Do-over Fishless Cycle Confusion

[jgoldbergru]

I’m trying to figure out where I am in my fishless cycle process now and I’m kind of confused by the test results I’m getting.

About a week ago, after two fantail losses in a row, I completely cleaned out my aquarium, replaced the filters, water and treated the water with Prime, and added Aqueon Live Beneficial Bacteria and enzymes to help get things going. (I didn’t realize you can add straight ammonia to kickstart the cycle). I’m convinced the tank wasn’t properly cycled the first time so Im doing a fish-less cycle this time around.

I left the tank along for about a week waiting for my master test kit to come in the mail, which it did yesterday. I tested the water yesterday and I was surprised that there were zero nitrites but both ammonia and nitrates.

I have a 10 gallon fresh water tank
No heater but typically the temp is right at 70 degrees
Fluval 20 power filter with activated carbon, biomax filter and foam pad
Pea sized gravel with a few fake plants and an eco-bio stone block

Yesterday these were the water conditions:

PH- 8.0
Ammonia - .25 -.50
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5.0

I thought it was odd that I had nitrates and ammonia but no nitrites. I redid the nitrite test thinking I made an error and it was as blue as ever the entire time, it never turned any shade of purple. I added a dose of Prime and left it overnight. I retested ammonia, nitrites and nitrates today.

I ordered the API PH lock to bring the PH down to 7.5 I haven’t added it to the take yet so I didn’t bother retesting the PH today.

Today the conditions were:

Ammonia- .25
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5.0

I read a previous post about the API test for Nitrites being weird. I’m really confused and it may be my novice but I’m wondering if it’s odd that my ammonia and nitrates are elevated but there isn’t any nitrites? I’m trying to figure out where I am in the cycle. Could the nitrite test be inaccurate?

Thanks!

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to the AC.

I have no experience with the bottled bacteria, because I've never needed or used it. Do you have access to an Ace Hardware?. The ammonia they sell works great for cycling a tank.

If so, I would start over with that. Follow the directions in the fishless cycling sticky. Get a heater, beneficial bacteria grows best at temps of around 82F.

I'd ditch the carbon, and use more filter media instead, you don't need the carbon. You also don't want to mess with the ph during a cycle, it will fluctuate until the cycle is complete, which is normal.

Fantail goldfish? If so, they grow much too large for a tank that size.

Sometime the trIte stage of a cycle is so fast that you can miss it if you don't test daily, but I doubt that is the case here.

Good luck, post back with more questions when you have them, but follow this closely, and you should be fine: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ead.php?t=5640

[jgoldbergru]

Welcome to the AC.

I have no experience with the bottled bacteria, because I've never needed or used it. Do you have access to an Ace Hardware?. The ammonia they sell works great for cycling a tank.

If so, I would start over with that. Follow the directions in the fishless cycling sticky. Get a heater, beneficial bacteria grows best at temps of around 82F.

I'd ditch the carbon, and use more filter media instead, you don't need the carbon. You also don't want to mess with the ph during a cycle, it will fluctuate until the cycle is complete, which is normal.

Fantail goldfish? If so, they grow much too large for a tank that size.

Sometime the trIte stage of a cycle is so fast that you can miss it if you don't test daily, but I doubt that is the case here.

Good luck, post back with more questions when you have them, but follow this closely, and you should be fine: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ead.php?t=5640

Thank you! I’ll do that.

[Slaphppy7]

You are very welcome.

[Boundava]

Agree 100% with what Slaphppy7 said. Will add that you should test your tap water to see if it has any nitrates. When you use that test kit make sure to shake both bottle 1 and 2, then take bottle 2 and shake it vigorously for 1-2 minutes (2 best). Also after you added 2 to the test tube, make sure you shake the test tube for a solid minute as well. This will give you the most accurate results.

[jgoldbergru]

So very interesting, I tested my tap water for nitrates and it’s reading 40ppm. So I’m now wondering if my tank is reading 5ppm nitrates simply because there were nitrates in the water to start with. This all makes more sense now. My ammonia is reading .25 today with 0 Nitrites and 5.0 nitrates. Assuming the nitrate reading is just because of my tap water, then I should just need to increase ammonia to get the nitrite up and then hopefully get the tank cycling.

I haven’t had any luck finding ammonia to add to the tank but I still have some fish food so I added a few flakes. Hopefully the ammonia increases a bit over the next few days.

Thank you both again for the help! Hopefully I’ll have some fishies soon!

[jgoldbergru]

Quick update here. Finally seeing some progress.

I finally found liquid ammonia. Yesterday I tested the water before doing anything and all parameters were the same as before, .25 ammonia, zero nitrites and 5 nitrates.

I did a 50% water change because the tank was full of algae. I added a heater set to 80 degrees. Then added 5 drops of ammonia, Prime and Stability.
I tested the water this morning and BAM!

Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrites - .25
Nitrates - 20ppm
PH - 8

I added only three drops of ammonia, a dose of stability and prime. I’ll test again tomorrow. I’ve read conflicting things about water changes. I’ve read that a water change may be needed if Nitrates get too high but I’ve also read that water changes should only be done when the cycle is done before adding fish. What do I do if ammonia or nitrates get too high? And what would be too high for both?

Thanks!

[Rocksor]

Ammonia is best measured below 2ppm, since the test is unreliable when it gets closer to 4ppm. Toxic ammonia will affect the cycle if it goes too high. At a PH of 8.0, it won't take that much. Ammonia should not go up unless you add the ammonia. Don't worry about nitrates since it won't affect the cycle, so don't do any water changes unless your ammonia for the fishless cycle is at 4ppm or very close to it.

[jgoldbergru]

That makes sense, thanks!

[jgoldbergru]

This morning I tested the water-
PH - 8.0 - 8.2
Ammonia - .25
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates- 10 or 20

This tank has been running for well over a month total but I’ve struggled to get the cycle going without adding pure ammonia, which I finally did on Saturday. I added five drops of ammonia Saturday, Sunday showed Ammonia at 1ppm, nitrites at .25 and nitrates at 20ppm. After testing I added three drops of ammonia, treated with prime and stability and today ammonia is .25 ppm, nitrites are zero and nitrates are still about 20ppm. I’m wondering if the tank is almost done cycling? Should I add more ammonia and see if it continues to drop? It’s so hard to tell between zero and .25 on the ammonia test.

I’ll admit I’m kind of learning as I go so forgive me if I’m totally off base here. Appreciate any help!