Recycling My Tank

[powerdyne6]

I have a 38 gallon tank, with no fish in it anymore, I have decided to re-cycle the tank, the fish that were remaining have went to a different tank
but my question is, I have been doing this with ammonia, the add daily method, and it has been 1 week, I am just wondering how long it takes to see a drop in the ammonia reading and a spike in the nitrite reading

my ammonia reading is at 7.0ppm or so right now and I have been adding about 1.75 ounces everynight and then testing the next day
the reason why it is 1.75 ounces was I did some math and coverted the 700 drops out of the dropper I had into ounces

basically my question is how long should I expect to wait to see a drop in the ammonia reading???

thanks for your responses
Mike

 

[Majjie]

I wouldn't add any more ammonia - until you see a drop in the level. Having it too high can, I think, slow things down. Don't know why - perhaps the poor little bugs just get overwhelmed

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you say you recycled it.... when you removed the fish from it, was the bacteria left to die off?

if not and you started adding ammonia straight away then it will just remain cycled.

 

[powerdyne6]

you say you recycled it.... when you removed the fish from it, was the bacteria left to die off?

if not and you started adding ammonia straight away then it will just remain cycled.

I don't think it was fully cycled before, that is why I took the fish out
I basically started again, but with the same filter media and rocks and stuff, but changed the water completly
but isn't it true when you are cycling your tank with ammonia, doing it the add daily method it takes longer correct??? because there will be alot more ammonia in the tank initially, like upwards of 10ppm or even higher, i think the reason mine hasn't got that high after a week is because I think I had a little bit of the good bacteria from the first time

so should I keep adding ammonia and testing and eventually it will come down, or should I skip a day and the add and then skip a day and then add

Thanks Mike

 

[Majjie]

If the tank was partially cycled and the bacteria didn't have time without any ammonia - to die off - then it's probably the nitrite oxidising bacteria that are deficient. What's happening to your nitrite levels?

The idea of the add daily method of cycling is to build up a lot of bacteria from scratch. You don't need to do that - so I'd wait until the ammonia level drops at least a bit before adding any more. You just need to make sure that the level isn't at 0 for any length of time.

 

[powerdyne6]

If the tank was partially cycled and the bacteria didn't have time without any ammonia - to die off - then it's probably the nitrite oxidising bacteria that are deficient. What's happening to your nitrite levels?

The idea of the add daily method of cycling is to build up a lot of bacteria from scratch. You don't need to do that - so I'd wait until the ammonia level drops at least a bit before adding any more. You just need to make sure that the level isn't at 0 for any length of time.

As of right now my nitrite levels are 0 to like minimal .01 or so, so I would say 0
so basically my tank is still cycling if I don't add anymore ammonia to it, because it still has a reading

I am not worried about the length of time it will take to completly cycle, but more wondering how long it would take to see a nitrite jump???
38 gallon tank
air stone and light on about 20 hours a day

thanks, mike

 

[powerdyne6]

If the tank was partially cycled and the bacteria didn't have time without any ammonia - to die off - then it's probably the nitrite oxidising bacteria that are deficient. What's happening to your nitrite levels?

The idea of the add daily method of cycling is to build up a lot of bacteria from scratch. You don't need to do that - so I'd wait until the ammonia level drops at least a bit before adding any more. You just need to make sure that the level isn't at 0 for any length of time.

As of right now my nitrite levels are 0 to like minimal .01 or so, so I would say 0
so basically my tank is still cycling if I don't add anymore ammonia to it, because it still has a reading

I am not worried about the length of time it will take to completly cycle, but more wondering how long it would take to see a nitrite jump???
38 gallon tank
air stone and light on about 20 hours a day

thanks, mike

ttt
any help would be appreciated
thanks mike

 

[Majjie]

As of right now my nitrite levels are 0 to like minimal .01 or so, so I would say 0
so basically my tank is still cycling if I don't add anymore ammonia to it, because it still has a reading

I am not worried about the length of time it will take to completly cycle, but more wondering how long it would take to see a nitrite jump???
38 gallon tank
air stone and light on about 20 hours a day

thanks, mike

Your tank is still cycling if it doesn't convert all the ammonia to nitrate in, say 24 hours.
Monitoring the nitrite and nitrate is just a way of telling where in that cycle it is.

Your situation is complicated because you probably already had bacteria in the filter.

7 ppm is a very high level of ammonia - does your test kit measure higher levels - or is it just off the scale?

It may be that the tank is in fact cycled - that's why you're not seeing any nitrite much. The nitrite oxidising bacteria can only work on what the ammonia eating ones produce - and like I said you may have overwhelmed them with too much ammonia. What are your nitrate levels? (Should have asked that too )

If it was me - I'd either simply wait now until the ammonia level drops - OR - I'd do a big water change and start again but with just 1.5 - 3 ppm of ammonia (added daily if it disappears) - and see what happens to the nitrite and nitrate levels.

 

[MHunt]

If you have rehoused the other fish, are they in a tank you posess or have they gone to a different home?

