My First Ever Fishless Cycle, Please Help, With Log!

[sjolliff]

After some great advice from members on here im now starting a dialy log.
Day 1, set up, with nutrafin plus,cycle and flake food, no test
Day 2 no test
Day 3 no test
Day 4 Api testing kit delivered, PH 7.1 Ammonia 0.0ppm Nitrites 0.3ppm Nitrates 4-4.5ppm Temp 29-29.2c
Day 5 PH 7.2 Ammonia 0.0ppm Nitrites 0.2ppm Nitrates 3.0ppm Temp 29.7c
added ammonia waiting to do test to see how many ppm are in there after using the calculator

Just test for ammonia after 1 hour i added the amount shown by the calculator and its reading nearer the last colour which is 8ppm but its not as dark so i would say about 7ishppm
should i change some water or leave it???

UPDATE UPDATE the syringe i used is about 7ml when full, i thought it held 5ml when full Ooops, so i added like 8ml

 

[yasinullah]

best to do a quick ammonia test, half an hour after adding the ammonia, if its 8ppm or over, then a small water change should reduce your levels down, above 8ppm the wrong species of bacteria will tend to grow
dont forget to dechlorinate the water if you need to do a water change

 

[sjolliff]

best to do a quick ammonia test, half an hour after adding the ammonia, if its 8ppm or over, then a small water change should reduce your levels down, above 8ppm the wrong species of bacteria will tend to grow
dont forget to dechlorinate the water if you need to do a water change

Just taken out 20 litres of water and added 20 litres back, i treated the water first.
will test again in 15 mins

 

[sjolliff]

best to do a quick ammonia test, half an hour after adding the ammonia, if its 8ppm or over, then a small water change should reduce your levels down, above 8ppm the wrong species of bacteria will tend to grow
dont forget to dechlorinate the water if you need to do a water change

Just taken out 20 litres of water and added 20 litres back, i treated the water first.
will test again in 15 mins

Ammonia is about 6ppm so taken another 10litres out to bring down to 5ppm ish

 

[sjolliff]

best to do a quick ammonia test, half an hour after adding the ammonia, if its 8ppm or over, then a small water change should reduce your levels down, above 8ppm the wrong species of bacteria will tend to grow
dont forget to dechlorinate the water if you need to do a water change

Just taken out 20 litres of water and added 20 litres back, i treated the water first.
will test again in 15 mins

Ammonia is about 6ppm so taken another 10litres out to bring down to 5ppm ish

Right, after taking that extra 10litres and waiting 10mins for is to run through my ammonia PPM is about 4ppm
i will check at 8.30pm 2moz to see how its gone
cheers steve

 

[waterdrop]

3ppm,4ppm,5ppm,6ppm, doesn't matter in the early stages of a fishless cycle, all of those would provide plenty of ammonia for the ammonia oxidizing bactera (Nitrosomonas, we call them A-Bacs for short here on the forum.) You've already done the right thing removing some water to make sure its not 7 or 8ppm, which would enourage the wrong species and perhaps set your cycle back.

The "Day" designation will not really have started until the first day you put ammonia in, although its possible a little of that food started to convert and gave things a tiny bit of a pre-start. We seem to see a lot of fishless cycles that finish up between 60 and 70 days. But its different for each tank and pretty much entirely unpredictable, probably hinging on the chance number of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira bacteria that have happened into your tank from your tap water.

The reason you want to be doing all this work to create a working biofilter is that ammonia, even in tiny amounts causes permanent gill damage, shortening the life or killing the fish. Likewise, nitrite(NO2), attaches to the fish blood hemoglobin protein and destroys it, causing suffocation, with the immediate result of permanent nerve damage, leading, like the ammonia, to a shortened life or to death. For many species of fish, the turning point levels are a quarter of a part per million (0.25ppm), which can happen very quickly even with a few fish in a tank with no working biofilter.

