Hello New Here I Am 3/4's Into My Fishless Cycle

[scouse_george]

if you read my topic in the newbie bit you would know that i was on another forum anyway, i am 3/4s into my fishless cycle and will need help on when it is time for fish and stuff, my readings for today are ph 7.6 ammonia 0.25 nitrite 0 and nitrate 5 now thats ok isnt it? i know its not ok for fish yet as i still have ammonia as i am still topping up using an ammonia calculator but its getting closer to nearly finishing my cycle isnt it or? here are pictures of my tank

that will do for now, i currently have 2 pieces of bogwood in a bucket of boiling water to get the tanning out, thats ok isnt it ? i am waiting on more plants from LTP i think the place on ebay is called hopefully i get some plants other than green in the batch i am getting, if anyone has any question to ask me and i can answer them about what i have done in my fishless cycle ect or anything i am happy to answer, thanks

 

[jacko32]

is your tank cycleing 5ppm in 12 hours yet
tanks looking good by the way your bogwood will be fine soaking probs wont get all the tannings out but it will get rid of most of them the tannings are pretty good for the fish anyway
any ideas on your stocking yet ?

 

[scouse_george]

is your tank cycleing 5ppm in 12 hours yet
tanks looking good by the way your bogwood will be fine soaking probs wont get all the tannings out but it will get rid of most of them the tannings are pretty good for the fish anyway
any ideas on your stocking yet ?

thanks mate, 2ppm i am doing is that right/ok? thats what i got told to do, how long until i put the wood in mate? and how will i get rid of the tanning completely? i have a topic on the other forum i can copy and paste i was going to make another thread or shall i put it in here?

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Scouse_George.
The 2 ppm will be fine up until the last bit. We have a pinned thread on the forum about fishless cycling that is actually quite a good one. I have a link to it in my signature area. Your ammonia level, if it is soon after a recent addition, shows that you have established a small ammonia processing bacterial colony. The next step is for the nitrite processors to get into high gear. At only 5 ppm of nitrates, chances are good that your plants are the main way of removing your ammonia, not the beneficial bacteria. We may see WD come along and correct us both, but I hold some hope that you are actually moving some ammonia with the bacteria and that it is not all due to your planting.

 

[scouse_george]

Welcome to the forum Scouse_George.
The 2 ppm will be fine up until the last bit. We have a pinned thread on the forum about fishless cycling that is actually quite a good one. I have a link to it in my signature area. Your ammonia level, if it is soon after a recent addition, shows that you have established a small ammonia processing bacterial colony. The next step is for the nitrite processors to get into high gear. At only 5 ppm of nitrates, chances are good that your plants are the main way of removing your ammonia, not the beneficial bacteria. We may see WD come along and correct us both, but I hold some hope that you are actually moving some ammonia with the bacteria and that it is not all due to your planting.

all i do is do resutls everyday and add so much ammonia i need to, do i need to do anything else?

 

[OldMan47]

It is best to know what ammonia levels are in the tank right after you make your addition. That can tell you something about how much ammonia is being removed and how fast it is happening. Most people here use an add and wait approach that means you add a certain amount of ammonia and wait until it is gone before adding any more. The basic problem with calculators are manifold. First, the ammonia that you have is constantly losing strength, if you don't believe that, very cautiously smell the bottle. That overpowering odor means that some ammonia is being given off by the liquid. Another reason to doubt the calculators is that we seldom know the actual volume of water in our tanks. The best we can do is measure the dimensions and measure the present water level and subtract out something for the substrate and decorations. Using the rated volume gives you no hint of what you have. A simple measurement tells you right where your ammonia concentration is right after the addition.
The add and wait method is much easier to do than an add daily method, which it sounds like you are using. You add nothing until the levels get to almost zero. Then you top off to any number of 5 ppm or less that you wish. Once the ammonia is again at zero, you add again. Do be sure to mention the plants in your tank whenever asking about cycle stage and citing present parameters. Plants love ammonia as a fertilizer. Around where I live, farmers apply gaseous ammonia directly into the soil before planting their crops. It is one of the cheapest nitrogen fertilizers they can get their hands on around here. Plants will definitely use all they can find.

