Seth's Fishless Cycle Journal

[s72450]

I decided to just do a journal on my cycle progress.

I'm currently working on a 55 gallon tank that is being pieced together. It will be a heavily planted low-lighted tank. I currently do not have any lights in the tank.

Friday March 20th - Brought home filter media from a tank at work to get a jump start on the cycle.

Monday March 23rd Readings

Ammonia - 1.0
Nitrite - 5.0
Nitrate - 10.0

Tuesday March 24th Readings

Ammonia - 2.0
Nitrite - 5.0
Nitrate - 5.0

Wednesday March 25th Readings

Ammonia - 1.0
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 5.0

Thursday March 26th Readings

Ammonia -0.25
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate 5.0

I added 1 teaspoon of pure ammonia today.

[Cameron]

Looks to be going well, you should have a pretty quick cycle. thumbs2:

[Sharon]

Keep the Ammonia level at 3ppm...the cycle should be very fast due to the cycled media.:ssmile:

[s72450]

I've been adding low amounts of ammonia, mostly because I tend to use too much when I add and right now I'm not feeling that great and doing a water change would be difficult. The most I've been adding was a teaspoon, I'm afraid to add more than that. I guess that could be why it's been slowly moving.

Also, should the temp be up any higher than 85 degrees? With this heater I have, I could crank it up to nearly 90 degrees I've noticed. I didn't want to burn up the bacteria though so I decided against raising it until I had more information.

[Sharon]

85 degrees sounds good...I'd leave it at that. Feel better soon!:ssmile:

[s72450]

This afternoon results

Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 5.0

I decided to risk it, and added one tablespoon of ammonia since it appears the daily addition of one teaspoon isn't adding alot to the tank. I think it's quickly being eaten up by the actual growing bacteria, but I want to increase that number so more ammonia went in. I just hope I didn't overdo it. I'm still not feeling one hundred percent and don't have the energy to do a large water change.

[s72450]

After adding the ammonia I checked tonight and got a reading of 4.0 which is defniatly higher than earlier, just hope I didn't overdo it. Certainly the bacteria should eat it up within a few days. I might not need to dose with ammonia over the rest of the weekend, but I'll continue to check.

[Glub]

2 bits of advice...

- Make sure you wait a few minutes for the water to properly mix with all the ammonia. Otherwise you may be taking the reading from a spot in the tank with a high or low concentration if it hasn't properly mixed yet.

- My second bit of advice would be to go down to your local pharmacy and ask them if there's any way you could get a small oral medicine syringe. They're great because you can administer the liquids by the drop, and they have mL measurements on them. Much easier than screwing around with spoons.

[Sharon]

4ppm is fine...:ssmile:

[Lady Hobbs]

Sharon is spot on. You can not just add used filter media and have an instant cycle without that bacteria being fed. It needs either liquid ammonia or ammonia produced from the fish or it will die within hours.

The purpose to add more ammonia is to give you a larger bacteria load so you can add more fish at once without going into a mini spike. If you are adding just a wee bit of ammonia, then your tank only can support a wee bit of bacteria = a couple fish. The purpose of fishless cycling is so you can add more fish at one time safety with no spikes.

Since you are showing nitrites, 3-4 ppm is perfect.

[s72450]

So I shouldn't worry that the filter media bacteria died off then since I am showing nitrates?

[Sharon]

That's basically it...You've just added Ammonia which should convert to Nitrites which should convert to Nitrates. The Ammonia should go back to 0ppm and the Nitrates will rise in a cycled tank....

[s72450]

Good deal. I'll check here in a few hours and report back.

I also got some more stuff for my tank today. I'm building a rock wall so I got some landscaping rocks at Lowes that I'm currently letting soak in hot water. I have to get some planting soil next. I'm wondering if I can use regular planting soil or do I have to get specifically aquatic planting soil.

[s72450]

I checked ammonia levels and they were reading 1.0 ppm so I went ahead and added another tablespoon of ammonia, the bacteria ate that up pretty fast so I'll check all levels later tonight.

[Sharon]

Sounds good...

[s72450]

Checked just now.

Ammonia - 4.0
Nitrite - .25 (They really fell)
Nitrate - 10

Sound right? The huge drop in nitrite levels was interesting I thought.

[s72450]

I'm beyond confused with the results.

Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

I went ahead and added another teaspoon of ammonia, but the fact that it's getting eaten up so fast and the nitrites have dissapeared mean my cycle is finished? I mean I still don't have a big build up of nitrate.

I do have one question though, I tend to forget to empty my test tubes when I'm finished testing and I'll come back an hour later to find the Nitrate color has changed to a deep red. The other test tubes remain the same color. Does this mean I should be waiting longer on my nitrate results?

[Sharon]

Try the nitrate test again. Make sure the vial is absolutely clean when you start. Shake the bottles well, paying particular attention to bottle no 2. Shake vials according to instructions...Wait the suggested 5min.

I'm not sure why it's changing if you let it sit for longer...mine stays the same. How old is the test kit?

[s72450]

I bought the test kit back around Christmas I'd say. Not sure how long it had been at the store before that though.

[s72450]

Tested this afternoon with the following results.

Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

So let's say my cycle is nearly finished, shouldn't I have more Nitrates? Where did the Nirites go?

[Sharon]

Ummm....I hate it when things don't go as expected.:scry: OK...You're still bringing the Ammonia up to 3ppm daily? If so, it is being converted. Are you absolutely sure you're doing the Nitrate test correctly? BTW, what is the PH of the tank water?

[s72450]

Yep, still bringing the ammonia up to 3ppm daily. I'm pretty sure I'm doing the test right, I was doing it wrong earlier, then I noticed the instructions on the back of the color card.

As for the PH of the tank water, I havn't checked but I will do so.