The Fishless Cycle - Page 3

Pigeonfish · 10-08-2011, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jen13189

okay I have a question.i've been fishless cycling for 5 weeks now,at a temperature of about 78-81 degrees with my canopy light on for about 7 hours of the day from the time i get up to about 7pm or about 10:30pm if no one turns off the light when i'm not home.and ph is at 7.6 before when i had my well water in which was hard.it was above 7.6.But I did a 50-60% water change and added spring water and that brought it down a bit.But its never been below 7.6,I used a neaturalize because right after i change it with the spring water it went up a bit,so i tested it again after using the neautralize it went down to 7.6.But my question is I was told to use distilled water to get the rest of my well water out of the tank with the water change and to the lower the ph.

The ph when I tested the spring water(deer park) it was below 7.6 it was in the yellows before i put the spring water in the tank.My question is would that work if I used distilled water or should I do another 30 percent water change with the spring water to get the rest of the well water out and the ph down?Or would that have no effect?I still have about 40 percent well water in their now the next day after i added the spring water I did another 10 percent water change to add the rest of the spring water.I have a 10 gallon tank.would this help or no?i also used dechlorinator after i put the spring water in.just in case.

Why do you want the pH down? Most fish can do very well in 7.6, especially if they're drip acclimated.

jrman83 · 10-08-2011, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jen13189

okay I have a question.i've been fishless cycling for 5 weeks now,at a temperature of about 78-81 degrees with my canopy light on for about 7 hours of the day from the time i get up to about 7pm or about 10:30pm if no one turns off the light when i'm not home.and ph is at 7.6 before when i had my well water in which was hard.it was above 7.6.But I did a 50-60% water change and added spring water and that brought it down a bit.But its never been below 7.6,I used a neaturalize because right after i change it with the spring water it went up a bit,so i tested it again after using the neautralize it went down to 7.6.But my question is I was told to use distilled water to get the rest of my well water out of the tank with the water change and to the lower the ph.

The ph when I tested the spring water(deer park) it was below 7.6 it was in the yellows before i put the spring water in the tank.My question is would that work if I used distilled water or should I do another 30 percent water change with the spring water to get the rest of the well water out and the ph down?Or would that have no effect?I still have about 40 percent well water in their now the next day after i added the spring water I did another 10 percent water change to add the rest of the spring water.I have a 10 gallon tank.would this help or no?i also used dechlorinator after i put the spring water in.just in case.

Have you tested your water with the high range ph test? The reason I ask....if you test your water with the low range test and your ph is higher than what the low test will register, the highest reading you get is 7.6. 7.6 is the range limit of the low test kit. So your water could be 8+ and you would never know until you test with the high range test. If you haven't already.....

jen13189 · 10-08-2011, 10:21 PM

no i haven't i'm a bit tight on money right now.But I can always ask the fiance to buy me one if he can.and my nitrate and nitrate and ammonia was around .25 when i last checked it on the 7th at about 5:30pm.i should probably check it again.

Well the reason i want to lower it is because the place i'm getting the fish has a reading of neautral plus right now i still have well water in the so its gonna be a bit hard at the moment.My mom bought me some distilled water today when she went to the store.should i still use that mixed with the spring water?or is that a bad idea?

p.s. I have live plants in my tank would that effect plants if i didn't lower the ph and would they survive with catfish?

amdanand · 01-11-2012, 10:15 AM

I am in the middle of my fishless cycling. Yesterday, I saw that the Ammonia=0ppm, Nitrates~20ppm but there was a Nitrite spike ~5ppm. I guess only one kind of Nitrifying bacteria (that converts Ammonia to Nitrite) has been established so far. My Nitrates haven't changed since past 3-4 days and the ammonia has depleted. I didn't want to lose any of already established bacteria and so dosed it with Ammonia up to 3ppm. Is it okay to do so? My only concern is that it might spike the Nitrites even more and I hope that doesn't affect the establishment of second set of bacteria. I could also do a PWC, but I am not sure of what other effects that might cause impeding the cycle. Please let me your thoughts on this. Thanks!

