fishless cycle

[fishwatcher]

Why don't you take some filter media from your stocked tank and add it to the new one? BTW, I used Bio Spira, and it helped tremendously. It only took about week to cycle a 10-gal tank, and the levels never got very high.
Also, I would get a master liquid test kit if I were you. They seem expensive at first (they're about $20 here), but you get a whole lot more tests out of it by the time you spend $10 on each bottle of strips. Plus, in my experience, the strips weren't as accurate. Every test I did was a little off when I compared the strips to the liquid. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.
Good luck!

 

[Briarmoor]

I will look for a liquid test kit, best bet the LFS? Wal-mart doesn't carry them. Would be better value for the money and more accurate is good.

Levels on test strip last night were still .25 nitrites and about 30 nitrates. Ammonia was down to 5. I don't know why nitrites are not going up as much as ammonia is coming down. I just check levels and watch the pretty bubbles.

The tank was seeded initially with netted gravel from the cycled 10g behind the new filter on one side. This seemed to have little early effect, but hey, 10g vs 55g it might take awhile. I bumped the seeding up with a 2 more bags of netted gravel into the 55g along with the potted plants from LFS established tanks. Wonder if that is where the nitrates and nitrates showed up from? The fact that they still have a presence leads me to believe that they are living on the existing ammonia.

So how long unti this big nitrite spike given the high ammonia levels I started with?

For what it's worth, this 55g does smell like a fish tank now, so something is happening in there. The plants are doing good too.

P.

 

[Briarmoor]

Okay, ammonia should have read .5 (the decimal makes a big difference!).

My nitrites today are zero and nitrates about 20. Did I kill my bene bac from not having enough ammonia? The problem is that the test strips just don't look exactly like the bottle colors. It is hard to see just how much is really there. The yellow matches and that means none, so it works for the tanks that are cycled. Not so helpful.

What will happen if instead of ammonia, I use fish water, vaccumed or not? Seems like real fish waste might work too. I just don't want to get back into way high ammonia again. My nitites never did peak much, even when I had levels over 6, as high as the test kit went. What happened?

There is a snail in there that road in on one of the plants and for what it's worth, the snail seems fine.

P.

 

[rdd1952]

I'm not certain what is going on if you never got any nitrite after the very high ammonia levels. I can't remember everything from the start. Were you or have you put any chemicals in to remove ammonia or nitrite? I know you really don't want to do it but I would add enough ammoina to raise the level to about 2 or 3 ppm. If you are cycled, the ammonia should drop back to zero in about 24 to 48 hours. You should also see some nitrite in that time frame but it should also be back to zero shortly after the ammonia is.

As for the test kit, the best place to get the master kits is online. This is about as cheap as I have seen them. Also, if there is a Petsmart near you, print out the page showing the online price and take it with you to the store. They will match the price. You'll just have to tell them at the register what you want to do.

 

[Briarmoor]

I'm not certain what is going on if you never got any nitrite after the very high ammonia levels. I can't remember everything from the start. Were you or have you put any chemicals in to remove ammonia or nitrite? I know you really don't want to do it but I would add enough ammoina to raise the level to about 2 or 3 ppm. If you are cycled, the ammonia should drop back to zero in about 24 to 48 hours. You should also see some nitrite in that time frame but it should also be back to zero shortly after the ammonia is.

The nitrites never went real high, but there was a presence. It was after I added the plants and some gravel from the cycled 10g tank. So some cycling was going on. I'm afraid I may have let the ammonia get too low.

Now the tank is cloudy. What is going on?

So adding fish waste is not a good idea? Or not as good an idea as ammonia?

I haven't used any chemicals other than chlorine remover.

P.