My Fishless Cycling With A Twist!

[Efren]

hahaha.. i know what you mean

as for me --- i'm glad i'm open to new things-
of course it would be great to experience the
whole fishless process -- maybe that's one reason why
i haven't put fish in it yet --

but the hassle and excitement
based on what i've read with some who did the cycle ---
it's a shame i wouldn't have the chance to experience that.

or maybe it should happen this way-- cos i'm
not good in handling hassles---

the "waiting" i can stand---
but the problems and stuff in between that waiting period --- i don't think so...

so i guess i'm very lucky..

 

[minxfishy]

They cloudy water will be a bacteria bloom.

Keep adding for another few days, and then if you really want to, stock lightly at first to be on the safe side.

I know how much you want the blue rams too - but add those last several weeks down the line as they prefer a mature tank.

Edit: Curiosity, what are you nitrAtes please?

 

[Efren]

will do minxfishy... thanks
and as you've said
i can still wait for a few more days

i'm planning to get the pair of dwarf g
or pearl g. first.. either kind of these
gouramis will do for me-- then i would
wait for a few more days to add the rest.

tnx tnx tnx...



edit: nitRATES--- wait for a sec. i'm on it.
but i have just added ammonia a while ago- hope
it doesn't affect the test..

 

[Efren]

here's the niTRATES - - i couldn't work it out if its 5.0 or below that---
one thing i'm certain --the color is in between 5.0 and 0

is it bad or good?

 

[minxfishy]

Well in theory if the nitrItes are being processed the NitrAtes would rise, but they are not - your tap water reading was 5. Maybe too early to see a rise though, few more days should tell. My concern being, that the bactinettes are eating up the ammonia and not actualy converting them to nitrites which would lead in in a few weeks time with fish in to having a nitrite spike - which I believe has been reported in the use of bactinettes.

Just so you know during a normal fishless cycle once the ammonia and nitrites are processed to 0, the nitrates are usually very high and a 90-100% water change is needed to bring them down to reasonable levels before adding fish. So again in theory, your nitrates should rise quite high if the nitrites are being processed - hope that makes sense.

Time will tell

 

[Efren]

edit:

 

[Efren]

sounds Bad News to me!

and i reviewed my notes and
accdng to it, i raised the ammonia twice already-- and
this morning that's the third time....

looks like Bactinettes been pretty good in eliminating
Ammonia--- however my tests show that it cuts
the cycle halfway --- (based on Fishless Cycle Thing)
as you've said- i should expect a Big rise in NitRATES
to show that NitrITES are processed ---
now it's all adding up to me- as you can remember-
i didn't come along to the NitrITE Spike thing -
and my nitrates remain almost the same in the past week--

what would be the best thing to do next?
how bad would that be- knowing that nitrITES
not being processed the same way like in Fishless Cycle?

 

[rhostog]

Hi Efren - interesting thread!

I was wondering, have you got real plants in the tank? They can eat up nitrate and ammonia. Or even a lot of algae?

The nitrate test can be tricky - I'm sure you've thought of this already, but just in case, you have done all the shaking the bottle thing and leaving the results for the specified time? Your profile says you're in London, and I'm surprised your tapwater is so low in nitrate - but it might be different in different parts of London...

 

[locust267]

Live plants wouldn't use up that much nitrate but they would also use up alot of ammonia meaning less nitrate. However if your tank is close to cycling you are right in thinking you should have HUGE amounts of nitrate in there.

I would personally do a large water change and see how things look in a few days.

Also I wouldn't make D.gourami the first fish in a newly cycle tank as they are very sickly fish. I would say you are better off with something like some danio's first. Ideally you want to wait about 4-6 months before adding gourami, even then a lot of people find they are still poorly fish

Vicki

 

[Axleuk]

Live plants wouldn't use up that much nitrate but they would also use up alot of ammonia meaning less nitrate. However if your tank is close to cycling you are right in thinking you should have HUGE amounts of nitrate in there.

