Nightphoenix's Cycling Log

[NightPhoenix]

Well I know it's been a while since I posted, but things have been hectic. anyways I started my fishless cycle in my 5 gallon tank which will be home to a betta and it seemed to be going slow for awhile but now the cycling has picked up. My ammonia was the last I checked (and I haven't checked every day as I should have but life gets in the way) it was 1.0, (no clue how high it actually got since I didn't test for like a week) now it seemed to have dropped slightly and nitrites have appeared and are at 0.25ppm; no nitrates as of yet. But I'm encouraged by the appearance of nitrites already. I'll start testing regularly now, probably daily if I remember. Up till now I'm using the fish food method twice a day and crushing it into a fine powder with my fingers. I know everyone says the ammonia method is the way to go but again, I just keep forgetting to go and look for some. My water temp is at 80 degrees. I had trouble with my first 50 watt tetra heater which didn't heat at all and replaced it with an Aqueon 50 watt and I hated to up it for the cycling process because it is so dead on perfect at 80 right now. should I up it?

also one last question; will adding a live plant to the tank speed up the cycling process? I've got nothing but silk plants right now because I remember having live plants years ago and I just didn't have much of a green thumb.

Anyways that's my first log I'll try and keep everyone up to date from now on!

 

[NightPhoenix]

Well, life kind of got in the way of actually keeping a log; plus I found it easier to not test every day and just ignore the whole process, made it feel like it went much faster. My tank is now cycled though and is ready for fish! I used the fish food method the entire time, and did get some Nutrafin Cycle and it did seem to speed things up just a bit. But how knows? Anyways, my ammonia and nitrites are almost at zero, and my nitrates were around 40ppm, I've done 2 partial water changes and that lowered it some, but still around 30ppm...though it's hard to tell since the colors on the API test kit don't match exactly. Do you all think 30ppm is a safe level for nitrates?

 

[NightPhoenix]

Well I ended up doing one more partial water change which put the nitrate level at or below 20. I felt this was a safe number and went ahead and got my fish! I'll be posting that elsewhere though.

 

[librarygirl]

Well I ended up doing one more partial water change which put the nitrate level at or below 20. I felt this was a safe number and went ahead and got my fish! I'll be posting that elsewhere though.

Good luck! Keep monitoring the levels though b/c what I've heard of adding cycle boosters is that once you stop adding them they stop working and you could go back into a cycle. You also mentioned your ammo and nitrites were "almost" zero? They should be zero consistently before you add anything. Keep monitoring the levels. Good luck! I've just started a fishless cycle (using pure ammonia) and I can't wait until it's done!

 

[OldMan47]

You may have managed to cycle your tank but that is not certain. Just keep an eye on things and be ready to do water changes as needed.

 

[NightPhoenix]

Thanks guys. I'll continue to watch things very carefully, but I'm confident it's cycled. Ammonia and Nitrites are at zero now!

They were VERY high before...Ammonia first, then nitrites, then ammonia dropped, then nitrites dropped and have been consistently at "almost" zero for over a week now then with my last test yesterday morning (after I posted) both at zero. Nitrates are still at 20...one thing I noticed was as the ammonia went down to near zero (at first) the tank cleared up, then clouded again when nitrites went up, then after a couple of weeks when the nitrites dropped to "near zero" the water cleared again...2 days later they were zero. But I'll keep a close watch on things and do more testing daily.