If you have other tanks that are cycled, you could use media from another mature filter and hey presto, your 38 gal is cycled!

 

[powerdyne6]

As of right now my nitrite levels are 0 to like minimal .01 or so, so I would say 0
so basically my tank is still cycling if I don't add anymore ammonia to it, because it still has a reading

I am not worried about the length of time it will take to completly cycle, but more wondering how long it would take to see a nitrite jump???
38 gallon tank
air stone and light on about 20 hours a day

thanks, mike

Your tank is still cycling if it doesn't convert all the ammonia to nitrate in, say 24 hours.
Monitoring the nitrite and nitrate is just a way of telling where in that cycle it is.

Your situation is complicated because you probably already had bacteria in the filter.

7 ppm is a very high level of ammonia - does your test kit measure higher levels - or is it just off the scale?

It may be that the tank is in fact cycled - that's why you're not seeing any nitrite much. The nitrite oxidising bacteria can only work on what the ammonia eating ones produce - and like I said you may have overwhelmed them with too much ammonia. What are your nitrate levels? (Should have asked that too )

If it was me - I'd either simply wait now until the ammonia level drops - OR - I'd do a big water change and start again but with just 1.5 - 3 ppm of ammonia (added daily if it disappears) - and see what happens to the nitrite and nitrate levels.

my test kit measures up to 7.5 and then nothing higher, so this is pretty much an estimate
my nitrate levels are at about 1 at the most
and yah I have not been putting anymore ammonia in, so I am going to wait and see how long it takes to drop back to say 2 or 3ppm and maybe keep it at that level until I start to see a jump in nitrite

 

[powerdyne6]

If you have rehoused the other fish, are they in a tank you posess or have they gone to a different home?

If you have other tanks that are cycled, you could use media from another mature filter and hey presto, your 38 gal is cycled!

the fish are in another tank not at my house

 

[MHunt]

If you have rehoused the other fish, are they in a tank you posess or have they gone to a different home?

If you have other tanks that are cycled, you could use media from another mature filter and hey presto, your 38 gal is cycled!

the fish are in another tank not at my house

Fair enough, just a thought if that was an option, that's better and quicker than doing a whole fishless cycle. How long did you leave the tank between breaking it down and starting again?

 

[powerdyne6]

If you have rehoused the other fish, are they in a tank you posess or have they gone to a different home?

If you have other tanks that are cycled, you could use media from another mature filter and hey presto, your 38 gal is cycled!

the fish are in another tank not at my house

Fair enough, just a thought if that was an option, that's better and quicker than doing a whole fishless cycle. How long did you leave the tank between breaking it down and starting again?

didn't leave anytime inbetween, all I did was take the fish out, rehouse them, did about a 40 percent water change and then started again, during all of this the filter was still on, it looks good right now though becuase the ammonia is dropping, not to fast but the nitrites are coming up a bit like .05 to .1 which is better than a day earlier, which it was at 0
I haven't put any ammonia in for 2 days and it has dropped to about 5.0ppm from 7.5+ppm, not much but it is starting
anyone have any other advise I could use would be great

Thanks again Mike

 

[MHunt]

To be honest you could have restocked straight away, or left a couple of fish in there to keep the cycle going till you were ready to restock. If the filter has been wet and running it is probably still quite healthy and the media will be cycled. I would do a large water change to dilute the ammonia you have added, wait till the tests show no ammonia and nitrite, then the tank should be ready for you to head down to your LFS and start getting your desired fish. If time had passed since you emptied the tank and started again allowing the tank and filter media to dry out completely then you would be completely starting again. As the tank was started again straight away and everything was still running in between i would think you are good to go. Just make sure the water is safe to put the fish into, then start stocking again. I wouldn't put your full choice of fish in there in one go, but you should be able to get to 1" per gallon in a couple of weeks.

 

[powerdyne6]

To be honest you could have restocked straight away, or left a couple of fish in there to keep the cycle going till you were ready to restock. If the filter has been wet and running it is probably still quite healthy and the media will be cycled. I would do a large water change to dilute the ammonia you have added, wait till the tests show no ammonia and nitrite, then the tank should be ready for you to head down to your LFS and start getting your desired fish. If time had passed since you emptied the tank and started again allowing the tank and filter media to dry out completely then you would be completely starting again. As the tank was started again straight away and everything was still running in between i would think you are good to go. Just make sure the water is safe to put the fish into, then start stocking again. I wouldn't put your full choice of fish in there in one go, but you should be able to get to 1" per gallon in a couple of weeks.

to be honest I had a couple fish die right when I put them in the tank, like 2 days after, and I didn't want to risk the rest
another one came down with whitespot I treated and then moved the fish that were in my tank to another home for the time being, they are still all fine
everything looked a little better last night when I did some tests, ammonia has dropped, nitrite is coming up and the nirtaes are also starting to show, shouldn't be too long, and plus I am starting to get some brown algae (atleast I think it is) on the plants and stuff, is that good

anyways, I can't wait till I get some fish in there cause looking at a tank with nothing in it is pretty depressing, lol

Thanks Mike