The Fishless Cycle

[Liliano]

Hi

I started to do the fishless cycle last night, before this my aquarium had been set up for just under a week and I had put the nutrafin aqua, cycle and plant gro products in. This was all carried out before I even knew the fishless cycle existed.

So I finally found some ammonia and last night went round to AndyM's house and he kindly gave me some filter squeezings - cheers mate!!

I started the process last night and I followed the latest article which advises to get ammonia levels up to 5ppm and take note of how many drops.

So, about 20 drops later, I am still reading ammonia levels of 2ppm, and I am thinking, what the heck! I switch tests from the API single bottle to the API twin bottle tests and I get a reading of between 4-8. Oh Dear!!!

I give it an hour to cycle through and carry out some more tests. Ammonia is still 4-8, but Nitrites are 0.25ppm. I carry out a nitrate test and it is slightly above 0ppm but not enough to reach the next grade.

This morning I decided to carry out some more tests and then seek your help. Ammonia had dropped to 2ppm (Phew), Nitrites were still 0.25ppm, and nitrates were (0.20ppm or 20ppm - sorry didn't make note of it as I was on the way out of the door, it was the API nitrate twin bottle test and it was not quite the bright orange about half way down)

So what I need to know is, what levels of nitrite do I need to read before I halve the amount of ammonia? And if I convert to the 5 drop method now am I going to ruin my cycle?

Many Thanks

Lil

 

[Cossack1977]

it took me 10 dyas to do a fishless cycle in my 75 gallon tnak.

put enough ammonium in the tank to get a reading of 5ppm keep doing this until your nitite peeks at 5ppm. (4-7 ppm is quite normal: dont stress)

now you can drop it to half the dose (as most people recomend) or as i did put in 3/4 off what you normally did ( has the beneifet of being able to cope with a bigger fish load straght away) until the nirite and the ammonia drops. mine did this over night on the 10th day. i kept doing it for another few days did a 50% water change to get rid of all the nitrate then added my fish

hope this help

 

[Liliano]

Yes it does - I'll re-add drops tonight and look for a reading of 5ppm with the good tests that I use and add that daily until I get my nitrite spike.

I feel alot better now - thanks

 

[Cossack1977]

your welcome

good luck

it might seem to take forever it did for me and ive heard fishless cycles taking anywhere from 7 days to 40 to hang in there

 

[Liliano]

I'll just have to be patient

One last question, after I have added the ammonia to the water, how long would you suggest I leave it until I carry out the tests? I was leaving it 10-15 minutes, but I am not sure if the tests should be done straight away or if a longer period before testing is required

Tks

Lil

 

[Cossack1977]

1hr is good.

but really the best way is to test just before adding ammonium so about 24hrs after the last bit of ammonium you've added. that way you can see if it has decreased in any way (amonia / nirite that is)


i was testing for ammonia and forgot to test for nitite as well. when i did i found my nitirite had peaked as well

 

[Liliano]

Thats a very sensible suggestion why didn't I think of that!!

thanks

 

[nero]

Hi Liliano,
Ive just finished my fishless cycle... (whew!) so I thought i'd chip in.
In my opinion, I would trust the test reading the highest. I made the mistake of trusting a test that was reading to low, and ended up with ammonia around 50 or 60ppm. (so THATS why the plants were liquifying) Also, I would wait around 15 minutes, but pref. 30 before testing the ammonia again. Imagine you added a few drops of dye to the tank... how long would it take before the colour was uniform?
Anyways, I didnt really understand when people said be patient, but it is the looking at an empty tank that drives you insane. So stick with it, and remember that (im sure youve read this already) the nitrIte spike is the longest, but drops very quickly once it starts to go down.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

 

[Liliano]

I'm keeping a diary which I can post when I have finished so other people know what to expect - watch this space