Newb Here With A Fish-in Cycle Question.

[Whitester]

I have had my 40 gallon tank set up for 3 weeks now. Unfortunately for me, I didn't find this place until after I put the fish in the tank. So I am doing a fish-in cycle. Let me give you some back ground before the question. I have approximately 8 to 10 inches of fish. I have 12 small fish total. I have been doing daily water changes up to 60% most changes. Sometimes twice a day, but now alot less. I did an excellent job, i think, with keeping my ammonia levels not higher than .25ppm. Using a liquid API test kit. As soon as I noticed the ammo level at .25ppm, I would do atleast a 50% water change. I have continued to do water changes when the level of ammo has reached .25ppm. Recently, I have gone as long as 24 & 30 hours without needing water change (The last 2 h2o changes). I have been feeding the fish very lightly. Every other day, sometimes not for two days. I also introduced some water, with a filter sponge rinsed out in the water several times, from a mature fish tank. I did the filter water trick 15 or 16 days ago. The dirty filter water was ALL I could get from the LFS. I have yet to see the Nitrite levels increase. It remains the blue color in the API test kit. I have tested the ammo everyday sometimes as many as 3x's a day. I didn't however, test the nitrite every day. I sometimes didn't test the Nitrite for a few days in a row. I guess I figured as long as the ammo was too high, I needed to do a water change, what was the point in testing for Nitrites. Then I realized, after reading here, I should be testing for Nitrites more often than I have been. So now I have been testing Nitrites for the past 4 days in a row. Still no increase in nitrites.
So what gives? Why has the time for the ammo level to come up to .25ppm getting longer, but I am still showing no signs of Nitrites? Did the dirty filter water that I placed in the tank speed the cycle along and I possibly missed the Nitrite spike?. (oh ....., I put in about 1 quart of that filter water in my tank, half in the filter area, and half in the tank.)

By the way, I have been reading A TON on here, and I must say, I haven't seen this many helpful people on any other type of forum....ever!
I am also getting a larger tank, currently shopping now, for a tank to place the in "man cave". I am super hooked. I will make sure I do a fishless cycle with the next tank.

Sorry so lengthy, I wanted to give as much info as possible to anyone that can answer my questions.

 

[waterdrop]

Unfortunately, sometimes its really hard to catch the traces of nitrite during a fish-in cycle where you are changing a lot of water. On the other hand its also possible you just haven't reached the point where you'll start seeing some traces.

You've done your homework carefully, reading here, and I can't find any problems with your fish-in technique - you're doing a good job! Remember, it almost always takes at least a month, so just keep up the hard work and eventually you'll be rewarded with zeros all the time. The traditional test is if you can go two days with no water changes and not see any traces, but even with that you still would want to test carefully during the following week after seeing that.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Whitester]

Thanks for the info waterdrop. Now I know an approximate time to wait for the ammo levels to come back up. I was unsure of that before.
One other question... I haven't vaccumed the gravel yet. When do you recommend I do that? I don't see much, there is very small amounts of food, that I couldn't grab after feeding. Mostly small shrimp pellets that fell thru the gravel. Should I attempt to clean mid cycle? Or wait until after the cycle has finished?
Thanks again!

 

[waterdrop]

The habit to get in to in this hobby is that *any time* you change water in an aquarium, you gravel clean to get the water out. Now for everything there is the occasional exception and if you were so pressed for time that otherwise you wouldn't get to do it then you might do a non-gravel-clean once in a while, but if at all possible you just should always reinforce the good habit and gravel clean. Even if you can't see visible debris, there are still heavier organic molecules that will be hanging low in the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Whitester]

Thanks once again waterdrop!

 

[Whitester]

New question.....

I have had my tank running for 5 weeks today. I have yet to see the Nitrite increase even the slightest bit. My ammonia levels keep rising. I am doing water changes about every 24 to 30 hours. I have a penquin 300 filter with a bio wheel. I have not changed the filters since I have started up the tank. I was waiting for the bateria to start growing. I am starting to get nervous that I am doing something wrong. 5 weeks running and still not one sign of Nitrite. I have been doing atleast 50% water changes... Are my changes to large? Am I just too impatient?
Please help me

 

[alchemist]

I don't think your doing anything wrong - just keep going - you will see the nitrites pick up eventually. No your changes are not too large.

