My Fishless Cycle

[paradiddle]

They just look like HUGE grass lol

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes, good for backgrounds... I was asking if that was the plant you were having trouble spelling.

 

[paradiddle]

what ever it is xD
also i was leaving them in to "rot" to give ammonia but now my readings for ammonia sit at what id say is 0.1ppm so tomorrow when i get chance im going to remove any browned lifeless leaves, and wait 12 hours and see if my ammonia is a bright yellow 0 lol

DAY 8 - 18/01/13
Ammonia (22hrs later) is around 0.1ppm
Nitrite is 5ppm+ still, will dose to 2ppm ammonia not 3

 

[paradiddle]

DAY 9 - 19/01/13
Ammonia 0-0.25ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm (holy cow!! yesterday this was 5ppm+ ?!?!?! i am going to do a retest to make sure it wasnt a false reading)
NitrAte - 80-100ppm

Dosing ammonia to 2 maybe 3ppm

 

[paradiddle]

retested nitrite it is indeed 0ppm!
how far off am i now?
what should i do?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Keep dosing. But raise it up a bit, and increase your testing frequency to every 12 hours. Once you get double zeros every 12 hours, you are cycled.

If you start with a small stocking level you really wouldn't need to worry about increasing the dose much more than 2-3ppm. If you plan a larger initial stocking, then waiting for it to turn over 4+ppm is a good idea.

 

[paradiddle]

i plan on half stocking it for 2-4 weeks, so around 20 tetra
was curious when i just come home from work, 9 hours later my ammonia is 0, nitrateis 2ppm, so somethings going good!
will dose to 3ppm tomorrow

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Looks great... What kind of tetra?

 

[paradiddle]

phantom, serpae, maybe another one, schools of 6-8, a catfish for bottom cleaning, and either a pair of kissing gourami or dwarf gourami

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Serpae are beautiful, but they can be quite nippy... and they actually have a bit of a similar look to the phantoms. Kissing gourami grow quite large... I'd stick to the dwarf gourami.


Serpae

Black Phantom

Red phantom

 

[paradiddle]

ive heard they are nippy, but when kept in similar size groups they will make their own pecking order, but i may pass on them
Do you know of any Killifish that can be kept with these?
id keep them in a group of 2-6 (which ever is best)
they are my favourrrriteeee!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry, I'm not into killis. There is a killi section though - which I just noticed you found. Best wishes with that...

 

[paradiddle]

[font=lucida sans unicode']DAY 10 - 20/01/13[/font]

added 4ppm ammonia at 11am, tested it a few hours ago and it read as 1ppm, thats from 4 to 1 in 7 hours, not bad going!
will test it at 11 pm with nitrites and see if i get the magic 0!

 

[paradiddle]

21/01/13
Ammonia 1ppm nitrite 0, ammonia dosed to 4ppm

22/01/13
Ammonia 0, nitrite 0.25, nitrAte 80ppm,
40% water change
Ammonia dosed to 4ppm

23/01/13
Ammonia 0, nitrite weak 0.25, dosed to 4ppm

24/01/13
Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, dosed to 3ppm, will test in 8 hours (when i finish work)

I have tried to test every 24 hours as close as i can some days its been around an hour or so before or after the 24hrs, but on the whole i am constantly seeing 0's or a weak .25

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sounds like you are ready for some 12 hour tests.