silent cycling newbie question

[nosebleed]

So my ammonia is .50 ppm, am i expected this to be down to 0 before I can add any fishes?

Everything else is at 0

I am going on my third day with plants in the tank and it appears the Anacharis is growing because the top appears to have new growth.

Plants: Bacopa Australis, crypto wendtii brown, anacharis

[ridgenesss]

You need to do a 50% water change to get rid of the ammonia. Are you using a bacterial additive to help cycle?

Depending on the size of your tank and your equipment you can add a certain number of hardy fish to help with the cycle. You need to test daily and do water changes accordingly.

Here are some links to cycling with and without fish.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ead.php?t=5640

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=36492

giving us some more info on your setup would be helpful. thanks

[nosebleed]

I'm not using an bacterial additives. I'm using the plants to balance the water out.

The .50 ppm ammonia is from the sink water after I dechlorinate it.

[ridgenesss]

If your sink water contains ammonia then that creates more problems.
You need to find away to completely remove the ammonia from your water.

Read both of the articles on cycling.
Decide which method you want to use. If you do fishless, you can use a bacterial additive to help build bacteria to break down the ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate.

[Honey Badger 1]

Do you have fish in your tank already? We can't help you unless we know that first.

[kurly]

Also, how long has your tank been set up and running? As mommy1 stated we need more information in order to help you out.

[Joonkun]

if u have ammonia in tap u need ro water. Or u could use an ammonia remover luke ammo lock or somwthing. Not using these will be VERY harmful with ammonia in your tap.

[Lady Hobbs]

There are no fish in his tank and he's cycling with only the ammonia from his tap water.

[vinodjbhatia]

The ammonia reading he is getting is after adding the dechlorinator. That's not ammonia but rather ammonium, which is a common by product of a dechlorinator and chloramines.

@ nosebleed - I don't think that the ammonia (ammonium) you are currently reading is going to be of much help. You need to add pure ammonia if you are doing a fish less cycle. Suggest you go through the thread on fish less cycling in LH's signature above. Do not change water or for that matter do anything to your tank while it's cycling.

[nosebleed]

I've been reading and researching for months on what techniques I should use to start my low tech aquarium either fishless cycle or silent cycle and I choose silent cycled. Although I have absorb a wealth of information on cycling in general I am still a little bit inexperience. So if I'm not making sense or just doing something stupid please bare with me.


Silent Cycle:

tank: 5g
light cfl 10watt 6500k
red and black sand substrate

As for the ammonia it is fine now. So now my nitrite is 5ppm and I'm not sure where that came from because my ammonia and nitrate are at zero. I don't know if my plants are absorbing the ammonia or if it is the by product of my .5 ammonia or that i initial had in my tank. There is also some melting going on my anacharis. The bottom is melting but the top are growing just fine, even budding from the side. Could this be the reason my my nitrite are at 5ppm or is it just the by product of the ammonia i originally had?

My other plants are doing just fine, Bacopa and crypto Wendtii brown. No fertlizer as of yet in the tank. I've read that anacharis tend to melt at the bottom for a lot of people and their advice is just get rid of the bottom and replant the top which is fine with me but I've read where some tanks is low tech a low tech can be and they are growing anacharis like no tomorrow with out the melting issue.

Like i said I have no problem cutting the new growth and planting it but its annoying that you have to clean the dead leaves in your aquarium especially if it is the cause of your nitrite to increase.