RylandVT · 01-18-2012, 06:00 AM

I've just started with my fishless cycle and I guess I'm a little confused. how do you know you have an ammonia reading of 5 with the API test kit? Mine has a reading for 4 and 8 but nothing in between. Is it just a guess if the color is between the two? is there a different test kit out there?

jrman83 · 01-18-2012, 07:08 AM

4ppm will work.

dante322 · 01-31-2012, 06:50 PM

should carbon be removed from filters to do a fishless cycle? carbon is supposed to remove ammonia isn't it?

FishlessCycle · 04-20-2012, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dante322

should carbon be removed from filters to do a fishless cycle? carbon is supposed to remove ammonia isn't it?

It doesn't matter as activated carbon doesn't do much about ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

I have done fishless cycle with activated carbon still inside my new canister filter. It cycled just fine. Although the activated carbon isn't really needed unless you try to remove medication from the water. I removed the carbon pad not too long after my cycle was completed, and I never added another.

bigcountry10 · 05-25-2012, 10:31 AM

quick question, my amonia levels are dropping to zero now within 24 hours, but my nitrites are really high still (around 5ppm) and my nitrates are at around 40ppm, im about 3 weeks in. is this sounding about right ??? I've also started to half dose ammonia everyother day.

jrman83 · 05-25-2012, 10:50 AM

Sounds about right to me. Usually this stage takes a little longer, but hang in there and it will be over soon enough. Nitrates being that high may signify that the nitrites are being processed to some level.

10-08-2011, 10:21 PM	#43 (permalink)
jen13189 Banned jen13189's Photo Gallery Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 177 Location: ohio Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 112 Times Said "Thanks" 14 Times Was Thanked 28 Times in 28 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle no i haven't i'm a bit tight on money right now.But I can always ask the fiance to buy me one if he can.and my nitrate and nitrate and ammonia was around .25 when i last checked it on the 7th at about 5:30pm.i should probably check it again. Well the reason i want to lower it is because the place i'm getting the fish has a reading of neautral plus right now i still have well water in the so its gonna be a bit hard at the moment.My mom bought me some distilled water today when she went to the store.should i still use that mixed with the spring water?or is that a bad idea? p.s. I have live plants in my tank would that effect plants if i didn't lower the ph and would they survive with catfish?

01-11-2012, 10:15 AM	#44 (permalink)
amdanand Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 4 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 7 Times Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle I am in the middle of my fishless cycling. Yesterday, I saw that the Ammonia=0ppm, Nitrates~20ppm but there was a Nitrite spike ~5ppm. I guess only one kind of Nitrifying bacteria (that converts Ammonia to Nitrite) has been established so far. My Nitrates haven't changed since past 3-4 days and the ammonia has depleted. I didn't want to lose any of already established bacteria and so dosed it with Ammonia up to 3ppm. Is it okay to do so? My only concern is that it might spike the Nitrites even more and I hope that doesn't affect the establishment of second set of bacteria. I could also do a PWC, but I am not sure of what other effects that might cause impeding the cycle. Please let me your thoughts on this. Thanks!

01-18-2012, 06:00 AM	#45 (permalink)
RylandVT Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Richmond, Virginia Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 11 Times Was Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle I've just started with my fishless cycle and I guess I'm a little confused. how do you know you have an ammonia reading of 5 with the API test kit? Mine has a reading for 4 and 8 but nothing in between. Is it just a guess if the color is between the two? is there a different test kit out there?

01-18-2012, 07:08 AM	#46 (permalink)
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01-31-2012, 06:50 PM	#47 (permalink)
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05-25-2012, 10:31 AM	#49 (permalink)
bigcountry10 bigcountry10's Photo Gallery Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 67 Location: MIchigan My location Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 41 Times Said "Thanks" 47 Times Was Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle quick question, my amonia levels are dropping to zero now within 24 hours, but my nitrites are really high still (around 5ppm) and my nitrates are at around 40ppm, im about 3 weeks in. is this sounding about right ??? I've also started to half dose ammonia everyother day.

05-25-2012, 10:50 AM	#50 (permalink)
jrman83 ....has no life.... jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 9,468 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD My location Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 3,396 Times Said "Thanks" 478 Times Was Thanked 2,431 Times in 2,286 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle Sounds about right to me. Usually this stage takes a little longer, but hang in there and it will be over soon enough. Nitrates being that high may signify that the nitrites are being processed to some level.

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