The fishless cycle of Sir Tristen

**Sir Tristen** · 10-05-2008, 04:01 PM

Hello all,

I've been cycling my tank for about 5 days now, so not too long. I added about 1/4 tbsp to a little under 20 gallons the first day (I think it was probably too much.) The second day, I tested around two, so I tried to add around half that, but accidentaly dumped a little in (DOH!) so I don't know how much I put in. The third day it was reading abou 3, so I put 1ml in. And in the past couple days I have not seen any change. It read 3 yesterday, so I didn't put anymore in. It is reading 3 still this morning. I'm using a no name pure ammonia from the dollar store, my visitherm is set for 84 degrees (no thermometer yet to test this. Ph read at 8.2 (which sucks cuz I want corys!)

I guess my main questions are is this normal to not see ammonia levels go down even after 5 or so days of cycling, and should I add more ammonia when I'm not yet seeing a drop on the reading? I'm using a newly purchased API freshwater test kit, and the only conditioner I added was seachem prime.

Any advice would be appreciated, cuz it's my first cycle, and I just want to do it right to make my future fishies happy.

**fins_n_fur** · 10-05-2008, 04:09 PM

If you are doing a fishless cycle, there's no real point is wasting your Prime (LOL) and that could be messing with your ammonia levels. Stop dosing Prime until you get fish. Did you test for nitrites? You should be adding enough ammonia daily to keep your ammonia at about 4-5 ppm. A constant steady source of ammonia will ensure constant, stable growth of the bacteria.

Edit: Didn't you used to be somebody else, i.e., have you changed your user name?

**Sir Tristen** · 10-05-2008, 04:12 PM

I only used the prime to condition, and I haven't added any more since. I just wanted to know if it could effect the cycle. Should I still add more ammonia when the level really hasn't fallen for a couple days?

**fins_n_fur** · 10-05-2008, 04:22 PM

Here's my thoughts on dosing with ammonia: If you dose enough ammonia daily to keep to 4-5ppm you are providing a steady source of food for the bacteria. A stead source of food means steady growth of the beneficial bacteria and a quicker cycle. You didn't answer my other question for the nitrite test.

**Sir Tristen** · 10-05-2008, 06:18 PM

I haven't bothered to test for nitrite yet. I was thinking that things needed to get moving with the ammonia first. I figured with the ammonia holding in place, that nitrites wouldn't be forming yet. I decided to add about 1ml of ammonia. I'll see what's happening and check for nitrites as well tomorrow.

Any further advice in the meantime?

**Sir Tristen** · 10-06-2008, 03:16 PM

Tested this morning.

Ammonia 2-3 added 1ml
Nitrite 0

**Sir Tristen** · 10-07-2008, 03:14 PM

Day 7

Ammonia 3-4 added .5ml
Nitrite 0

Hmmm. I think ammonia might be going down a little each day, but no nitrite readings yet. Does this sound more or less normal?

**Sir Tristen** · 10-07-2008, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by fins_n_fur

Edit: Didn't you used to be somebody else, i.e., have you changed your user name?

Yeah, I changed my name from tyandnan to Sir Tristen. I didn't know that the name we used to sign up for the account would be our forum name. I'm somewhat surprised that anybody noticed.

**fins_n_fur** · 10-07-2008, 03:26 PM

I only noticed because I usually remember when people ask cycling questions and posts and yours sounded familiar.

**Sir Tristen** · 10-08-2008, 03:04 PM

Day 8

Same readings.

Added a few drops of ammonia.

Could something be stalling out my cycle? I haven't even gottent to phase 2 after over a week, and I thought the first phase was supposed to be somewhat faster. Maybe I'm just being way too impatient?