What sort of decholranator are you using?
and what media is in the filter?

 

[cowboy507]

you should be doing fine, i just finished my fish in cycle, i didnt see any nitrites untill the very end, and when i did they shot up! it went from close to 0 to 1.0+ in less than 24 hrs. the water changes that you are doing are probably keeping them low though.
have you tested your pH?

 

[waterdrop]

Its true we haven't actually been seeing any stat data here...

 

[Whitester]

I am using the tetra declorinator. I might be using it slittle on the heavy side, if that matters. My pH is right around 7.4 - 7.8 out of the tap. I do nothing for pH.

Thanks for the info. I use these filters. Should I get something different? And filters like this! I am confused now. grrrrr

 

[waterdrop]

I -still- don't see anything basically wrong here. You've got sponge and poly in there, you've got about 10 inches of fish making plenty of ammonia, you're pH is good for bacterial growth. The dechlor sounds ok and better to be on the heavy side. I don't see anything begin missed.

And that means it should just be a matter of time and you will out-wait the bacteria. I don't know how much you follow other threads but we've got plenty of recent (fishless, not fish-in like yours, but the comparison is still ok) cycles that have even had trouble finishing up in the 60 to 70 day range. So your cycle being at about 37 days or whatever should not make you feel like its too slow or something is wrong. The average just gets pulled down a lot to very low days by people who are basically cloning from very mature media but are using the fishless cycling to test their bacteria.. so I think we all get hopeful that every fish-in will be done in a month.. but its not true.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Whitester]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate everyones input.

 

[Whitester]

I am on week 7, still no nitrItes of any sort. I am using a Marineland Pequin 200 with a bio wheel filter. I have yet to rinse out my filters. Should I rinse them out some?

 

[waterdrop]

Are you basing your water changes on your test readings? Has you tank pH remained in a good range and not dropped to 6.2 or below?

Basically in fish-in cycling you don't want to just blindly change water once or twice a day without noticing whether there's a chance that less ammonia and nitrite is building up. If it stays close to zero then you want to wait a little longer before water changing to test it and see if its going longer than previously without pushing past the 0.25 max mark.

The goal in fish-in cycling is to go two days without water changes with ammonia and nitrite(NO2) staying at zero ppm.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Whitester]

I only change the water when the ammonia levels reach .25ppm or higher. I can recall ONLY 1 time that the ammonia levels were near .50ppm. I am very, very good about testing. I test almost every single day. I am starting to run low on the ammonia testing liquids (hahaha). I can go about 36 hours without changing the water. (When u say two days, you mean 48 hours right?) But like I have said, I have NEVER seen the nitrItes go above zero. Yesterday was the end of week 7, I started the fish-in cycle on May 28th. Unless I am mistaken, the nitrite readings should be seen for awhile right? Meaning, I will need to do water changes because nitrite levels are increasing, while I am waiting for the nitrite consuming bacteria to grow??? I really haven't been testing the ph. Maybe that is where my problem is... My thinking was, I have been doing such big water changes (50%).... the pH would remain the same 7.4 - 7.8. That is the pH of the water right out of my tap. So to clarify, I don't need to do anything with the ph as long as it is not falling below 6.2?

Sorry to be a pest waterdrop. I really appreciate all of your help. I just want to make sure I am not doing something wrong. I have a new larger tank, 60 gallons now. And I want this 40 gallon to cycle so I can clone the bacteria for my new tank. I am completely addicted to fish now. It is so relaxing to just sit and watch the fish play in the tank.

The ONLY other thing I could be doing wrong.... My Marineland Penquin 200 filter with a bio wheel has to be shut off during a water change. I have to shut it off due to the mid level intake that is an option on the intake tube. The water level goes below the upper intake hole. Could I be killing the bacteria forming on my bio wheel, when doing a water change? The filter is off for approximately 25 mins while I am doing the water change. I don't know how else to do a water change without shutting down the filter. I guess I could always take the bio wheel off and let it sit in the water while I am doing a change. I just thought I would share this last piece of information.

Again, many...many thanks waterdrop. If I were near you, I would definately take you out to lunch.