How Long Left Til Im Cycled?

[serbusfish]

Im doing a fish in cycle which im quite the way through I think (its been going for over a month and a half).

I did a water change on Sunday 16th, and as I have been working Tuesday - Thursday I have been dosing my tank with Prime to detoxify the Ammonia/Nitrite. Today (Friday 21st) I did a water change, and around 5 hours or so later Ammonia is at 0 but Nitrite is at 0.50. Im not doing another water change til Sunday so have dosed some more Prime for now.

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone could estimate how much longer til my cycle completes? Im getting no ammonia so I cant be too far off, right?

 

[techen]

Im doing a fish in cycle which im quite the way through I think (its been going for over a month and a half).

I did a water change on Sunday 16th, and as I have been working Tuesday - Thursday I have been dosing my tank with Prime to detoxify the Ammonia/Nitrite. Today (Friday 21st) I did a water change, and around 5 hours or so later Ammonia is at 0 but Nitrite is at 0.50. Im not doing another water change til Sunday so have dosed some more Prime for now.

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone could estimate how much longer til my cycle completes? Im getting no ammonia so I cant be too far off, right?

Your partly through the cycle, you want nitrates not nitrite which is very toxic to fish. I suggest water changes to remove the nitrite unless your water has it. Why are you dosing prime? Prime should only be added to your bucket when doing a water change not adding while your not doing a water change as this effects nothing at all.

 

[serbusfish]

Im doing a fish in cycle which im quite the way through I think (its been going for over a month and a half).

I did a water change on Sunday 16th, and as I have been working Tuesday - Thursday I have been dosing my tank with Prime to detoxify the Ammonia/Nitrite. Today (Friday 21st) I did a water change, and around 5 hours or so later Ammonia is at 0 but Nitrite is at 0.50. Im not doing another water change til Sunday so have dosed some more Prime for now.

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone could estimate how much longer til my cycle completes? Im getting no ammonia so I cant be too far off, right?

Your partly through the cycle, you want nitrates not nitrite which is very toxic to fish. I suggest water changes to remove the nitrite unless your water has it. Why are you dosing prime? Prime should only be added to your bucket when doing a water change not adding while your not doing a water change as this effects nothing at all.

I have Nitrite as well as Nitrates. Nitrates are between 10 - 20.

Prime detoxifys Ammonia and Nitrite, Seachem advises using it during a cycle for this purpose as in its detoxified state the bacteria in the filter can still consume it + grow. I dosed several times the tank volume which in my case is 2.5ml x 3 and now Nitrite is reading 0, it will stay detoxified for up to 48 hours, then the bond breaks and the Nitrite will be released (unless the bacteria in the filter has eaten it of course). However as I said I plan to do another water change before that occurs.

 

[serbusfish]

So... anyone?

 

[plectastic]

When you can turn 4 or 5ppm of ammonia back into 0 ammonia and 0 Nitrite in 12 hours you're done. Keep checking this for a week to make sure. Do a 90% water change at the end to rid the Nitrates then you're good to go. I use Prime too but only for water changes.

 

[serbusfish]

When you can turn 4 or 5ppm of ammonia back into 0 ammonia and 0 Nitrite in 12 hours you're done. Keep checking this for a week to make sure. Do a 90% water change at the end to rid the Nitrates then you're good to go. I use Prime too but only for water changes.

Well as I mentioned im doing a fish in cycle so cant really attempt that

 

[plectastic]

Must of been on another planet there sorry!

I just finished fish-in cycling one of mine. Thankfully a 45L. The water changes daily did my head in. Glad I stuck it out though. I did 75% water changes most days until finally stopped detecting nitrite. Ammonia tailed off way before actually. Keep on the water changes soon as you pick up ammonia or nitrite.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

When you can turn 4 or 5ppm of ammonia back into 0 ammonia and 0 Nitrite in 12 hours you're done. Keep checking this for a week to make sure. Do a 90% water change at the end to rid the Nitrates then you're good to go. I use Prime too but only for water changes.

Well as I mentioned im doing a fish in cycle so cant really attempt that

But you can do water changes whenever you feel like...they are, unless you are using certain medications, completely neccesary to the bacteria we are trying to grow in our filters. When we replace with fresh water, we use de-chlorinating products (such as Prime) to kill off Chlorine in our tap water (which the water company puts in to stop US getting bad stomachs!). This added Chlorine would quickly kill off the natural, beneficial bacteria we need IN our filters... the fish you have in your tank currently feed this bacteria with the Ammonia they need to grow into a strong, robust colon, completely able to consume the amount of waste given off by your tank inhabitants when it is, eventually fully stocked.
So, keep doing regular water changes (treating the tap water with Prime) so you can keep Ammonia and NitrIte as close to '0' as possible... it will be enough to start your bacteria growing, whilst keeping your fish away from the poisons they are creating.

Terry.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Terry is right.

While our test kits say "zero" its actually never possible to make it "zero". The goal is to keep the levels as close to that as possible, but the fish are excreting it CONSTANTLY through their gills (not to mention their poo). And as the poo breaks down, more ammonia is released into the water. This is why we need to do gravel vacs during water changes. We want to remove as much of the ammonia producing material as possible to keep ammonia to a minimum, ESPECIALLY during a fish-in cycle. The bacteria in your tank aren't populous enough to handle it all yet. So, you need to keep the water fresh and healthy for the fish. The bacteria will find plenty of ammonia (and eventually nitrite) to continue to grow and strengthen their colony.

If your nitrites are stopping to show up, you are in phase two. Once they BOTH remain at 0 for 24 hours without a water change you are finished the cycle. Give it a couple more weeks, and then you can add some more fish, never more than 50% of the amount in the tank at a time though, as the increase in the bioload will exceed the bacteria's ability to keep up with the waste. Even if you do, the bacteria will catch up in a few days. Whenever you add new fish, always check your ammonia/nitrite readings for a few days to keep track of whether or not the bacteria are handling everything. If you get a reading of ammonia or nitrite, just complete a 50% water change and everything should be fine. And always slowly acclimate new fish to your tank slowly. I assume you know about that, but you never can be sure. Use the link in my sig to the Beginner's Resource Center if you need some more information. Proper acclimation is necessary for all new fish to help them transition to their new environment.