How Much Longer Will My Cycle Take?

[highfire]

A question (or two!) for all your cycling experts out there.
I set up my 260 litre Fluval Vicenza on 1st January, and now today (21st) I thought I would post my water stats, a brief rundown of what I have done do far, and then ask the ultimate question: how much longer?!

Since the initial set up, I added amonia on the first day to take the reading up to about 6.0 and decided to use the "add and wait" method.

The amonia had dropped to 2.4-4.9 by 8th January, and nitrite had begun to show.

Eventually, by 14th January my amonia had dropped to zero and the nitrite was reading 3.3. I have since then added a small amount of amonia on a daily basis, watching it fall again, usually within about 12 hours, to zero or 0.6. This morning my water stats were thus:

Amonia: 0.6
Nitrite: 1.6-3.3
PH: 6.5
Nitrate: 110.

Now I understand that the nitrate will be taken care of when I do a large water change before adding fish. My questions are:

(1) Is the PH too low? If so, how do I increase it? Or will it increase by itself?
(2) Should I add any more amonia or leave it and wait for the nitrite to drop to zero?
(3) About how much longer can I expect the cycle to take?

Sorry for all the questions, but I don't want to mess things up now that I am (hopefully!) nearing the end of my cycle.

Thank you for any help!

 

[Underwurlde]

Crikey, does look like your cycle is getting there - you are seeing Nitrate already.

Continue dosing Ammonia and with those water changes to get Nitrate down.

The pinned info will tell you when you are ready to add fish (75% of maximum stocking after a 50% water change if I were you).

Time... how long is a piece of string! But things do appear to be progressing quite quickly so perhaps another 2 - 3 weeks before stocking up... Pure conjecture of course.

Andy

 

[highfire]

Thanks for the very prompt reply, Andy - much appreciated.
Let me just get this straight - am I to start with water changes now to reduce the nitrate, or should I just do a large one before I add my fish?
Also, is the PH level OK?

My initial stocking level will be the fish currently in my 60 litre (see my sig.) so it will be very under-stocked to start with.

Thanks again.

 

[Underwurlde]

Just follow the pinned topics re: water changes.

Then, before adding fish do a 50%

Ignore pH when cycling - it will go up & down like a yo-yo!

I would NOT understock after cycling if I were you. I say this because the cycling process builds up a level of bacteria that has grown to match the food available (i.e. an amount of ammonia based on the SIZE of your tank, i.e. expected stocking levels). If you then understock, not as much grub is available as before, and the colony will decrease (die off) to match the new much lower 'stocking' (i.e. available food levels). In doing so, you spent a lot of time & effort building up the cultures in your filter to suit the size of tank it is designed for and then you're effectively chucking most of it away!

Up to you of course, but if you do understock to begin with and THEN in the future build up to the capacity of the tank, the filters will go through a mini cycle to 'catch up' again. Because of this you'll have to stock up slowly, because adding a load of new fish will cause a spike because the filter is not ready - the size of the spike relates to the amount (of total inches) of new fish added of course.

I'm blithering on a bit now, but do consider getting new fish (quarantined hopefully first) to add to your existing fish build to build up to an initial 75% of maximum stocking....

Andy

 

[highfire]

I really appreciate your long and detailed reply, Andy.

I hadn't considered about the problems of understocking, but it does make perfect sense.

And those pinned topics have been printed out and will be read tonight!

Thanks again.

 

[Underwurlde]

I really appreciate your long and detailed reply, Andy.

LOL, So I was blithering on a bit then...

Andy

 

[barb-e]

My 10 gallon just finished cycling today. I also used the "add and wait" method. It look a total of 3 weeks to finish completely and 13 days for the nitrite to drop. Keep adding enough ammonia to get a reading of 1.5-3 until the nitrite is zero.

 

[highfire]

LOL, So I was blithering on a bit then...

Andy

Not atall - take it from me, your blithering has been most helpful!

My 10 gallon just finished cycling today. I also used the "add and wait" method. It look a total of 3 weeks to finish completely and 13 days for the nitrite to drop. Keep adding enough ammonia to get a reading of 1.5-3 until the nitrite is zero.

Thanks barb-e.
Glad to hear your cycle is done. When you say 13 days for the nitrite to drop - was that from the time that the amonia was dropping to zero?

 

[highfire]

Latest news on my cycle (for those who are remotely interested!):

I am now adding ammonia daily when it drops to 0.6 or less, and it is still taking more than 12 hours to drop again.
My nitrites are 1.6 at the moment, and seem to be staying there, which is highly frustrating.

Can a cycle stall? The ammonia is still be processed so something is going on, but it seems to have been in this same state for ages!

If I don't get fish in there soon, I shall start talking to the plants! Oh and talking of plants, is if OK to add fertiliser to the plants while cycling? On a normal weekly basis?

Thanks for any help.

 

[highfire]

Can anyone help with my query please?

 

[Underwurlde]

Yep, cycling can stall - this happens to many people and can be very frustrating.

Adding ferts is fine during cycling.

Now, don't forget that the plants will also be gobbling up ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, so your reading may seem squewed by this - it is going to be a slightly more complicated thing to now track.

The bacteria that munch ammonia into nitrite are different to those that chop nitrite into nitrate and take twice as long to 'double' and therefore mature - this can then make things appear to stall. Give it a week if I were you, this is a long process I'm afraid....

Andy

 

[vinylman]

I really appreciate your long and detailed reply, Andy.

I hadn't considered about the problems of understocking, but it does make perfect sense.

And those pinned topics have been printed out and will be read tonight!

Thanks again.

But remember to beware of overstocking, too.

 

[highfire]

Thanks for the replies, guys - much appreciated.

My ammonia is nil, but my nitrites are still up at 1.6. I've done a large water change, but things still seem to be draggin their heels.

Highly frustrating!