatly received. Thanks in advance.

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, it will be a bacterial bloom. It will go away on it's own in a few days, or you can do a more or less 100% water change to clear it up.

I wouldn't really recommend you cycle with fish food. It's terribly imprecise and difficult to monitor. For instance, if you test and get zero ammonia, is that because your tank's cycled, or is the fish food not producing any?

Get a bottle of household ammonia; it's cheaper than fish food and it's not that hard to get hold of.

Keep the lights off while you cycle, as light + ammonia = algae. turn the heater up to 27°C/80°F, as that'll help the bacteria grow.

 

[Bugdozer]

Get a bottle of household ammonia... it's not that hard to get hold of.

Then why do I keep seeing threads asking "where can I get ammonia? Please name an actual shop - all I can find is ammonia with surfactant in it"? Especially in the UK.

 

[fluttermoth]

Homebase, Robert Dyas, Amazon, Ebay, Boots (but you have to order it from their website).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Also- a bacterial bloom consists of heterotrophic bacteria. They live on organic waste and carbon such as decaying fish food. This is one good reason for using ammonia to cycle rather than fish food or a dead shrimp etc. The bacteria we want eat inorganic substances (ammonia and nitrite) and consume inorganic carbon.

Check with Midlands Reef to see if any of their retailers carry DrTim's ammonium chloride. It is an excellent way to feed a fishless cycle. I prefer using ammonium chloride to ammonium hydroxide which is what is in any of the above listed ammonias.

 

[iamspartacus]

Thanks for the advice everybody. The bloom settled by itself and I now have 5 happy neon tetras and a clown loach who spazzes out for hours then hides for the rest of the day (think he needs some company)

 

[Electric Warrior]

Thanks for the advice everybody. The bloom settled by itself and I now have 5 happy neon tetras and a clown loach who spazzes out for hours then hides for the rest of the day (think he needs some company)

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you say your tank is 35L You are going to need to find a different home for that clown, because that is like trying to keep a Great Dane in a broom closet for its whole life.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Thanks for the advice everybody. The bloom settled by itself and I now have 5 happy neon tetras and a clown loach who spazzes out for hours then hides for the rest of the day (think he needs some company)

Uuuummm..not quite. You need to re-home those fish (the Clown Loach sharpish) and read up on 'fishless' cycling. The bacterial bloom you had was not the 'cycle' we need in our filter.

Terry.

 

[SirGoodFish]

Thanks for the advice everybody. The bloom settled by itself and I now have 5 happy neon tetras and a clown loach who spazzes out for hours then hides for the rest of the day (think he needs some company)

Hello! That seems like such a short time for a fishless cycle to finish. But I am not sure when you started. Did your ammonia and nitrites drop to zero? If you skipped finishing the cycle then that means you are now doing a cycle with fish in the tank! Watch out!

If that's you, then I suggest humbly that you get yourself a liquid test kit - for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Test each day to see if you have ammonia - and be ready to change out some water if the ammonia is showing. You may have to do this every day until the cycle is established. That can take time. But you don't want your fish swimming in ammonia.

If you have a filter on the tank with activated carbon that might help, too.

Please post back and comment. It is exciting to have your fish! But stay with us as you cycle so that your fish can have the safest possible experience.

Sir Good Fish

 

[iamspartacus]

Hi Guys.

Just to clear up, I had been doing the fishless cycle for 3 weeks. Clown will be fine as it will give me an excuse to get a bigger tank I was given some filter material by a friend to start things going. Testing for ammonia and nitrates daily and all seem fine.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Hi Guys.

Just to clear up, I had been doing the fishless cycle for 3 weeks. Clown will be fine as it will give me an excuse to get a bigger tank I was given some filter material by a friend to start things going. Testing for ammonia and nitrates daily and all seem fine.

A common beginners mistake is confusing NitrItes with NitrAtes. If it is NitrItes you mean then , i'm sure your media donation will speed up process, good luck!
Also, that Clown may grow quicker than you expect... i would think about having an alternative home for him in my mind, just in case

Terry.