Nitrogen cycle

[Malawif@n]

Hi
New to forums, recently got back in the hobby after a good few years, this time around I’ve decided to keep lake Malawi cichlids. I’ve successfully cycled my precious fish tank in the past as I bought it off a friend and the substrate in the tank as well as the filter was heavily seeded with beneficial Bactria so never really cycled a tank the traditional way, however this time round seem to have hit a hurdle.
Tank
juwel Rio 450
151x51x66, 450 litre capacity.

Equipment
2x all pond solutions ef1000 lph canister filters.
1x all pond solutions wm2500 lph wave maker.
2x 300 watt heaters.
1x dual output air pump.
20kg fine aquarium sand.

I’ve set up the tank and I know it is frowned upon but I’m doing a fish in cycle as I over spent on my budget so I visited my LFS and they were kind enough to give me a few platies to do a fish in cycle.
My question
Roughly how long does it take for ammonia levels to start rising before it drops for nitrite to rise and drop for nitrates to form?
thanks to everyone in advance to take the time to read this and any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

It normally takes about 4-6 weeks for a tropical fish tank to cycle.

About 2-3 weeks for ammonia to go up and down, and another 2-3 weeks for nitrite to go up and down.

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If you only have a couple of platies in a big tank, you probably won't get an ammonia reading, especially if you have live plants in the tank.

 

[Malawif@n]

No live plants and I was given 15 plattys got told it should be enough to get the tank cycling quicker

 

[Colin_T]

15 platies should be enough.

Get some Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta). It's a floating plant that is ideal for baby platies to hide in. The plant grows rapidly on the surface and can be planted in the substrate too.

 

[Essjay]

Can I ask what you intend doing with the platies once the tank is cycled? By the time the tank is cycled, if you have any female platies there will be a lot more than 15 of them.

The alternative is to return the platies to the shop and buy a bottle of ammonia and do a fishless cycle.

If you plan Malawi cichlids, you will need hard, basic water. At pH above 7 most of the ammonia will be in the toxic form so you'll need to keep it as low as possible. For this reason, fishless cycling is the better option with high pH.

 

[Malawif@n]

after the nitrogen cycle has completed and stable over a period of 7+ days I will be returning them to my LFS before stock my tank with malawi cichlids. My ph is around 7.4 so not worried about ph. I will be adding Seachem stability to help with Bactria and Seachem prime to detoxify ammonia, nitrite making a more comfortable environment for the platys while the tank is cycling.

 

[Essjay]

Don't forget that the detoxification of both ammonia and nitrite by Prime only lasts 24 hours, after which they become toxic again.

 

[Malawif@n]

Yes it is while I’ll be dosing prime and stability up until the cycle is complete and stable and up until I make the switch from the platys to the Malawi cichlids.