Need some pointers on Fishless Cycling

**FishFreak2012** · 08-04-2011, 08:08 PM

Hey guys,
I attempted cycling with fish but halfway through, I lost all 5. So now I am going to try to continue the cycle fishless. To my knowledge, I am at the nitrite spike phase, since my last fish almost definitely died of nitrite poisoning. Can I keep the cycle going with fish food at this point? Any suggestions?

**bignellm** · 08-04-2011, 08:12 PM

Thread Bump:

**Cliff** · 08-04-2011, 08:13 PM

You can, but IME using pure ammoina always works best.

I would add just enough to keep your ammonia around 1 to 2 ppm

Keep in mind, it will take longer to see your nitrites drop than it did to see your ammoina drop

**SkipW** · 08-04-2011, 08:14 PM

Possibly, but fish food needs to start decomposing before it will produce any ammonia. Amount of food to add would also be a concern. You don't want to add too much. Using Pure Ammonia would be your best choice.

You also want to do this soon or you will starve off all of your existing bacteria.

**FishFreak2012** · 08-04-2011, 08:21 PM

Hmm. Well I know there is plenty of fish waste in that gravel, so it may be okay for now until the fish food decomposes. I'd rather not buy anything else if it's possible to use fish food.

**FishFreak2012** · 08-04-2011, 08:24 PM

Another important thing I should note here---I'm using Prime as a water conditioner, which supposedly removes ammonia...

**SkipW** · 08-04-2011, 08:30 PM

Prime is good for around 48 hours.... and if you're going to a fishless cycle then you won't be doing any water changes.

Using fish food is going to be a hit or miss.... $2-$3 for a bottle of ammonia, you will be able to control how much you are adding and it's cheaper than fish food.

**FishFreak2012** · 08-04-2011, 08:39 PM

Okay. I will consider getting ammonia. Do you think they'd have that at Petco?

**MCools** · 08-04-2011, 08:52 PM

Not a chance. Try ACO or Ace hardware...maybe a dollar store.

**dbosman** · 08-05-2011, 01:06 AM

Originally Posted by FishFreak2012

Hey guys,
I attempted cycling with fish but halfway through, I lost all 5. So now I am going to try to continue the cycle fishless. To my knowledge, I am at the nitrite spike phase, since my last fish almost definitely died of nitrite poisoning. Can I keep the cycle going with fish food at this point? Any suggestions?

Just feed the tank every day and test every third or fourth day. There's no point in wasting chemicals, since the cycle will take a few more weeks.