Here we go!

[Masafi]

Its been 8 years since I had an aquarium and back then the one I had was an attempt at the kat litter tank! It did work to a certain extent.

I'm living in Dubai now and hopefully will get to interact with some of the members who have been involved in the hobby for some time.

Having just retunred from the shop I'm having delivered tomorrow my new tank. It's going to be a planted tank with the view to having discus later on.

I've been reading about the setup of this but I have some questions.

During setup, I assume its ok to plant the tank during the cycle stage??
Will a pair of goldfish be enough for the nitrogen cycle? Or should I get 2 x pairs?

Should I connect up my Co2 system during the cycle stage or do I do this after the tank has cycled?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[Abbeys_Mom]

Welcome to the forum :)

[Rue]

Good luck with the tank...

...and yes, you can plant it immediately as long as there's no chlorine or chloramine in the water...

I'd really try fishless cycling...no point in torturing poor goldies...

[gm72]

Just a second opinion, and you will hear this echoed repeatedly--go fishless for your cycle! I just finished my first, and I can tell you that it is not difficult at all and the rewards are fantastic. Please consider fishless cycling. I'll never go back to doing a cycle with fish.

[Drumachine09]

Welcome to the A.C.!


What is a kat litter tank?

[cocoa_pleco]

plants help with the cycle. They take in the ammonia and give out nitrate, making the cycle go faster.

Welcome to ac

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c.

[Masafi]

Thank you everyone for your replies,

Tank finally delivered last night, just thought it would be good to list the equipment.

90 Gallon sun sun tank
Blue extreme 1500 external filter
Ferplast CO2 energy kit

Kat litter 4cm with natrual river (black grit)

I set it up last night, planted the plants which included swords and a gerneral variety as its difficult to get many here!

The cycle now starts..

I added 1 cup of gravel from my goldfish bowl plus the foam from that filter..

I took reading this morning

PH normal and no traces of Nitrate or Ammonia

Any Idea when I will know when the cycle starts and when it finishes?

Ohh, no fish yet!

Thanks alot!

[gm72]

You have to add ammonia to do the fishless cycle. Read the sticky post on that subject and you'll be ready to go!

[Masafi]

Just to add,
#
I havent added any source of ammonia, so I assume if I dont do this then the cycle might take a long time to start?

If I do add Ammonia, (if I can find it) Will it kill my plants?

Thanks alot!

[gm72]

Won't kill your plants. Without the ammonia the bacteria in the gravel and filter you added will simply die of starvation. Again, the sticky at the top of the board is a wonderful resource. I followed it and, with just a few minor questions, I was up and running in 2 weeks.

[Drumachine09]

Your cycle will take forever if you dont add ammonia...literally. In order for your tank to cycle, you need some source of ammonia. Without it. You have a glass box with water in it.....so get some ammonia, read the sticky, and get to work! Its faster than fishless cycleing, plus you dont have to do daily water changes during the cycle. Dont to any water changes during the cycle.

[Masafi]

Been shopping and as mentioned earlier "Here I go" :)

"You want to get your tank to read 5 PPM "
I have added 5ml about 40 drops of pure clear ammonia( for my tank)

"Add the ammonia and then wait for the water to mix for half an hour or so then check it,add that many drops every day until you get your nitrite spike"
Will a nitrite spike occur immediatly? or does this occur in a few days? The question being do I just add Ammonia "drop by drop" until it spikes?

Thanks alot!

[gm72]

There are 2 kinds of bacteria that will grow in your aquarium--one converts the ammonia to nitrITe and another converts the nitrITe to nitrATe. You will not see an immediate nitrITe spike. Add 40 drops of the ammonia once daily, check your water about 30 minutes after adding the ammonia. Over several days of doing this you will catch your nitrITe spike. At that point, cut your dosage of ammonia to 20 drops once daily. Continue with that until your nitrATe reads 30-40 ppm, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrITe. At that point you will do a large (at least 75%) water change, taking care not to disturb the gravel too much. DONE!

[Masafi]

Thanks again for your replies to this, I really appreciate it.

My ammonia test kit is MG/L and I found on line that 1 MG/L = 1 PPM,

Would you agree?

Added 5ml of Ammonia, waitied 30 mins, results = 1MG/L so I have added another 5ml and will check again in 30 mins. with the Idea of getting to 5MG/L

On my test kit it states that 5MG/L = DANGER which would make sense if this was to occur with fish but for the cycle I'm assuming this is the goal i.e to reach 5MG/L.

The NitrIte test kit I have measures in MG/L as well, so would a NitrIte spike be around 5MG/L?


Again, thanks alot,!

[gm72]

Not sure about the conversion, maybe a google search will help you with that. The DANGER is indeed for fish, not applicable to a fishless cycle.
Not sure about the amount of nitrITes you will see, great question that I am sorry I can't answer. I think that once you start seeing the nitrITes it is time to back off your dosage of ammonia. Someone will hopefully be by to answer this with greater specificity. When I did my fishless cycles I actually missed my NitrITe spike.

[Masafi]

Finally managed to get to 5MG/L I had to add 60ml of ammonia....

So, I will keep adding this everyday until I see a NitrIte spike and then follow the sticky....

Might be a few more posts before I complete this!

Thanks alot

[Masafi]

Just to add, things must be starting as I took a NitrIte reading and got .25MG/L.......

So tomorrow in goes another 60ml of Amonnia

[Masafi]

Just another question as i looked through the posts and couldnt find an answer,

If my ammonia reading is 5ppm (as it is now), do i still need to add more ammonia?

The way I read the sticky is that you must get your tank to 5ppm, and then each day add the same amount again. In my case it took 60ml to get it to this reading BUT if on the second day my tank reads 5ppm without a second dose of ammonia MUST you still add more ammonia regardless?


Thanks alot..... quite a learning curve!

[Masafi]

It would appear I have NitrItes present but I dont know if this would be classified as a spike?

Side on the tube reads 5MG/L but if you look down the tube the colour is greater (obviously) and you get 10MG/L

So. this is Day 3 could it be possible?

If so I should back off the Ammonia by half.

Thanks alot!