I would personally do a large water change and see how things look in a few days.

Also I wouldn't make D.gourami the first fish in a newly cycle tank as they are very sickly fish. I would say you are better off with something like some danio's first. Ideally you want to wait about 4-6 months before adding gourami, even then a lot of people find they are still poorly fish

Vicki

I am going to agree and disagree with some of your points.

Approx 22% of Dwarf Gouramis from Singapore carry the dwarf gourami iridovirus virus. This is why some Gouramis get sick. I would imagine this is due to the fact that when bought, they may already be carrying the virus and actually have nothing to do with the tank being mature. I certainly would not put off adding these for for 4-6 months. In fact i have 3 already and they have already spawned. My tank is only a short 3 weeks old.

If you have got a poorly Gouramis you only have to treat it as you would another other fish.

I do agree with water changes, however i have been doing 2 a week and my water stats have remained consistant even with a tank near its capacity in fish.

 

[mark7616]

it's only been a week though- and the duration of the real Fishless Cycle
must be 4-6weeks - so IMO Bactinettes help BIG TIME in the system - -

we can say hello
to my first batch of fishes - -

The 2 comments above are prime examples of people still not to sure what there doing when it comes to fishless cycling a tank. It doesn’t take anywhere near 4-6 weeks to fishless cycle a tank more like anywhere from 1-3 weeks. The next point is the thing with people saying yeah do a fishless cycle and then add fish slowly this is completely pointless and is actually the same as cycling a tank with fish ill explain: the reason you raise your ammonia up to 5-6ppm is so that you create enough bacteria for your filter to handle a fully stocked tank so once it is cycled you add your FULL bio load of fish to it there fore the filter can then handle all the waste. If you go out and add say a group of tetras you will not have any spike what will happen is all the bacteria that is not needed to handle the waste the fish produce will die off, as there is not enough waste being produced to feed the bacteria you produced during the cycle. Then a week later you go out buy a few more fish and "bam" you will get a spike and be posting on here asking why and receiving answers like its still a very new tank you have rushed etc etc when it’s not really the case.

 

[Attilauk]

It doesn’t take anywhere near 4-6 weeks to fishless cycle a tank more like anywhere from 1-3 weeks.

thats a very bold statement, the length of time it takes to properly cycle a tank varies a huge amount due to a number of different reasons.

a quick search shows a number of members on here have had cycles that lasted longer than 6 weeks, in my opinion 4-6 weeks is a good average.

 

[mark7616]

If done properly a fishless cycle wont take 6 weeks.

 

[Efren]

thanks for the replies guys,
i don't have live plants in my tank (yet)
i might put some in the near future
and i'm still doin my regular test of the water---

and it's almost constant--- everytime i'll raise it to 5ppm ammonia
it drops back to approx. 0 after 12hrs or so. having said that, my concern is the nitrITES
and nitRATES thing.. niTRITES remain - 0 every tests so meaning i should expect a
massive load of NITRATES -- but nitrates remain as it is-- i tested the pH and from 7.4pH
which is the actual reading of my TAP as well it shoots up to 8.0

this was taken a while ago- i'm curious to find out
what's goin on with my water chem inside the tank so i decided to
test it in 6-7hrs interval:

ammonia: 2.0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 5+
pH: 8.0

*i've got photo but my server is down so i'll put it later*

does it make any sense?

 

[Efren]

If done properly a fishless cycle wont take 6 weeks.

now i'm a bit confused!
cause that's what everybody tells me-
it would take an ave. of 4-6 weeks
for the filter to mature - -

my concern is-- how come i'm not getting any rise in NitrATES
knowing that the ammonia is being processed rapidly -
that's why i posted in my recent ones that Bactinettes might
be cutting the cycle halfway cause i can't find a reading
that would justify Nitrites presence and when Process-- the NitRATES..