Is it cycled?

[geowashlaw]

Okay, I want to know if this 10g tank is cycled. It has been a long and weird process, so I'll try to give it to you from the beginning.

Some dates are estimates from the beginning:

1/2: cleaned out tank from old fish that moved to 46g, set up new gravel. Continued running filter that was running with fish and put in about 1 quart of old gravel in a panty hose. Dosed ammonia to 4 ppm.

1/7: nitrites appeared at about .5ppm, continued dosing ammonia, about 2.5 ml.

1/11: changed filter and removed old gravel in panty hose. I thought there would be enough bacteria in the new gravel to keep cycle going.

1/12 - 1/17: continued dosing ammonia at 2.5 ml. Reading .5 ppm nitrites

1/18: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm -- apparently cycle died!

From then on, I got the following readings and took the following actions:

1/19: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, rinsed filter from 46g in tank

1/20: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/21: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/22: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/23: ammonia 1 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, added 4 ml ammonia

1/24: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/25: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/26: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/27: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates 0 ppm, pH 6.0

1/28: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/29: ammonia 2 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, added 2.5 ml ammonia, put filter media from 46 g tank behind filter media in 10g tank

1/30: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

1/31: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm

2/1: ammonia 2 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, removed filter media, changed 95% of water (i.e., all except what I couldn't get out of the gravel), added 4 ml ammonia

2/2: ammonia 4 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm

2/3: ammonia 2 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, added 4 ml ammonia

2/4: ammonia .5 ppm, nitrite .25 ppm, added 3.5 ml ammonia

2/5: ammonia .25 ppm, nitrite .25 ppm, added 3.5 ml ammonia

2/6: ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, nitrate 5 ppm, added 4.0 ml ammonia

2/7: ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm

So, what do you think? It has been a bizarre process and I just don't know. This is only the second tank I have cycled.

[Lady Hobbs]

Yes. As long as you've added ammonia all along, and now have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, you are good to go!

[geowashlaw]

It's just so weird because the nitrite and nitrate readings never went that high. I'm going to try adding ammonia again tonight and see what it reads in the a.m. just to see...I'm skeptical.

[Wild Turkey]

According to your logs (very well done and shows skills and virtues that are going to kick butt for you in the hobby) you are cycled. Congrats!thumbs2:

BUT since you had nitrite just yesterday, i would give it one or two days of maintaining 2ppm just to be safe.

[geowashlaw]

Okay. Will do. Thanks!

[geowashlaw]

HA! HA! HA! The fun continues ... so I put some ammonia in the tank last night just to make sure and I changed about 75% of the water to put in fresh water for the fish that I was going to put in it today ... this morning ammonia 0, Nitirites 5 ppm .... there's the high number of nitrites that I kept looking for ... guess it's not cycled!

[Wild Turkey]

HA! HA! HA! The fun continues ... so I put some ammonia in the tank last night just to make sure and I changed about 75% of the water to put in fresh water for the fish that I was going to put in it today ... this morning ammonia 0, Nitirites 5 ppm .... there's the high number of nitrites that I kept looking for ... guess it's not cycled!

Hey look at that, i guessed one right :hmm3grin2orange:

This shouldnt take very long, just maintain 2ppm ammonia and watch those trites.

[geowashlaw]

I just knew something wasn't right ... having gone through the whole thing and trites never going over .5 ppm ... that just didn't seem possible ...

[Wild Turkey]

I just knew something wasn't right ... having gone through the whole thing and trites never going over .5 ppm ... that just didn't seem possible ...

Im inclinded to agree, but with just one test to show us per day, we could have missed it or something, it does happen.

[tanks4thememories]

You appear to be doing a "Fish less" cycle.
You possibly slowed down the process by changing such large amounts of water and doing so frequently.
If there are no fish in your tank there is really no need to change the water
unless your ammonia goes above your target ppm (</= 5ppm).
If you MUST change it then 10 to 20 % is more than plenty.
Once again test the ammonia just to make sure it is at proper levels.
The goal is just to make sure there isn't too much ammonia so that it is toxic to the beneficial bacteria (anything above 5ppm has negative effects on the cycle) yet making sure there is enough to keep them well fed.
Then once again when you are absolutely positive the cycle is completed then change 50 to 75% of water to get a good head start on managing nitrates.

PS test your tap water both before and after using your preferred conditioner (you might be surprised how many people find ammonia and nitrites in their tap water)

Hope this helps...:)

[geowashlaw]

You appear to be doing a "Fish less" cycle.
You possibly slowed down the process by changing such large amounts of water and doing so frequently.
If there are no fish in your tank there is really no need to change the water
unless your ammonia goes above your target ppm (</= 5ppm).
If you MUST change it then 10 to 20 % is more than plenty.
Once again test the ammonia just to make sure it is at proper levels.
The goal is just to make sure there isn't too much ammonia so that it is toxic to the beneficial bacteria (anything above 5ppm has negative effects on the cycle) yet making sure there is enough to keep them well fed.
Then once again when you are absolutely positive the cycle is completed then change 50 to 75% of water to get a good head start on managing nitrates.

PS test your tap water both before and after using your preferred conditioner (you might be surprised how many people find ammonia and nitrites in their tap water)

Hope this helps...:)

Thanks. The first time I changed the water was because the pH had plummeted to 6.0 and the cycle wasn't starting. So I changed all the water. The second time, I thought the cycle was complete.

[Wild Turkey]

I think we discovered today that your tap water may contain ammonia, in which case this could be slowing down the cycle as well, since you are changing water. I would just make sure ur at 2ppm after each water change rather than before, until you are finished. As always, if your seeing zero A and Ni after about 12 hours, consistantly, you are cycled.

[tanks4thememories]

Thanks. The first time I changed the water was because the pH had plummeted to 6.0 and the cycle wasn't starting. So I changed all the water. The second time, I thought the cycle was complete.

Hehehe...no harm done just takes longer. Especially since you didnt have fish in there. During a typical fishless cycle there is no need to worry about PH unless there are plants involved.