The Chilly Dippers Fishless Cycle Log

[eaglesaquarium]

You want to lower it when your nitrites are off the scale. Slowly raise it back up to 4ppm after it can process 2ppm of ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours.

Now i am getting double zeroes after 24 hours
consitantly so what is best to do now lower the dose to 3ppm? or keep it at 4ppm?.
i will now be looking at the 12 hour testing marks

If you are getting double zeros, why lower the dose?

Keep dosing at 4ppm, and then test every 12 hours.

 

[The chilly dipper]

You want to lower it when your nitrites are off the scale. Slowly raise it back up to 4ppm after it can process 2ppm of ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours.

Now i am getting double zeroes after 24 hours
consitantly so what is best to do now lower the dose to 3ppm? or keep it at 4ppm?.
i will now be looking at the 12 hour testing marks

If you are getting double zeros, why lower the dose?

Keep dosing at 4ppm, and then test every 12 hours.

wil do

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Congrats, you are into the qualifying week now!

 

[waterdrop]

Nice log. As of day 26 it looks to me like classic 3rd phase behavior. It needs more time to get the nitrite(NO2) coming down to zero within 12 hours. (unless I'm missing more log) Qualifying week doesn't start until the 4-5ppm is dropping to zero for both ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[XeroTolerance]

You want to lower it when your nitrites are off the scale. Slowly raise it back up to 4ppm after it can process 2ppm of ammonia and nitrite in 12 hours.

Now i am getting double zeroes after 24 hours
consitantly so what is best to do now lower the dose to 3ppm? or keep it at 4ppm?.
i will now be looking at the 12 hour testing marks

If you are getting double zeros, why lower the dose?

Keep dosing at 4ppm, and then test every 12 hours.

I'm currently cycling my tank and I'm kinda confused with all of this information. Did I say the right thing? Sorry I just don't really understand it all, but I think I do...

 

[waterdrop]

Hi XT, I believe the concept you are asking about is that of lowering the dose during the 2nd phase.

It is a pretty simple concept. You begin the fishless cycle at a pretty high dose, 4-5ppm, which seems to get a bit quicker response from the A-Bacs at first. It's one of those observations that doesn't seem to make sense with what we know but the observation still has seemed to hold.

Then, when nitrite(NO2) spikes (meaning you are entering the 2nd phase, by definition) then you can back off the ammonia dosing some and go down to a maintenance dose of 2 or 3ppm, instead of the 4-5ppm.

[Note that the jury is basically still out on whether this actually helps much or not. You'll note that it is not in RDD's original fishless cycling article. The idea is that it slows the excess accumulation of nitrite and nitrate (which are already building to a high degree) and delays the point at which one might have to perform a complete water change because of excessive NO3 and pH drop. Any time you lower the number of water change disturbances you possibly help make the overall fishless cycle faster.]

Finally, once you hit Phase 3 (the definition of which is when the nitrite spike finally drops and usually nitrite begins dropping to zero within 24 hours after dosing) you ease the dose gradually back up to 4-5ppm again, hopefully hitting a nice solid 5ppm (by the calculator and your judgement of the test result) before the end of the cycle.

~~waterdrop~~
ps. if nothing else it keeps you entertained since the truly difficult aspect is usually just being patient, lol

 

[XeroTolerance]

Thanks for you always detailed reply's to my questions. This is not a HIJACK! . I started dosing at 4ppm of ammonia. I just want to lower it to 3ppm instead of 2. Would that be okay, since it possibly helps? Don't ask why I dont want to dose 2ppm its a long story and my fingers are tired.

Thank you for your help.

 

[waterdrop]

3ppm is fine for the Phase 2 dosing. It would be pretty unlikely you'd go wrong with 2ppm, 3ppm, 4ppm or 5ppm, the evidence of overall differences is pretty slim. Much more important for success is simple attention and caring, such that changes to pH and temp are noticed and steady and accurate logging is done. WD

 

[XeroTolerance]

Yeah I do every test each morning at 8:00am on the dot. At least starting in Phase two .

Thank you for your great help.

 

[waterdrop]

You're welcome! Won't chilly be surprised in the AM, lol.

