New Setup - Fishless Cycle Started - Day 1

[adfsuperduke]

Well my Fluval 305 was delivered along with an Api Freshwater Master Test Kit today so i've just spent the last hour or so setting it all up I had already washed and added 30kg of Argos best play sand at the weekend and topped the tank up with dechlorinated water.

I tested the Ammonia level after the setup and it was 0.25ppm so I added 9ml of pure Ammonia Liquid and its now up at 5.0ppm and then I tested my tap water to see what parameters that is within to enable me to start choosing the fish i'd like in the hopefully not too distant future!

My tap water parameters were as follows;

Ph - 7.5
Hi Ph - 7.8
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

This is my first night testing water like this and so I took as much care as possible to ensure times and water amounts were exact so hopefully they are pretty acurate

my wifes already calling me "The Mad Professor"!

A question I have is, my cousin has a tank, would a sample of the water from their tank help the process or would i need to take a scraping of the filter? cheers in advance for any help on this

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

just abit of the filter media would speed things along nicely the water itself wouldnt do much as most of the bacteria is in the filter with a much smaller amount in the substrate

 

[Skins]

Well my Fluval 305 was delivered along with an Api Freshwater Master Test Kit today so i've just spent the last hour or so setting it all up I had already washed and added 30kg of Argos best play sand at the weekend and topped the tank up with dechlorinated water.

I tested the Ammonia level after the setup and it was 0.25ppm so I added 9ml of pure Ammonia Liquid and its now up at 5.0ppm and then I tested my tap water to see what parameters that is within to enable me to start choosing the fish i'd like in the hopefully not too distant future!

My tap water parameters were as follows;

Ph - 7.5
Hi Ph - 7.8
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

This is my first night testing water like this and so I took as much care as possible to ensure times and water amounts were exact so hopefully they are pretty acurate

my wifes already calling me "The Mad Professor"!

A question I have is, my cousin has a tank, would a sample of the water from their tank help the process or would i need to take a scraping of the filter? cheers in advance for any help on this

I would be inclined to ask your cousin if he can spare any of his media(sponge or ceramic rings), as long as you don't swap over more than a 1/3 of the media from his filter.

Keith.

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

i bet skins for once im spending way to much time reading on here lol

 

[adfsuperduke]

Cheers FishAreFriendsNotFood10/Skins, I'll beg or steel some this week when I go over

 

[adfsuperduke]

Well day three and Ammonia level still at 4 ppm should hopefully start to drop soon

 

[Skins]

Well day three and Ammonia level still at 4 ppm should hopefully start to drop soon

I would imagine you will start to see your ammonia getting processed to nitrites within next few days. Did you get any of your cousins mature media?, this would really help kick start the cycle. I noticed in your first post that tank temp was not mentioned, is it set to 29c? When i started my fishless i had mine at room temp and as soon as temp was increased to 29c things started to happen.

Keith.

 

[adfsuperduke]

Temps at 29 degrees at the moment Keith, I haven't managed to catch up with my cousin yet but will hopefully do so next week. Just a thought is outdoor pond filter media the same sort of bacteria as my dad has a pond that i could have as much of it as I want?

Cheers

 

[luke4868]

Temps at 29 degrees at the moment Keith, I haven't managed to catch up with my cousin yet but will hopefully do so next week. Just a thought is outdoor pond filter media the same sort of bacteria as my dad has a pond that i could have as much of it as I want?

Cheers

The problem with outdoor ponds is they can carry diseases or parasites etc if the pond is generally unmanaged...I was going to do the same thing and numerous people advised against it. Get some from your cousin

 

[adfsuperduke]

cheers matey, will do

 

[Skins]

How are things going?

Keith.

 

[Aqua Tom]

How goes the testing?

 

[adfsuperduke]

We're down to around 2ppm Ammonia now so hopefully i'll be dosing it back up to 4ppm by next weekend and checking the other levels too. I planted real plants when I set it up but not sure if that was the right thing to do?

 

[Aqua Tom]

We're down to around 2ppm Ammonia now so hopefully i'll be dosing it back up to 4ppm by next weekend and checking the other levels too. I planted real plants when I set it up but not sure if that was the right thing to do?

The common opinion is not to plant untill after the cycle is over as plants in the tank will give false test readings.

I wouldnt fret to much tho as your fish will have a nice planty home when they move in.

 

[adfsuperduke]

Checked the water tonight and its now between 1 and 2ppm Ammonia so hopefully things are starting to move