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.

jrman83 · 07-22-2012, 10:08 AM

I posted some info in the beginning of this thread to hopefully fix some problems people have been having getting through a fishless cycle.

The Fishless Cycle

Redbug · 09-21-2012, 06:59 PM

Just interested as to wether you did your fish less cycle in a planted aquarium?
Your post answered lots of my questions. Thanks heaps. RB.

Redbug · 09-21-2012, 07:45 PM

RT. Sorry, ignore last post, question answered, read the whole thread.

Wusker · 03-22-2013, 09:49 PM

Okay I need some advice.
All the stuff you need to know so far is. Started my fishless cycle 12 days ago, new freshwater 34 gal tank, no plants, temp at 82-84 degrees, substrate, sand, pea gravel all added in and strained ahead of time I let it sit for 48 hours with filter running and I dechlorinated it. I have been dosing using the ammonia from Ace hardware. dosing at 3 tsp.

I followed the rules very closely, and have been documenting levels and dose each night as the post stated and it took me 5 days after the initial 72 hour wait period for ammonia to drop. since then I cannot get my nitrates to get lower than 20-40 ppm. for instance tonight again my levels were ammonia 0ppm,nitrite 0 ppm, nitrate 40 ppm. and once again tonight i added 3 tsp of ammonia if i test it in an hour or so ill get same result of 4-8 ppm of ammonia.

Am I building a bacterial colony or what? LOL. I figure something has to have removed/ broken down the ammonia and nitrites.
What is the wait time for this?
Is there anything else I need to do?
Is my cycle done?
I did not want to do a water change as the post stricly talks against it. I guess I am just concerned I stalled my cycle.

Maybe I am just not understanding the process of how it should work for me to gauge it.

Thanks again,
Wusker

dalfed · 03-22-2013, 10:20 PM

you are done. if ammonia and nitrites drop to zero in 24 hours cycle complete, do a 50% water change to get nitrate levels below 20 may need 60% then add your fish!!

OspreyPrey · 04-13-2013, 05:34 AM

In the case of FW cycling, does RO/DI water have a positive neutral or negative effect? Also if I bought premade FW from my LFS would I still need to cycle as itcomes from an established nitrogen cycle? Ideas?

coralbandit · 04-13-2013, 07:57 AM

Very little bacteria actually live in water column.I would try to get cycled filter material from LFS if they have any(many LFS keep their tanks sterile).I imagine if RO watre has the correct parameters for your fish(very low pH,and hardness) then it can be cycled without issue.

Wusker · 05-09-2013, 06:42 PM

Okay looking for suggestions, I cycled my tank and had it complete on the 11-12th day, after that I was waiting for a piece of manzanita wood, and looking at lights.
I figured I would continue to cycle and add my ammonia in each day until I had my lights and decor. well life happened and I missed two days I continued my cycles as I had left off adding in 3tsp of ammonia, two days later I checked my levels and I had 8ppm ammonia. I stopped adding in ammonia for 4 days and tested each day.
At this point its beeen over 2 weks, I have changed the water twice and cleaned all the filters and even bio wheels, I cannot get the ammonia levels below 8ppm.
I still have no plants or fish in tank.
Any suggestions?

susankat · 05-09-2013, 10:23 PM

Do not clean filters or bio wheels. doing that you have just started your cycle over again.

Wusker · 05-09-2013, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susankat

Do not clean filters or bio wheels. doing that you have just started your cycle over again.

I dont think you understand my cycle was done acording to my daily time chart 3/24/13, within that week that i missed two days of adding ammonia I have done nothing as far as adding ammonia and my levels will not drop below 8ppm in over a month, almost a month and a half!

After that much time I was at my wits end so I have done mutiple water changes, no effect. I have tested daily, no change. Finally another water change and clean everything i could, still no change.

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: 26 Location: Richmond, Virginia Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 12 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	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)
jrman83 ....has no life.... Super Moderator jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10,660 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 4,253 Times Said "Thanks" 507 Times Was Thanked 2,891 Times in 2,664 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle 4ppm will work.

01-31-2012, 06:50 PM	#47 (permalink)
dante322 dante322's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 136 Name: dave Location: north central ohio Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 34 Times Said "Thanks" 13 Times Was Thanked 24 Times in 22 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle should carbon be removed from filters to do a fishless cycle? carbon is supposed to remove ammonia isn't it?

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05-25-2012, 10:31 AM	#49 (permalink)
bigcountry10 bigcountry10's Photo Gallery Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 109 Name: Kirk Churchill Location: MIchigan Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 45 Times Said "Thanks" 69 Times Was Thanked 17 Times in 17 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.... Super Moderator jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10,660 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 4,253 Times Said "Thanks" 507 Times Was Thanked 2,891 Times in 2,664 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.

07-22-2012, 10:08 AM	#51 (permalink)
jrman83 ....has no life.... Super Moderator jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 10,660 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 4,253 Times Said "Thanks" 507 Times Was Thanked 2,891 Times in 2,664 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle I posted some info in the beginning of this thread to hopefully fix some problems people have been having getting through a fishless cycle. The Fishless Cycle

09-21-2012, 06:59 PM	#52 (permalink)
Redbug Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 59 Location: Melbourne, Australia Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 209 Times Said "Thanks" 63 Times Was Thanked 11 Times in 9 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle Just interested as to wether you did your fish less cycle in a planted aquarium? Your post answered lots of my questions. Thanks heaps. RB.

