Fishless Cycling

[JamieBailie]

Hi, I'm thinking of getting a small tank, Probably 5-8 gallons, For breeding livebearers.

Now, I was thinking.... I'm only going to start with 1 male and 2 females in the tank (I haven't decided what species I want yet, Most likely sword tails or Guppies)
Is it really nessecary to cycle the tank untill the ammonia returns to 0 in less than 12 hours IF you are not going to fully stock the tank straight away.

I was thinking I could cut down the cycling time a lot as i'm only starting with 3 fish and therefore wouldn't need as much bacteria built up.

3 fish on their own surely can't produce much ammonia at all, Especially Guppies.


Does anyone have any information on how many ppm fish actually release into the water?

Is this a stupid idea?

Will the nitrites also be 0 after say, 2 weeks?

 

[Dark Wolf]

not sure how much they produce, but with such a small load, personally i'd say that 5ppm of ammonia being produced in 12 hours is not crucial, but could be wrong.

 

[rdd1952]

I have been experimenting with smaller quantities of ammonia and it seems to be working. Here is what I would suggest you try. Start with about 2 ppm of ammonia. When the ammonia drops back to zero, add enough to raise it back to 1 ppm. Add 1 ppm every 24 hours, even if the ammonia drops faster than that. The bacteria should be fine. Once the nitrite drops back to zero, you should be fine for only 3 fish.

I started cycling a 5 gallon tank 13 days ago. Since it was going to be a betta tank, I thought I would experiment to see if there was a way to keep the nitrites from going too high. So far, it seems to have worked. The tank can process about 3 ppm in between 12 and 24 hours and has been doing that since about day 10. That is probably more ammonia than a stock of fish will produce in a day unless they are messy fish like plecos, oscars, goldfish, etc. I have 2 more 2.5 gallon tanks that I want to try it on too. I'm sure there is a way to completely cycle a tank n less than 2 weeks.

Another experiment I would like to see or try is to see how much ammonia fish produce in a day. So if anyone out there is planning to start a new tank (standard community tank) from scratch and cycle with fish, it would be nice if you could keep a log of the ammonia and nitrite as they build up just to see how much they actually produce in a day with normal feeding.

 

[johnnyr]

With such a small tank, even 3 messy fish can become large load. I would say try a traditional fishless cycle, or bio-spira.

The smaller the tank is, the harder it is to cycle generally, (Unless it's 55-70 gallons or higher) so you are going to need to keep a close eye on the tank if you choose to put the fish in.

 

[Matty P]

Another experiment I would like to see or try is to see how much ammonia fish produce in a day. So if anyone out there is planning to start a new tank (standard community tank) from scratch and cycle with fish, it would be nice if you could keep a log of the ammonia and nitrite as they build up just to see how much they actually produce in a day with normal feeding.

sounds like a good idea

 

[JamieBailie]

Thanks! Thats exactly the type of reply I was after!

I'm going to do the same as you and see if I get the same results


EDIT: I called my dad and asked about when he did a fish-in cycle. He said he thinks it was at least 3 or 4 days before he got an ammonia reading. He used a common goldfish that was about 3.5 inches long.

Based on this, I could have my tank cycled, Ready for the fish in about 8 - 10 days..
I'm going to do a few experiements with an empty 15 gallon tank I have. I'll have to get a filter from somewhere!
I'm going to put the small tank on hold untill I do a few experiments, Playing about with heat and such! Maybe i'll do an article on it (Or try to )