Si's Fishless Cycle

[JoshuaA]

I'll be adding some amano shrimp too... I forgot they eat fish food, sinking pellets etc

I'd be careful with the copper then try and eliminate it all, I believe it would be seriously detrimental to their health if they were to come into contact with copper contaminated water.

Also Was it really a good idea to cram a whole u2 filter insert into your U3 Lol? Why didn't you just steal a couple of those biomax nodes from whoever it was. Put them at the top of the biomax node container so that the bacteria that dislodges trickles down onto the ceramics below. I got floss of Assaye and put it between the Sponge and Poly/Carbon insert. I believe removing the Poly/Carbon insert at this stage would be a very bad idea, looking at it.. it as the brown slime that indicates lots of bacteria!

 

[PDSimon]

There is no copper in the water, API test kit said 0 and I was going to do a full cold water with boiling water change anyway just for extra safety

It is above the biomax and it was half of a whole filter! The sponges aren't that big so it fit ok, just a bit tight. Sometimes the bacteria don't transfer...

 

[JoshuaA]

There is no copper in the water, API test kit said 0 and I was going to do a full cold water with boiling water change anyway just for extra safety

It is above the biomax and it was half of a whole filter! The sponges aren't that big so it fit ok, just a bit tight. Sometimes the bacteria don't transfer...

Did you get any of the BioMax nodes or just the sponges from a mature filter? From what I've read the size of the external sponge for filtering crap is a little big to house much bacteria at all. The Poly/Carbon filter pad though is quite dense and therefore able to house quite a few bacteria. Though nothing compared to those ceramic nodes.

As long as the bacteria didn't die on transit it will still be alive and processing, I just guess you've got to hope they break of and fall into the filter and onto the ceramic nodes. I think thankfully that has happened well for us so far.

However we're getting exactly the same problem as you....

We got double zeros for about 2/3 days... then once again Nitrite failed to be processed on the 12 hour test mark/first test of the day however if we test it say 2/3 hours later it will be completely clear of Nitrite (2-5ppm of Nitrite!). Really frustrating lol, Like it goes into over drive super fast on the last few hours of the night.

 

[Twinklecaz]

We got double zeros for about 2/3 days... then once again Nitrite failed to be processed on the 12 hour test mark/first test of the day however if we test it say 2/3 hours later it will be completely clear of Nitrite (2-5ppm of Nitrite!). Really frustrating lol, Like it goes into over drive super fast on the last few hours of the night.

I think I may actually lose the will to live if that happens to me!

 

[PDSimon]

I have lost the will.........

Nitrites were 1 after 12 hours today!

Yesterday they were 0.5 after 12 hours, what the hell

I tested it at 1 and a half hours later and its 0.5 now... urgh, I hope swearing at my fish tank isn't a sign of insanity

 

[JoshuaA]

I have lost the will.........

Nitrites were 1 after 12 hours today!

Yesterday they were 0.5 after 12 hours, what the hell

I tested it at 1 and a half hours later and its 0.5 now... urgh, I hope swearing at my fish tank isn't a sign of insanity

Eugh... this seems to be the case with us. I don't know which is to blame the A or N bacs. I wonder if upping the dosage of Ammonia for a few days will help...

 

[PDSimon]

How long have you been cycling for now?

 

[JoshuaA]

How long have you been cycling for now?

only 30 days, we initially got 2 days of 0,0 and then the nitrites are lagging behind. 12 hours feels extremely optimistic.

 

[PDSimon]

Day 55

 

[JoshuaA]

Day 55

Hmm... I don't quite understand the problem we all seem to get. The bacteria rapidly develop over a few days and they can process the Ammonia and Nitrite fast and efficiently. We all see double zeroes at a point and then it just plateaus and we don't get anywhere or if anything slows down which we are both seeing. ( I believe if we were to overdose and then drop down to normal dosage we would see those 0.0s, after all if anything we are over quoting the amount of ammonia our first lot of fish will produce in 24 hours. )

Without changing the dosage we aren't giving any MORE food for them to further develop the colonies, it feels like the 0.0 is just by chance. If anything it seems right to add more ammonia each dose for some time and then drop it down to the daily 4/5ppm. I mean after all when we add the fish we aren't going to be adding a full tank load so the vast majority of that bacterial colony will probably die due to lack of a food source. At this point it seems counter productive not to do anything with the dosage.

