Jman Fishless Cycle

[Jman2453]

So I'm trying to do a fishless cycle for the first time. I have a 29 gallon tank. Much bigger than the 10 gallon I started with. Feel free to comment on suggestions and feedback

I do want to add that I live in Mississippi and our water has a high ph already at 8.0.

Day 1: Ph: 8.4 (after amm added) Ammonium: 8.0 - I added way to much I miss read some info and added 5ml of amm. I plan to cut down once it drops to zero.
Day 2: AM: 40% water change. Ammonium: 4.
Day 2: PM: PH 8.4, Ammonium: 4
Day 3: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 3: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 4: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 4: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 5: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 7: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 8: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 8: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 9: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 9: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 9: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 10: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 10: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 11: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 11: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 12: AM: Ammonium 4
Day 12: PM: Ammonium 4
Day 13: AM: Ammonium 4

 

[fatheadminnow]

Do a water change immediately, as an ammonia level at 8 ppm or above will make the wrong bacteria grow. A 40% water change should knock the ammonia level down to 5 ppm.

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Agree. WD

 

[Jman2453]

Thanks for the heads up. Did a 40% change this morning.

 

[fatheadminnow]

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Jman and, since I was too rushed before, Welcome to TFF!

Its not clear from your initial post whether the 10 gallon you started with was a tank you had with fish or whether it was just an empty differently-sized tank. If you have an established tank with a filter, even a small one like a 10g, you should be able with our help to extract a bit of mature media out of it to seed the new filter.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Jman2453]

So I'm going out of town for 2 days for work. I have read a lot of the fishless cycle forums and it seems that around day 6-8 the Ammonium begins to go down. Do you guys think I will be fine for the next couple of days leaving the Ammonium alone since I will be in another state?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you'll be fine. Make sure its up at 4-5ppm when you leave. Its ammonia (NH3), not ammonium. Ammonium (NH4+) is a different thing that is not harmful to fish like ammonia is but can still be processed by the beneficial bacteria, just like ammonia.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Jman2453]

So am I doing something wrong? I have developed absolutely zero bacteria and I'm on day 11. I know the process takes time, but looking over a dozen diaries only three didn't have some bacteria turning the ammonium into nitrite by now.

 

[Jman2453]

Anyone have a Idea why my cycle is stalling out?

 

[OldMan47]

I don't see your cycle stalled at all. It often takes us 2 weeks for that first drop to happen. Something you could do to get things moving better would be to use some of your 10 gallon filter media in the 29 filter to give it a jump start. A full fishless clone like that can often be finished in about a week or so.

 

[Jman2453]

Fish media? Is that gravel?

 

[OldMan47]

The filtre media in the 10 gallon is the filter material that does the actual cleaning in that filter. In most small filters it is some kind of sponge or a pad of some sort.