Halo's First Fishless Cycle Log

[Halo2928]

After getting everything set up , here we go . Im using a fishless cycle guide on this fourm as reference. I would love advice therefore if you have some then please fire away. Photos will be up soon!

Tank:Fluval flora seeded with mature media

Day 1

(Morning)- this test was done with water in the tank, nothing added in

PH: 6.6
Ammonia:0.25ppm

(Night)

Dosed 1.58ml of ammonia

Ammonia: 4.0ppm or 8.0ppm (i could not tell the difference!)


Day 2

(Morning)

Ammonia: 4.0ppm

 

[Miles_hot]

As you've got mature media you should also be testing for nitrite and nitrate

 

[Halo2928]

I will from now but there is not a drop from the ammonia yesterday and today so none would have converted into nitrite and nitrate?

But i will test the water again for the nitrite in a min = P

 

[Halo2928]

Just did a test for nitrite and nitrate

Nitrite: 10ppm
Nitrate:0ppm or 0.25ppm (but most probs 0ppm as its a light blue colour)

 

[Claire121]

Out of curiosity - HOW on earth did you measure 1.58ml ?

 

[Halo2928]

Out of curiosity - HOW on earth did you measure 1.58ml ?

I asked my neighbour for a medical grade syringe who is a doctor, he has loads in his equipment room = P

 

[Halo2928]

Day 3 (just past midnight)

Ammonia : 4.0ppm or 8.0ppm
Nitrate:0ppm

Additional notes: Forced to add 2 platys however i think they are infected with ich

 

[Halo2928]

Here is the tank!, looks alright eh?

 

[philrag11]

Just did a test for nitrite and nitrate

Nitrite: 10ppm
Nitrate:0ppm or 0.25ppm (but most probs 0ppm as its a light blue colour)

Think you've got the i and a switched round....nitrite is light blue when its 0ppm (thats with an API Master Test Kit). Also the highest scale from memory is 8ppm for nitrite

Not sure its a good idea to be adding ammonia now that you have fish - think you should change to a fish-in cycle with regular water changes to keep ammonia / nitrite down as otherwise you will be poisoning the platys that you've inherited....

Otherwise the tank looks good!

Phil

 

[Tizer]

er, most deffinately should not be adding ammonia to a tank with fish in it. The whole idea is that you want to provide a habitat thats got zero ammonia and zero nitrite for the fish to live in. Anything over 0 will be toxic so i would have a rethink here if i were you.

 

[Halo2928]

Thanks phil!, yeh I thing I got it the wrong way around. The fish are only in there due to my friends accident. I'm considering giving them to my lfs later today if my friend cannot take them back. Tizer, I know that.. read my other post so you know the circumstances to why the fish are in the tank during the cycle. I'm not adding ammonia as it's still at 4.0 ppm

 

[Miles_hot]

Halo
As I mentioned on the other thread I feel that you should empty the water from the tank (i.e. interupt your fishless cycle) and refil with fresh ammonia free water otherwise you're doing your mate's fish no favours by poisoning them! You can alwasy pick up your fishless cycle when he gets his stuff back together.
Regards
Miles

 

[Halo2928]

Halo
As I mentioned on the other thread I feel that you should empty the water from the tank (i.e. interupt your fishless cycle) and refil with fresh ammonia free water otherwise you're doing your mate's fish no favours by poisoning them! You can alwasy pick up your fishless cycle when he gets his stuff back together.
Regards
Miles

My friend came half an hour ago to collect the fish, said he had sorted everything out so i gave it to him; also told him that his fish had ich. He has been keeping tropicals for a while so i have some faith in him . Im now just confused on how to continue my fishless cycle. Correct me if im wrong but with a fishless cycle you add ammonia and wait until it comes down, and then you add more ammonia and again wait until it comes down however as i had fish in the water along with the ammonia the fish would constantly produce waste which would keep the ammonia levels steady?

Now another problem, im sure my tank is infected with ich but after reading a bit i read that ich needs a fish to live; without a host it will die. As my tank is empty does that mean the ich will die off in a few days?

 

[Tizer]

Well im glad the fish have gone, in fact im totally amazed they didnt die over night.

I cant comment on ich, i've been fortunate enough to never have it. its the filter thats the key to the cycle, if it were me i would empty the tank, clean it with a bit of elbow grease, fill it up and redose the ammonia again. no need to touch the filter, just make sure it doesnt dry out.

Have a good read of the beginners section again, lots of information in there, hopefully you wont do anything too mental again (sticking them in a bucket for the night would have been a much wiser idea)

Umm, are you dosing CO2 into the water / growing plants too? If so , with high ammonia and light you are going to promote algae quite quickly...

 

[Halo2928]

Well im glad the fish have gone, in fact im totally amazed they didnt die over night.

I cant comment on ich, i've been fortunate enough to never have it. its the filter thats the key to the cycle, if it were me i would empty the tank, clean it with a bit of elbow grease, fill it up and redose the ammonia again. no need to touch the filter, just make sure it doesnt dry out.

Have a good read of the beginners section again, lots of information in there, hopefully you wont do anything too mental again (sticking them in a bucket for the night would have been a much wiser idea)

Umm, are you dosing CO2 into the water / growing plants too? If so , with high ammonia and light you are going to promote algae quite quickly...

Im happy the fish are gone too but i had to take them out of the soapy water ahah but i hope that never happens again, I dont want to empty the tank because i have some HC which took 5 hours to plant! .I was doing more reading and saw that you can kill itch by having a empty tank(no fish) and that ich needs something to attach to so as the tank will be empty for several weeks it will surely die? . I am dosing some co2 with the kit that came with the tank. ATM there is no algae at all however i will reduce the amount of co2 i put in. Now my issue is that the amonnia levels are not coming down but then again its just day 3 of the cycle