Start Cycling Help

[Undawada]

Here is a basic guide to fishless cycling. I found the pinned topic too confusing (not to mention slow for dial up users) so I wrote this.
Fishless Cycling

 

[freshcichlid]

Unsawada - that is the best article ive read about fishless cycling.

you saw my results from yesterday, im going to test right now and get new ones, so can you tell me how far along i am from these new results?

 

[freshcichlid]

ok i checked the water and my ammonia has lowered, so i added .5 teaspoon to it.
my nitrates might have gone up a little, nitrites nothing, alkalinity went up a tiny bit, and Ph is the same.
whats that mean ! ?

 

[Walt]

For what its worth....
I started my fishless cycle on my 55 gallon tank last Thurs...
Put in enough household ammonia to bring me up to 5+ppm.
Its remained at 5ppm since then everynight ive tested....
On Monday, nitrites started going up...
Thats where i am now....

I figure ammonia should start dropping in the next day or so as nitrites start climbing..
Once i see that change over come, ill keep the ammonia at around 2ppm till the cycle finishes....ie nitrites goes back down to 0.

Ohh... on another note, i just added some filter media from a 10 gallon tank my son has, to the power filter in the 55....
should help speed along the process as well..

Then its fishy time

 

[freshcichlid]

ok i am going to let it sit for a while, so far i have added 2 teaspoons of ammonia over 2/3 days, so now my tank has turned extremely green, is this a good thing ?

 

[freshcichlid]

new results :
nitrate - 10
nitrite - maybe a little over 0, not .5
hardness - 80
Ph - 6.5
Ammonia - lower than last time, maybe 3.0 now

so what does this mean ?

 

[pseud]

ok i am going to let it sit for a while, so far i have added 2 teaspoons of ammonia over 2/3 days, so now my tank has turned extremely green, is this a good thing ?

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Uhhh, no. Your tank should not be extremely green. This is extremely bad. Don't put any fish in it!

What kind of ammonia are you using?

 

[freshcichlid]

well its not extremely green. just haizy green tint i guess. i used "great value Ammonia" from walmart !

 

[pseud]

Check to make sure it has nothing but water, ammonia, and maybe chelating agent in (Thanks to others for helping me with that).

If it does, empty all the water out, all of the ornaments. Clean the sides of the tank with lots of hot water. Boil all the ornaments, boil the gravel, and start again.

 

[rdd1952]

Fresh, I'm not a proponent of the daily adding of ammonia. If you raised it to 4 to 6 ppm in the beginnin, just wait for it to drop back to near zero. If you add more ammonia each day, that will only delay the process and not really accomplish anything. WHen the ammonia does drop back to near zero, add enough ammonia to aise it back to 1 to 2 ppm. Every time it that drops back near zero, add again. Keep checking nitrites during this time. They will go of the chart high. When the nitrites finally drop back to zero, you are finished. Do a big water change and add your fish (at least 75% of full stock).

 

[rdd1952]

Look at the ingredients on the bottle. If it lists surfactants or dyes, that's not good. Also, shake the bottle. Do you get foam? A few bubbles (air) that immediately go away is ok. If it foams, it is the wrong kind. You will have to completely dismantle the tank and clean it. Otherwise, the detergent in the ammonia (in the tank now) will kill any fish that you put in there.

 

[freshcichlid]

ok i looked at the ammonia and its the good kind !
the cycling has been going on for a week now and i just checked the ammonia a minute ago and it isnt looking like the ammonia has gone down at all. i only added two teaspoons to 40gallons.. is that too much?? when i checked my nitrites yesterday nothing was different either !
i am getting some plants from another member so would that help out the process a litte?
thanks guys i am lost here and want to speed this up !

 

[freshcichlid]

here is a pic of some algae maybe that keeps growing on my driftwood. i cant figure out if it is a good thing or not. i know the pic is blurry but so is my tank now!
it just looks like green moss, and i try to take it off and it comes off in patches and swirls around !
figure it out and ill give you a prize !

 

[rdd1952]

If it's been a week and the ammonia hasn't dropped, chances are you added too much. it will eventually drop but may still take a while. The fact that you don't have any nitrites though says that the ammonia isn't being processed. What kind of dechlorinator are you using? Also, have you added any other chemicals such as ammo loc or amquel? I think those can prevent the tank from cycling.

A couple other things that you need to do (if you aren't already doing it) is turn the heater up to the mid to upper 80s and also add extra aeration via an air pump and airstone. You may end up needing to do a partial water change to get the ammonia down to where it is measurable on your test kits so you know what you have in the tank.

 

[freshcichlid]

ok tommorrow i will put in my airstone, get some air going around, even though i can see a lot of air going around the tank because of the filter being on high. its a bio-0wheel 350 gph. i will do a 25% water change tommorrow too. the dechlorinator i have used is Tetra brand and i also put in some Tetra brand stuff that decreases the amount of water changes you have to do. but i just added that today so hasnt done anything yet. i am not sure what the heater is on but i will make sure it is up too !
but does anyone know what that algae is on my driftwood?