Its only after you really get into the hobby that you begin to realize that the filters are really a "kit" and don't work when you buy them. The skill you are learning hands-on will be valuable to you all the rest of the years you do the hobby.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[sjolliff]

3ppm,4ppm,5ppm,6ppm, doesn't matter in the early stages of a fishless cycle, all of those would provide plenty of ammonia for the ammonia oxidizing bactera (Nitrosomonas, we call them A-Bacs for short here on the forum.) You've already done the right thing removing some water to make sure its not 7 or 8ppm, which would enourage the wrong species and perhaps set your cycle back.

The "Day" designation will not really have started until the first day you put ammonia in, although its possible a little of that food started to convert and gave things a tiny bit of a pre-start. We seem to see a lot of fishless cycles that finish up between 60 and 70 days. But its different for each tank and pretty much entirely unpredictable, probably hinging on the chance number of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira bacteria that have happened into your tank from your tap water.

The reason you want to be doing all this work to create a working biofilter is that ammonia, even in tiny amounts causes permanent gill damage, shortening the life or killing the fish. Likewise, nitrite(NO2), attaches to the fish blood hemoglobin protein and destroys it, causing suffocation, with the immediate result of permanent nerve damage, leading, like the ammonia, to a shortened life or to death. For many species of fish, the turning point levels are a quarter of a part per million (0.25ppm), which can happen very quickly even with a few fish in a tank with no working biofilter.

Its only after you really get into the hobby that you begin to realize that the filters are really a "kit" and don't work when you buy them. The skill you are learning hands-on will be valuable to you all the rest of the years you do the hobby.

~~waterdrop~~

Thaks waterdrop,
just done a quick test now which is about 21 hours since last night and is still showing around the 4ppm mark
cheers steve


Do i add anothr 5ppm again later??

 

[sjolliff]

DAY 6 TEST 24HR PH 7.2 Ammonia 2.0ppm Nitrites 0.0ppm Nitrates 1.0ppm Temp 29.9c
added 5ppm ammonia yest

 

[yasinullah]

Do not add any further ammonia until it reaches 0ppm , keep testing every 24hrs meanwhile

 

[sjolliff]

Do not add any further ammonia until it reaches 0ppm , keep testing every 24hrs meanwhile

well i made my secong mistake, i added more ammonia before seeing your post, not loads just a bit to take it back up to five, and the reading went back up to 7-8ppm so taken 20litres out tested now back to 4.0ppm ish, not adding no more till i hit 0

 

[yasinullah]

yup the ammonia drop to 0, normally takes 1 - 2weeks, but keep testing, and you'll start seeing it start to drop soon hopefully

 

[sjolliff]

yup the ammonia drop to 0, normally takes 1 - 2weeks, but keep testing, and you'll start seeing it start to drop soon hopefully

adding more ammonia last night has naft my testing up, will wait to 0 before adding more

 

[sjolliff]

yup the ammonia drop to 0, normally takes 1 - 2weeks, but keep testing, and you'll start seeing it start to drop soon hopefully

adding more ammonia last night has naft my testing up, will wait to 0 before adding more

test resukts dont seem to be doin much, if not any!
my mate brought me round a bottle of API stress zyme he said it will speed things up, iv addes no more ammonia,
why is my ammonia not dropping at all, its day 9 of cycle 4th day with ammonia?
oh also found 2 small snails one i took out the other drop of somewhere but will be back

 

[sjolliff]

DAY 10 TEST 24HR PH 7.1 Ammonia 2.0ppm Nitrites 0.0ppm Nitrates 5.0ppm Temp 29.3c
DAY 11 TEST 24HR PH 6.8 Ammonia 1.5ppm Nitrites 0.0ppm Nitrates 5.0ppm Temp 29.4c

 

[yasinullah]

DAY 10 TEST 24HR PH 7.1 Ammonia 2.0ppm Nitrites 0.0ppm Nitrates 5.0ppm Temp 29.3c
DAY 11 TEST 24HR PH 6.8 Ammonia 1.5ppm Nitrites 0.0ppm Nitrates 5.0ppm Temp 29.4c

good news that ammonia is finally dropping
keep a close eye on pH, a water change may be necessary very soon as a pH below 6.0 stalls the cycle process, refer to here: [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=294113&hl=bicarbonate"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...;hl=bicarbonate[/URL]