 

[XeroTolerance]

He sure will!

 

[The chilly dipper]

Hi guys im back after a busy period and now i have my rio set up and heres my log of it.

Juwel rio 130
Biogrid HOB filter 160L/hour

i dont have an heater yet but i will be getting one soon

Please excuse the mess in my junk room (i really should tidy that up )

so last night i dosed the tank up to 8ppm (maybe a bit too high i will dose down next time)

Day 1 10:30pm PH low:7.6 > PH high 8.4 >Ammonia 8ppm
Day 2 11:00am PH low 7.6 > PH high 8.2 >Ammonia 7ppm (tank has settled nice but bacterial bloom not far behind)
Day 3 07:30pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 8.2 >Ammonia 7ppm >nitrite 0ppm >nitrate 0ppm
Day 4 07:30pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 8.1 >Ammonia 4ppm >nitrite 0.25ppm >nitrate 0ppm
Day 5 11:30pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 8.1 >Ammonia 4ppm >nitrite 1ppm >nitrate 0ppm
Day 6 11:30pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 8.1 >Ammonia 3ppm >nitrite 4ppm >nitrate 80ppm
Day 7 07:30pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 7.4 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite 5ppm >nitrate 80ppm
Day 8 10.00am PH low 7.6 >PH high 7.4 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale Redosed to 4ppm
Day 8 10.00pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 7.4 >Ammonia 2.ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale
Day 9 09:00pm PH low 7.6 >PH high 7.4 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 5ppm >nitrate 40ppm 25% water change to get ate and ites readable Redosed to 4ppm
Day 10 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.6 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 5ppm >nitrate 120ppmredosed to 4ppm again (no nitrate movement yet)
Day 11 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.6 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale 30% water change
Day 12 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.6 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 5ppm >nitrate 160ppmredosed to 4ppm
Day 13 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale
Day 14 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale
Day 15 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high n/a >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scaleredosed to 4ppm
Day 16 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale
Day 17 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate off scale50% water change redosed to 4 ppm
Day 18 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite 1ppm >nitrate 100ppm

Day 19 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0.0ppm >nitrite 0.25ppm >nitrate 100ppm redosed to 4ppm

Day 20 07:00am PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate 100ppm
Day 20 09:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.2 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite 5ppm >nitrate 120ppm
Day 21 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.2 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite off scale >nitrate 110ppm

Day 22 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.2 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 0 >nitrate 140ppmredosed to 4 ppm

Day 23 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 2ppm >nitrate ?ppm

Day 24 07:00am PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 0ppm >nitrate ?ppmredosed 4ppm

Day 25 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite 2ppm >nitrate ?ppm

Day 26 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 0ppm >nitrate ?ppmredosed to 4ppm

Day 27 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite ?ppm >nitrate ?ppmredosed to 4ppm

Day 28 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia ?ppm >nitrite ?ppm >nitrate ?ppm

Day 29 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 0ppm >nitrate ?ppmredosed to 4ppm

Day 30 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0.25ppm >nitrite 5ppm >nitrate 120ppm

Day 31 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 0.0 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 0ppm >nitrate ?ppmredosed to 4ppm

Day 32 07:00pm PH low 0.0 >PH high 8.2 >Ammonia 0ppm >nitrite 0ppm >nitrate 130ppmredosed to 4ppm







it is taking 24 hours to clear ammonia and nitrates as of day 32
















Movement 24 hours after seeding!!!!!

if you guys have anything i can add to this then please say, i hope this is laid out well enough for you to gleam from.

i used Kleen off ammonia instead of the stuff from boots ,if you live in the uk this will be fine its made by jayes.

 

[The chilly dipper]

He sure will!

hey guys thanks for your input what do you guys think of my updated log.

2 str8 days of zeros

so its clearing after 24 hrs

but the ammonia clears after 12 hours but i didnt put that in the log.

 

[XeroTolerance]

I think it is coming together really nicely. I'm not sure if you already said this but for your tank it would look cooler if you had some plants in it.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Plants are best added after the cycle is finished, since light + ammonia = algae.

But, you are very correct about that.