Update.. Cycle Almost Done I Think

[andy_sheff]

Well, with a lot of help from waterdrop and a couple of others my cycle is well on its way, its now processing amonia from 5ppm to 0 within 12 hours, and is processing nitrites within 24 hours,

Can i settle for this and prepare it for some fish to go in at the weekend? or do i have to wait til it processes both within 12 hours? Im not about to full it to its stock limit straight away so thought it may not matter?

 

[mayurkirti]

I think you should wait a little more. Nitrites are supposed to drop more quickly. I think until you see them both drop to zero within 12 hours (which may or may not happen by this weekend).

It will be great to have someone else confirm it too.

 

[Curiosity101]

I think you probably could plan to put fish in at the weekend, though obviously not many and you may be unnecessarily risking health problems...

But after you put all the effort in to fishless cycle for 2 weeks I personally would finish it properly and with the qualifying week before adding fish.
Just my opinion but it seems a bit silly to spend all that time doing it properly just to risk ending up with a fish-in cycling situation.

 

[waterdrop]

The problem with jumping the gun when nitrites are not dropping yet is that once the fish go in there may be periods of nitrite spikes in the 1 to 2ppm range and because the hemoglobin and nerve damage may not show many symptoms, you may not realize how much you've shortened the fish's life.

The "qualifying week" doesn't start until nitrites(NO2) are dropping within 12 hours of when ammonia was added at the 5ppm level. Stocking level -can- be somewhat of a factor but really what we're hoping to acheive is a higher quality level in the biofilm development so that you don't get those surprise blips in nitrites in those first weeks with the fish.

~~waterdrop~~