My Fishless Cycle

[scotty]

juwel rio 125
let's hope everything goes ok


Day 1 - pH 7.4 - Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0 - 5ppm of Ammonia Added
Day 2 - pH 8.4 - Ammonia 8 - Nitrite 0
Day 3 - pH 8.4 - Ammonia 8 - Nitrite 0 50% waterchange done as recommended by waterdrop
Day 4 - pH 7.4 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0
Day 5 - pH 7.4 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0
Day 6 - pH 7.4 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0
Day 7 - ph 7.4 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0
Day 8 - ph 7.4 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0
Day 9 - ph 8.2 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0 added tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda
Day 10- ph 8.2 - Ammonia 4 - Nitrite 0
Day 11- ph 8.2 - Ammonia 2 - Nitrite 1
Day 12- ph 8 - Ammonia 1 - Nitrite 5
Day 13- ph 8 - Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 5+ added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 14- ph 8 - Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 5+ added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 15 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite between 2 and 5,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 16 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite between 2 and 5,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 16 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite between 2 and 5
Day 17 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite between 2 and 5,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 17 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite between 2 and 5
Day 18 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite between 2 and 5,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 18 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0.50
Day 19 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0.25,added 3ppm Ammonia
Day 19 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 2ppm
Day 20 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 1ppm,added 3ppm Ammonia
Day 20 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 5+
Day 21 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 5+,added 2ppm Ammonia
Day 21 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 5+
Day 22 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 2ppm Ammonia
Day 22 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 1
Day 23 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 2ppm Ammonia
Day 23 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0.50
Day 24 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 3ppm Ammonia
Day 24 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0 - Nitrate 80
Day 25 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 25 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 26 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 26 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 27 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 27 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 28 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 28 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 29 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 29 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 30 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 30 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 31 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 31 20:00pm- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0
Day 32 08:00am- ph 8- Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0,added 4ppm Ammonia
Day 32-40 Ammonia taking 24hrs to clear
Day 40-48 Ammonia and nitrite taking 24hrs to clear,nitrate seems to be steady about 80

 

[flyhawk]

sounds like its going good
exciting to start up an aquarium
what do you plan to stock it with?

 

[scotty]

i may be stocking it something like this,not sure what else,but i'm open to suggestions


6 x Emperor Tetra
5 x Corydora
3 x Platy
2 x Swordtail (Female)
1 x Clown Plec

 

[scotty]

still nothing happening

 

[waterdrop]

still nothing happening

Well, that may just mean you have a fairly clean water supply that doesn't have very many of the 2 species of chemolithoautotrophic bacteria that have made it past your system's chloramines. ..have you ever thought about it that way?

Also your natural pH of 7.4 will be a little slower growing environment for them as compared to the people that happen to have 8.2 or such, right?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[scotty]

can i increase the ph for a while to see if that helps?,i live in central scotland,the water here is very clean.still no change today

 

[scotty]

anyone advise me on this? or should just leave it for a few days

 

[waterdrop]

Ah, can tell you're impatient! Sure, you could dump a tablespoon of baking soda (not baking powder) in there just to give yourself the feeling you're doing something. it won't hurt anything.

It won't be magic either. Don't forget, we can do all sorts of things creating the right bacterial growing soup but none of that will matter if there aren't many bacteria there to begin with! In our forum we contstantly yak about all these optimizations like temperature and pH and so forth and yet they are all really quite minor factors compared to the actual bacteria, there's just no way around it.

One good thought I can give you to hold on to however is that time and the right conditions will almost always win out in the end. These bacteria are so ubiquitous, no matter how clean the water that once the chlorine products are neutralized and the ammonia and oxygen made available, they WILL appear eventually!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[scotty]

unfortunately when god was giving out patience,i was at the end of the line!
thanks for the advice,maybe i should leave it for a few days before testing again

 

[waterdrop]

Its quite good to be testing daily but you just need to not let it disappoint you if you keep getting the same numbers for a while. Its true that in the first couple of weeks you could get by with just testing, say, ammonia and pH, every other day.

Then once ammonia actually did start dropping you could increase that to ammonia, nitrite once a day and pH every other day.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

How could you stand the wait at the end of the line like that Scotty?
As WD says, testing daily is an easy way to feel frustrated in the beginning. Even when I use a filter clone to start a cycle, I test after a couple of days and if the levels have dropped, I pick up testing more often. If levels are at zero when I first test, I just dose up for a few more days and test at 12 hours. At that point I often have to hold back and not get my fish that day but go ahead and prove my cycle to myself. After a clone, things move much faster but I just can't stand to watch it, I would much rather check in now and then instead.

 

[scotty]

added tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda,ph now 8.2

 

[scotty]

i'm thinking of adding bogwood to my tank,i'm sure i read it somewhere,although i might be wrong that it lowers your ph levels,my normal ph levels are 7.4,so would it be better not to add it?

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, the two points against adding wood now would be that it drops the pH, slowing the bacterial growth and that the wood may get more algae on it due to the ammonia and light that are in the tank during fishless cycling.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[scotty]

a bit of progress this morning my ammonia levels have dropped down to 2,and nitrite is up to 1,will i wait until ammonia levels are 0,before adding more ammonia