Where am I in cycle?

[Beckett]

Hello,

I started cycling my new 38 gal freshwater tank one week ago, and I am unsure of where I am in the cycling process. I am using the fishless raw shrimp method. Unfortunately I had not read fully this site’s recommendations before deciding to go that route... but hopefully I can still be successful with it. Anyway it has only been 7 days so there is no way the tank is cycled right?

I tested the water tonight after adding two live plants and noticed a safe level of ammonia and it appear maybe a hint of nitrate. I thought I should see nitrites first but have yet to see nitrites show up when I test.
Also this is what I put in the tank 7 days ago to start it:
1 piece raw shrimp
1 dose API quickstart
1 dose API stress coat
4 Aqueon pure bacteria balls
1 dose aquarium salt

So, any help with where I might be in the cycle would be great! This is my first time trying to properly cycle a tank. Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

It takes about 4-6 weeks to cycle an aquarium. This can be reduced a bit if you add a liquid filter bacterial supplement.

You need to test and monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels in the water. If the ammonia level goes above 5ppm, the cycling process will stall. You want the ammonia around 3ppm, When it is at 3pp, you remove any meat or fish food you put in the tank and leave the tank to run.

When the ammonia level goes up and comes back down to 0ppm, and the nitrite level goes up and comes back down to 0ppm, and the nitrate level starts to go up, then the tank is cycled.

Don't bother testing for nitrate until the tank has finished cycling because nitrate test kits will read nitrite as nitrate.

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If you have lots of plants growing in the tank, they might use all the ammonia and prevent the tank from cycling.

 

[Beckett]

Thanks! So I bet it is actually ammonia and nitrite then, hopefully on their climb upwards like it should be. I only have two very small plants I added on day 7 so hopefully that won’t be a big problem.

 

[Colin_T]

Two plants won't stop a tank cycling.

The ammonia level goes up first and after about 2 weeks, the beneficial bacteria start to build up in numbers and eat the ammonia, converting it into nitrite. When there are enough good bacteria, the ammonia level drops suddenly to 0ppm and the nitrite level goes up.

The nitrite level goes up for a couple of weeks before more beneficial bacteria build up and convert the nitrite into nitrate. When that happens the nitrites drop rapidly to 0ppm and the nitrates start to go up.

When the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and come back down to 0ppm, and the nitrates start going up, then the tank has cycled.

After the tank has cycled, you do a 90-100% water change with dechlorinated water, wait 24 hours and then add some fish.

 

[Beckett]

thanks so much! I will keep testing the water then and hopefully see that pattern.

 

[Beckett]

Hi again, so I am slightly over two weeks now with my tank cycling. I checked the water today and the ammonia seems to have suddenly dropped off which from the i fo above is good. The nitrites are up at a harmful level but I am finally getting a low reading for nitrates as well.

I am guessing I missed the actual ammonia spike since I have been testing the water every couple days. My question is, should I remove the raw shrimp in the tank? Or leave it? I wasn’t sure if it would cause a problem since the ammonia went way down rather than spiking over 5ppm.

 

[Metalhead88]

What exactly are ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels?

 

[Essjay]

Take the prawn out. If it continues releasing ammonia that will be turned into so much nitrite that the cycle will stall. You need to allow the nitrite eaters to grow and remove nitrite before any more ammonia goes into the tank.

 

[Beckett]

Morning,

I removed the raw shrimp a few minutes ago and retested the water so I can provide more precise parameters.

Ammonia: 0 - 0.3 PPM
Nitrite: 10 PPM
Nitrate: 20 - 30 PPM

How low should the nitrite be to consider the tank cycled? From what Colin said above it seems like now I just keep testing the water every day or so and wait for it to get down to 0PPM for nitrites?

Thanks!

 

[Essjay]

Nitrite and ammonia must both be zero for a tank to be cycled. The good news is that 10 ppm nitrite is below the stall point of 15 or 16 ppm.

 

[Beckett]

Perfect, looks like the cycle should keep on 'cycling' then and it is going as planned. Thanks so much! Guessing it might be another 2 weeks before everything levels out as it should? I am on week 3 right now.

 

[Essjay]

It usually takes longer to grow the nitrite eaters than it does for the ammonia eaters. This is because the nitrite eaters multiply more slowly.