 

[scouse_george]

It is best to know what ammonia levels are in the tank right after you make your addition. That can tell you something about how much ammonia is being removed and how fast it is happening. Most people here use an add and wait approach that means you add a certain amount of ammonia and wait until it is gone before adding any more. The basic problem with calculators are manifold. First, the ammonia that you have is constantly losing strength, if you don't believe that, very cautiously smell the bottle. That overpowering odor means that some ammonia is being given off by the liquid. Another reason to doubt the calculators is that we seldom know the actual volume of water in our tanks. The best we can do is measure the dimensions and measure the present water level and subtract out something for the substrate and decorations. Using the rated volume gives you no hint of what you have. A simple measurement tells you right where your ammonia concentration is right after the addition.
The add and wait method is much easier to do than an add daily method, which it sounds like you are using. You add nothing until the levels get to almost zero. Then you top off to any number of 5 ppm or less that you wish. Once the ammonia is again at zero, you add again. Do be sure to mention the plants in your tank whenever asking about cycle stage and citing present parameters. Plants love ammonia as a fertilizer. Around where I live, farmers apply gaseous ammonia directly into the soil before planting their crops. It is one of the cheapest nitrogen fertilizers they can get their hands on around here. Plants will definitely use all they can find.

so what exactly do i need to do mate? i topped up to just under 4 mil today shall i just wait now till it goes to 0? and count the days or just wait till its goes to zero then what? what is it i need to do mate if you could tell me thanks very much

 

[Macro]

I think what OldMan47 is telling you to let it sit and measure the ammonia each day until it eventually comes up zero or almost zero and then dose it back up to 2-4ppm and wait and measure again each day till it comes up zero or almost zero. Your eventually trying to get to a point where when you dose it to 2-4ppm and then measure it 12hrs later the ammonia is gone. That's the short story and people that know a lot more than me (like OldMan47 and WaterDrop) can give you the bigger picture and what happens after you get to the point I described.

 

[scouse_george]

I think what OldMan47 is telling you to let it sit and measure the ammonia each day until it eventually comes up zero or almost zero and then dose it back up to 2-4ppm and wait and measure again each day till it comes up zero or almost zero. Your eventually trying to get to a point where when you dose it to 2-4ppm and then measure it 12hrs later the ammonia is gone. That's the short story and people that know a lot more than me (like OldMan47 and WaterDrop) can give you the bigger picture and what happens after you get to the point I described.

so i have to do regular tests? so say when i wake up then 12 hours later or before i go to bed?

 

[OldMan47]

Testing every other day is plenty when you first start off because you can expect rather slow progress. Once things start moving, you can have a need for testing after only 12 hours and may actually read a zero that early. The reason to test shortly after an addition is simple, you want to know where you are starting. As I said in my earlier post, the calculators are flawed by their very nature but are better than nothing.
Please have a read through of our fishless cycling thread. You can reach it using a link in my signature area. It will give you a fair idea of how we look at cycling here. The most common method chosen by people here is the add and wait method, although the thread also addresses an add daily method similar to the one you may have been following up until now.

 

[jacko32]

I think what OldMan47 is telling you to let it sit and measure the ammonia each day until it eventually comes up zero or almost zero and then dose it back up to 2-4ppm and wait and measure again each day till it comes up zero or almost zero. Your eventually trying to get to a point where when you dose it to 2-4ppm and then measure it 12hrs later the ammonia is gone. That's the short story and people that know a lot more than me (like OldMan47 and WaterDrop) can give you the bigger picture and what happens after you get to the point I described.

so i have to do regular tests? so say when i wake up then 12 hours later or before i go to bed?

test at the time you added your last dose of ammonia yesterday then test again at the same time on saturday so you can get an idea how much ammonia your cycling in a day
then dose your ammonia again to 4ppm and test it again 12 hours later keep doing this everyday untill your test reads 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite within 12 hours of dosing everyday
there are several ways to fishless cycle this is just the method i use and it works for me but every cycle is different

 

[scouse_george]

ok thanks, also i have been cycling for about 3 weeks or something so does that change anything oldman?

 

[OldMan47]

The real question is not about time George. We always judge a cycle by the chemical readings that we get when starting from a known condition.

 

[scouse_george]

The real question is not about time George. We always judge a cycle by the chemical readings that we get when starting from a known condition.

are my readings bad? so all i need to do is keep checking my amm and wait till its 0 and then top up? when could i get fish and when will the cycle be over?

 

[jacko32]

The real question is not about time George. We always judge a cycle by the chemical readings that we get when starting from a known condition.

are my readings bad? so all i need to do is keep checking my amm and wait till its 0 and then top up? when could i get fish and when will the cycle be over?

every cycle is different could take a month could take 3 months
too hard to say without regular test results