Fraggy's Fishless Cycle - Now Fish-In Cycle...

[FraggyFragbait]

Hello all....
I started my cycle a few days ago and thought it might be quite interesting to chart my progress.
So here we go:

Tap water
PH - 7.6
High PH - 7.4
Nitrite - 0ppm
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm

I have a Fluval Roma 125 with the standard U3 filter and heater that came with it.
I started the cycle on Monday, and am running at 25/26 centigrade (I know that is a little bit cool....but I read somewhere that it can cause problems if you start higher and then move down to the temperature for your fish...how true that is I don't know?).
In the tank I have gravel, a rock, some driftwood and a few plants.
It was only after reading later posts that I realised that adding plants and having the lights on might cause me algae problems so I am not looking forward to having to deal with that, shame I didn't notice that in advance.

Anyways...enough ramble, on to the log:

Day 1 - dosed up to about 5 ppm ammonia, no tests taken
Day 2 - ammonia 4.5
Day 3 - ammonia 4.5
Day 4 - ammonia 4.0
Day 5 - ammonia 4.0
Day 6 - ammonia 3.5, nitrites 0, ph 7.6 on low (high not taken)
Day 7 - No test
Day 8 - No test
Day 9 - ammonia 1.5, nitrites 0.2
Day 10 - ammonia 1.5
Day 11 - No test
Day 12 - ammonia 0.5, nitrites 5+, nitrates 5 - dosed ammonia up to 6ppm (too high I know...was a mistake)
Day 13 - ammonia 4.0, nitrites 5+
Day 14 - ammonia 3.0, nitrites 5+, nitrates 6
Day 15 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 16 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 17 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 18 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 19 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 20 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 21 - No test - ammonia dosed to around 2/3ppm
Day 22 - ammonia 1.0, nitrites 5+, nitrates 10 - dosed ammonia up to 6ppm (I will get the dosing right eventually )
Day 23 - No test
Day 24 - ammonia 0.75, nitrites 0.25, nitrates 80, low ph 6.0, high ph 7.4 - 95% water change done
Day 24 - after water change - ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10, low ph 7.6, high ph 7.4 - 10 cardinal tetra added (around 3pm) - 10pm test: ammonia 0, nitrites 0
Days 25 - ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10

 

[FraggyFragbait]

So far not a lot happening.......I am having a long weekend in London so at least I won't be staring at the tank waiting for something to change!
Whether the ammonia is actually falling at the moment and it is not just me wishing it to be different is difficult to say, but writing the numbers like that made me feel better
If you are interested in what I am planning to put in my tank, I started a thread yesterday here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/357794-please-let-me-know-what-you-think-of-my-stocking-ideas/

Next test on Sunday/Monday....here is hoping it will be down to 0 ammonia but I am not thinking that is likely!

 

[Ifti]

Good luck mate!!
Im on day 30 and still no Ammonia drop!! Hope yours is quicker!

 

[FraggyFragbait]

Good luck mate!!
Im on day 30 and still no Ammonia drop!! Hope yours is quicker!

Cheers, I have to say I have checked your log out previous to starting mine and feel your pain! I want to fill the tank with fishies already, so you must be going crazy! Hope it picks up

 

[FraggyFragbait]

What a great result to come back home to!
After my long weekend in London it appears that the A-Bacs have got their munch on and are in the process of chowing down on that ammonia goodness. A result of 1.5 ammonia (as independently verified by my wife ) and a positive hit on the nitrite test is great news and has left me starting to think that things are getting a wiggle on!
I now look forward to tomorrow's test....who knows it could be down to 1.0?

 

[Gelt]

Good luck on the cycle Fraggy, i too run a Roma 125 and i'm 17 days into my fishless cycle, Raga also runs a 125 and on day 16 of fishless cycle, have a look at our logs. I started with a Fluval U3, seeded after 2 days or so then swapped to a Fluval 305 external down the line, great tanks. If you can get some mature media it will speed your cycle up.

 

[FraggyFragbait]

Good luck on the cycle Fraggy, i too run a Roma 125 and i'm 17 days into my fishless cycle, Raga also runs a 125 and on day 16 of fishless cycle, have a look at our logs. I started with a Fluval U3, seeded after 2 days or so then swapped to a Fluval 305 external down the line, great tanks. If you can get some mature media it will speed your cycle up.

Thanks Gelt....love the tank just wish it had some fishies in already! Have checked out your log, looking good.
Would love to get some mature media, but I know no-one around here so it isn't going to happen unfortunately.
How do you rate the external filter?