 

[JoshuaA]

RAAAGE

Girlfriend got off the phone and said 0.25 Ammonia 0.5 Nitrite (12 hour test mark) However to make it worse the pH crashed to 6.4 so there is little bacteria sex going on. Its extremely weird this pH last night it was around 7 - 7.2 and all of a sudden it just drops.

 

[PDSimon]

I know what you mean, I'm only stocking an estimated 57% of my tank as well...

Its tempting to just drop it down to 4 even. Infact its probably going to be less than 50% because they're not even adults I should really raise it atleast over 50%... hmm.

What you're saying may well work... i'm going to be adding like 10 plants as well, which will take away some of the bioload.


Maybe WD could drop by with some input


edit: you can't rage, wait another 25 days and then you can rage

 

[JoshuaA]

I know what you mean, I'm only stocking an estimated 57% of my tank as well...

Its tempting to just drop it down to 4 even. Infact its probably going to be less than 50% because they're not even adults I should really raise it atleast over 50%... hmm.

What you're saying may well work... i'm going to be adding like 10 plants as well, which will take away some of the bioload.


Maybe WD could drop by with some input


edit: you can't rage, wait another 25 days and then you can rage

Its my party and I can rage when I want to!

Well we probably will be stocking 50/60% plus planting the tank when we know we don't need to keep removing loads of water. I'm starting to question the 12 hour interval, it seems like I could so easily defeat the whole waiting any other 25 days if I just add more ammonia to build the colony up and then drop the dosage... the less food will cause bacteria which haven't received the "food" to die. The colony will then balance down to what is suitainable. I mean after all it only took 3/4 days for the Ammonia to get to the point it could reduce 4/5ppm Ammonia in 12 hours into Nitrite. It feels like If I just do the same with the Nitrite bacteria with adding a little bit more Ammonia into the mix then there will be more food to go around and boost the bacteria population. Then like I said it will go into a "Equilibrium" when we go back to normal dosage.

That sounds a logical path to take right? Of course avoiding doses of up to 8ppm.

I mean we keep getting readings or 0,0.25 or 0,0.5 very frustrating If we wait another hour or two all the Nitrite is disappeared.

How do you calculate how much Bicarbonate to add? What exactly is it? Bicarbonate of Soda 100% (avoiding anti caking agents?) Our pH seems to crash over a few days. We just did a 75% water change to restore the pH level.

 

[PDSimon]

It makes sense... Although I could just add 4ppm as my stocking isn't all that large so I don't know... It might be that it makes no difference and the bacteria will grow at the same rate regardless of more ammonia... Not meaning the added ammonia won't have any effect, but it may not increase the growth rate of the bacteria anymore than adding 5ppm. Kind of hard for me to explain...

erm WD advised 1 and a half table spoons of bicarbonate soda, my tank being approx 100L with a pH that had dropped to 6.6. A day after it was 7.8

another example of it is my tap water is 7.3 and I added about half a tbsp and it brought it to 7.8.

 

[JoshuaA]

It makes sense... Although I could just add 4ppm as my stocking isn't all that large so I don't know...

erm WD advised 1 and a half table spoons of bicarbonate soda, my tank being approx 100L with a pH that had dropped to 6.6. A day after it was 7.8

another example of it is my tap water is 7.3 and I added about half a tbsp and it brought it to 7.8.

Well we want some Tetras to go into the mix but we're told to wait a few months for hte tank to "mature" I mean I'm beginning to struggle to understand the difference between Mature and Non Mature. Seeing as what we're doing is artificially maturing the filter right? Anyway...

So hmmm there is just rough calculations... I guess for us it would be a quater? Our pH keeps crashing slowly but we're just using water changes to control that. We've got a few buckets of water sitting in the garage waiting to test for their pH soon.

The shop around the corner has Bolivian Rams now however he doesn't believe my fishless cycle will support the fish properly and is likely to fail to support the life. He apparently uses gold fish for all his tanks to start of the cycle and says it takes around a good month for his tanks to be ready.