09-21-2012, 07:45 PM	#53 (permalink)
Redbug Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 59 Location: Melbourne, Australia Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 209 Times Said "Thanks" 63 Times Was Thanked 11 Times in 9 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle RT. Sorry, ignore last post, question answered, read the whole thread.

03-22-2013, 09:49 PM	#54 (permalink)
Wusker Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 12 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 9 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: The Fishless Cycle Okay I need some advice. All the stuff you need to know so far is. Started my fishless cycle 12 days ago, new freshwater 34 gal tank, no plants, temp at 82-84 degrees, substrate, sand, pea gravel all added in and strained ahead of time I let it sit for 48 hours with filter running and I dechlorinated it. I have been dosing using the ammonia from Ace hardware. dosing at 3 tsp. I followed the rules very closely, and have been documenting levels and dose each night as the post stated and it took me 5 days after the initial 72 hour wait period for ammonia to drop. since then I cannot get my nitrates to get lower than 20-40 ppm. for instance tonight again my levels were ammonia 0ppm,nitrite 0 ppm, nitrate 40 ppm. and once again tonight i added 3 tsp of ammonia if i test it in an hour or so ill get same result of 4-8 ppm of ammonia. Am I building a bacterial colony or what? LOL. I figure something has to have removed/ broken down the ammonia and nitrites. What is the wait time for this? Is there anything else I need to do? Is my cycle done? I did not want to do a water change as the post stricly talks against it. I guess I am just concerned I stalled my cycle. Maybe I am just not understanding the process of how it should work for me to gauge it. Thanks again, Wusker __________________ GO BIG RED!!!! 10 Gallon Freshwater Tank Marineland Penguin 350 50 watt Top Fin heater 2 Black Kuhli Loaches 2 South American Bumblebee Catfish ~~2 Ghost Shrimp~~ ~~1 Gold Mystery Snail~~ 34 Gallon Freshwater tank Currently cycling, and to be planted in the future x2 Marineland Penguin 350 150 watt Top Fin heater Last edited by Wusker : 03-22-2013 at 09:56 PM.

03-22-2013, 10:20 PM	#55 (permalink)
dalfed Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 680 Name: Dale Location: Battleford Saskatchewan Feedback: 3 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 760 Times Said "Thanks" 636 Times Was Thanked 487 Times in 353 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle you are done. if ammonia and nitrites drop to zero in 24 hours cycle complete, do a 50% water change to get nitrate levels below 20 may need 60% then add your fish!!

04-13-2013, 05:34 AM	#56 (permalink)
OspreyPrey Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 24 Name: Zack Location: Orange County, CA Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 42 Times Said "Thanks" 10 Times Was Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle In the case of FW cycling, does RO/DI water have a positive neutral or negative effect? Also if I bought premade FW from my LFS would I still need to cycle as itcomes from an established nitrogen cycle? Ideas? __________________ -Osprey Combating poor decisions with research...

04-13-2013, 07:57 AM	#57 (permalink)
coralbandit I CHANGE WATER coralbandit's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 3,534 Name: Tom Location: Saratoga, NY Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 796 Times Said "Thanks" 2,342 Times Was Thanked 1,923 Times in 1,549 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle Very little bacteria actually live in water column.I would try to get cycled filter material from LFS if they have any(many LFS keep their tanks sterile).I imagine if RO watre has the correct parameters for your fish(very low pH,and hardness) then it can be cycled without issue. __________________ STOP PLAYING ON COMPUTER AND CHANGE YOUR WATER!

05-09-2013, 06:42 PM	#58 (permalink)
Wusker Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 12 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 9 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: The Fishless Cycle Okay looking for suggestions, I cycled my tank and had it complete on the 11-12th day, after that I was waiting for a piece of manzanita wood, and looking at lights. I figured I would continue to cycle and add my ammonia in each day until I had my lights and decor. well life happened and I missed two days I continued my cycles as I had left off adding in 3tsp of ammonia, two days later I checked my levels and I had 8ppm ammonia. I stopped adding in ammonia for 4 days and tested each day. At this point its beeen over 2 weks, I have changed the water twice and cleaned all the filters and even bio wheels, I cannot get the ammonia levels below 8ppm. I still have no plants or fish in tank. Any suggestions? __________________ GO BIG RED!!!! 10 Gallon Freshwater Tank Marineland Penguin 350 50 watt Top Fin heater 2 Black Kuhli Loaches 2 South American Bumblebee Catfish ~~2 Ghost Shrimp~~ ~~1 Gold Mystery Snail~~ 34 Gallon Freshwater tank Currently cycling, and to be planted in the future x2 Marineland Penguin 350 150 watt Top Fin heater

05-09-2013, 10:23 PM	#59 (permalink)
susankat Pleco n bn breeder n BOSS Super Moderator susankat's Photo Gallery Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 6,548 Name: Susan Location: Tulsa, Ok Feedback: 13 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 5,474 Times Said "Thanks" 2,014 Times Was Thanked 2,402 Times in 1,992 Posts	Re: The Fishless Cycle Do not clean filters or bio wheels. doing that you have just started your cycle over again. __________________ SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!! 220 Tank build + 62 other tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

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