 

[Gelt]

Good luck on the cycle Fraggy, i too run a Roma 125 and i'm 17 days into my fishless cycle, Raga also runs a 125 and on day 16 of fishless cycle, have a look at our logs. I started with a Fluval U3, seeded after 2 days or so then swapped to a Fluval 305 external down the line, great tanks. If you can get some mature media it will speed your cycle up.

Thanks Gelt....love the tank just wish it had some fishies in already! Have checked out your log, looking good.
Would love to get some mature media, but I know no-one around here so it isn't going to happen unfortunately.
How do you rate the external filter?

Well so far so good, no problems at all , did a maint check yesterday after a water change , no fouling of the impeller and some nice gunk growing inside, especially on my old U3 sponges that i cut in half and stuck in the trays. The 305 is so quiet i have to keep opening the cabinet door to hear it and check i have water aggitation in the tank!.
The overal bonus with an external from what i can see is - large surface area for bacteria to colonise and increased filtration and ofc frees up space in the tank , the u3 was good but a big chunk of plastic.

i only seeded my U3 with 8 bits of ceramic from a mates 240l tank with a cup full of gunky water from his 305 filter as well which the ceramics we kept in for transit. Poured the gunk directly into the u3 when it was working. seemed to kickstart my cycle well.

 

[FraggyFragbait]

Thinks seem to be hotting up nicely now....with the ammonia reading around 0.5ppm (with hints of yellow in it), nitrites at 5ppm (though the liquid started blue and then progressed to purple after the 5 mins) and a respectable 5ppm of nitrates, it looks like the party is in full swing.
I dossed the ammonia up today, though got the level slightly wrong and it appears to be around 6ppm (I know I should probably have waited til it got to 0 before dosing, but I wanted to get an idea of the amount to fill my syringe with ammonia as I will be going away for the week on saturday and need a helper to be dosing for me!)
Also, to top off the good day of results, spurs managed to draw level against arsenal....good times!

 

[Gelt]

i use a boots dropper for my ammonia(small brown glass bottle, screw cap with pipette) on the fluval 125 it works out:

75 drops = 4ppm

Although i don't do it by drops now, i use a syringe,also to draw tank water i use a 20ml syringe- 4 sterile packaged syringes 2 x 5ml,10ml,20ml best ebay buy for ages!

Good to see your cycle is moving along well, i know how tempting it is to re-dose when you are note quite at zero!

G

 

[FraggyFragbait]

So today the ammonia hasn't really dropped as far as I would have hoped, but still looks like it is moving in the right direction.
Biggest problem now is some horrible whispy green algae that has attached itself to the walls of the tank - yuck!
I am hoping that when I get to the end of the cycle and do the water change, a good scrub with a jay cloth should sort that out...what do you guys think?
Tomorrow I start my 8 days away from the tank and the testing....I have got a relative coming in to do some tiling whilst I am away so am getting them to put about 2ml of ammonia in each day (should take it to between 2-3ppm).
Is this wise, or should I go for a different strategy? The first dose will be on Sunday so should give the bacteria a chance to have a munch before the ammonia increases again.
Have a good week all

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds ok to me. Just nice to keep some ammonia going in. WD

 

[FraggyFragbait]

So I am back after my week away and arrived back to disappointing test results and a mucky tank.
For the results....a big part of me was hoping for low nitrites so it was annoying to see that big purple tube.
Will test again in the evening (just the ammonia) so I can see whether to add more ammonia tonight.
The tank itself has a rather large amount of stringy green algae which is annoying to look at (though nothing a good clean will not sort out I am sure) and a small army of snails (6 or 7 at the moment - may have to execute some culling).
Any comments about how I am doing would be appreciated.

 

[FraggyFragbait]

Today is looking very good in the testing - very good indeed!
I dosed up to between 4 - 8ppm (probably closer to 8ppm than 4) with the ammonia, and then 18 hours later it is now 0.75...with low nitrites and high nitrates so all good on that front.
The PH, however, has crashed down to 6.0 and I am not sure how I should rectify this?
Also.....I am really tempted to do a large water change, give it a clean and then add a group of fish. I know I am not at the end of my cycle, but surely it has gone far enough now to handle a few fishes if it can handle so much pure ammonia. I know I am being impatient but I go away on business for a few weeks in a couple of weeks time and I want to enjoy my tank before I go.....any suggestions about how good an idea this is would be appreciated.

 

[interpet123]

I'm getting a roma 125 aswell!!! Looking forward to setting up the tank and getting the fish, but i am DREADING the cycle. This is my first cycle and i find the whole malarkey very daunting. lol! Good luck with your cycle by the way!