Changing water during cycle?

[zackish]

Is it damaging to the cycle process to change the water during it to keep the ammonia down? For some reason my ammonia just won't stay down unless I change about 50% of the water so I might go back to changing it every day. I haven't changed it in about 3.

[genitor]

Changing water will generally slow down the cycling process. I'm assuming you are using fish to cycle. Doing pwc's will slow down the cycling process but will protect your fish. What's your tank size and stocking?

[zackish]

Changing water will generally slow down the cycling process. I'm assuming you are using fish to cycle. Doing pwc's will slow down the cycling process but will protect your fish. What's your tank size and stocking?


No I am doing a fishless cycle and I have a 30 gal tank which I am using 1 cocktail shrimp for. My ammonia is at 8.0 ppm and my nitrite is at around 5.0. How am I doing?

[gm72]

Cut down your ammonia, try to keep it around 5.0. How are you addressing the ammonia? That is, how are you adding it?

[zackish]

Cut down your ammonia, try to keep it around 5.0. How are you addressing the ammonia? That is, how are you adding it?


1 shrimp, I started with 4 and that was too much so I cut it down to 1 and did a 50% water change and for 1 day it was at about 5.0 then for the past 2 it's up around 8.0 or more. However, I do have a nitrite reading of almost 5.0...

[gm72]

Your ammonia is higher than most of us would like, but you are in your nitrIte spike. Cut the shrimp in half and continue for a while. You are half way there!

[zackish]

Your ammonia is higher than most of us would like, but you are in your nitrIte spike. Cut the shrimp in half and continue for a while. You are half way there!

cut 1 shrimp in half!? One kid told me he used 1 for a 10 gal tank, now I gotta take one shrimp out and cut that in half!? I am down to 1 shrimp I started w 4. If I just leave it there will it kill the bacteria or because it is already formed and doing its thing it should be fine?

[Rue]

...why can't you cut a shrimp in half if you need too???...lol...

[genitor]

If the ammonia is too high this will actually inhibit bacteria growth. 5 ppm has been used and proven to work.

[Chrona]

When you first start fishless cycling with ammonia, you are adding 5 ppm every day, not just maintaining that level (which would be impossible after nitrite started spiking). You don't get an nitrite spike for several days, during which time your ammonia level builds up to 10, 15, 20, etc, ppm. Nuff said. One shrimp in a 30g tank is not much at all. Just leave it alone. That's the whole point of cycling with shrimp, lol.

[zackish]

ooo, i understand, see I thought the way the ammonia works with the pure ammonia and the drops is you are basically feeding the tank x amount of ammonia everyday and it eats it up and you just keep feeding it more.

[genitor]

When you first start fishless cycling with ammonia, you are adding 5 ppm every day, not just maintaining that level (which would be impossible after nitrite started spiking). You don't get an nitrite spike for several days, during which time your ammonia level builds up to 10, 15, 20, etc, ppm. Nuff said. One shrimp in a 30g tank is not much at all. Just leave it alone. That's the whole point of cycling with shrimp, lol.


Chrona is right. Ignore my post.

[NeonJulie]

I don't know, I never let my ammonia get that high. The instruction page I took said you need two simple things: an ammonia alert to hang in the tank, and the pure ammonia. When it goes hazy purple, it's around 5ppm and you're good. And you wait. You wait until it's gone, then you repeat the process. I did overdose at some point and did a water change because it was beyond 8ppm.

I haven't had to read about it in six months, so I can't remember the exact number. But I think the actual amount to begin retarding the cycle is beyond 10 ppm - but I don't show any papers or articles that say that you want 20 ppm of ammonia in your tank. That's serious bacteria endangerment, in my opinion. It's also way beyond what a decent stocked tank would ever put out.

You'll also end up with a huge nitrIte cycle if you do that. Mine never got beyond 6-8 ppm and I was above 25ppm NitrItes. It usually takes the NitrIte bacteria a lot longer to catch up, which will just prolong your cycle and take even longer to get rid of all the extra toxic NitrItes that you didn't need in the first place. (Or in my case... I had to do a water change to get some of it all down!)

Obviously the shrimp's rotting really fast and doing it's job. As long as you show ammonia in there, I'd say between 3-5ppm you're fine. In fact with drops, you'll get to the point where the tank is at 0 before your next feeding. Mine went through 5ppm in about 10 hours. So cut the shrimp in half - keep it in a baggie or something nearby. When your ammonia bacteria do it's job and you see the numbers drop significantly, add another piece.

[gm72]

I think Chrona mis-communicated. The available ammonia won't actually continue to double, at least it never did in my cases, but I did heavily seed the tank first. I did however, add daily, the amount of ammonia it took me to get to 5ppm the first day. When I had my nitrIte spike I cut the ammonia dosages in half. There's a sticky post on the subject.

[zackish]

So basically what most of you are saying is if I just leave the 1 shrimp in there it will drop. And if it gets too low put another one in.

My nitrites are at about 2.0 to 5.0 ppm right now.

[gm72]

You are already seeing your nitrIte spike starting. Stick with what you have, it is working.

[zackish]

You are already seeing your nitrIte spike starting. Stick with what you have, it is working.



Ya and because it has already started it's obviously not going to kill the bacteria correct?
Also, should I continue to test my water everyday or just let it go for a week or so?