First fishless cycle

[erinw621]

I was just hoping someone could clear things up for me at this stage in the cycling!

I'm fishless cycling, and the ammonia is at .25, nitrite is at 5, and nitrate is between between 5 and 10 ( I have a hard time reading the tests sometimes!)

Anyway, I guess what I want to know is, what do I do: no water changes, just leave it alone?
Thanks in advance!

[erinw621]

No advice??? :(

Just anxious because I can make a trip to the fish store this weekend!

[DoN_WoN]

I'd keep doing weekly 25% water changes IMO..

PS. your really cute :)

[erinw621]

Ok.. I figured that since there were nitrates I could do water changes, but I wasn't sure! So, once I do the WC and my ammonia and nitrites are in check... I can get my fish :)

thanks for the help!

[DoN_WoN]

yeppp...once your ammonia is 0 and ur nitrites are 0 and minimal nitrate your cycled!!
:)
:)
:)

[rdx1555]

No need to change the water with fishless cycling, you'll actually slow the cycle down by removing ammonia and nitrites that feed the bacteria you're trying to grow.

Keep adding an ammonia source to keep it around 1-2ppm.

Wait until your nitrite starts reading 0ppm again and your nitrates start increasing.

When your tank goes from 1-2ppm ammonia to 0ppm ammonia in a 24hr period with 0ppm nitrite and a high ppm of nitrate then you're fully cycled.

Do a 90% water change and you're ready to add full stock of fish.

With a 5ppm nitrite reading you're prolly only days away from finishing the cycle, typically getting to that point seems to take the longest.

[DoN_WoN]

No need to change the water with fishless cycling, you'll actually slow the cycle down by removing ammonia and nitrites that feed the bacteria you're trying to grow.

Keep adding an ammonia source to keep it around 1-2ppm.

Wait until your nitrite starts reading 0ppm again and your nitrates start increasing.

When your tank goes from 1-2ppm ammonia to 0ppm ammonia in a 24hr period with 0ppm nitrite and a high ppm of nitrate then you're fully cycled.

Do a 90% water change and you're ready to add full stock of fish.

With a 5ppm nitrite reading you're prolly only days away from finishing the cycle, typically getting to that point seems to take the longest.
oh my bad..i forgot it was fishless..i was attracted by the picture hehe :)

[erinw621]

OH OF COURSE!
I'm so anxious I changed the water already... haha. It's only a little five gallon though, I can wait it out some more. Hopefully no harm done.

Thanks for helping me

[DoN_WoN]

OH OF COURSE!
I'm so anxious I changed the water already... haha. It's only a little five gallon though, I can wait it out some more. Hopefully no harm done.

Thanks for helping me
hehe nice..add some more ammonia it should be fine

[jptjpt]

How's your search for endlers?

[erinw621]

Not good! Going to seriously look again when this is cycled

[CichlidWrangler]

I'd keep doing weekly 25% water changes IMO..

PS. your really cute :)

notice how during this whole thread... she has completely failed to acknowledge the fact that you are desperately hitting on her... lol

and DoN_WoN gets SHUT DOWN!

sorry... just had to say something lol

[boobiebutt]

notice how during this whole thread... she has completely failed to acknowledge the fact that you are desperately hitting on her... lol

and DoN_WoN gets SHUT DOWN!

sorry... just had to say something lol

lol.

[erinw621]

Eventually you learn to ignore it. The internet is a weird place.

[chefjamesscott]

notice how during this whole thread... she has completely failed to acknowledge the fact that you are desperately hitting on her... lol

and DoN_WoN gets SHUT DOWN!

sorry... just had to say something lol



hahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahhahahahhahah ahhahahahhahahahahhahahahah

that has got to be the funniest thing I have read all day long

now

I personally have not ever done a fishless cycle myself so I cant give advice but the person a few posts above basically covered it

If you have a tank set up already a fast way to track a new tank is to take the sponge from the cycled one and squeeze it in the new tank to jumpstart your filter moniter the level and soon you good to go

[biggdadyapisto]

+1 on rdx1555's advice only with such a small tank i wouldn't do a 90% change more like 20%-30% wc.

and +1 on chefjamesscott's last lil bit of advice but unless you dont have a bio media that is squeezable.


(lol don-won this isnt a singles forum hehe)

[milesalive]

I just normally pin a filter cartridge in the tank to sppeed it up

[erinw621]

Anyone wanna donate a sponge from an established tank?! lol Unfortunately, I did a cycle with fish once last month, then decided I needed a brand new filter, and now it's cycling all over again. I hate being a noob!

[67chevelle]

Eventually you learn to ignore it. The internet is a weird place.
That's the funniest thing I've read all day. :)

Just let things sit and stew for a while.It always takes the nitrite longer to drop to 0ppm.
What are you using for ammonia?

[erinw621]

Poopy water from the tank with fish in it, and food. The gravel in the two tanks I'm fishless cycling is old, from when I used to keep goldfish in terrible conditions... so it's probably dirty still. I'm not really adding ammonia, just kind of wingin' it. It's working well though, as the two smaller tanks are already showing nitrates. I'm getting closer!

[OldMan47]

If you are not adding an ammonia source, you are not cycling. You are just building up nitrates from the old substrate. If you have no other source, you can feed the tank as if there were fish in it and that will give you some ammonia from the food breaking down.
You may have picked up some of the right bacteria from that old substrate if it has stayed wet since you last had some fish in it but they will not be reproducing without "food". If you are still looking for endlers, I have some but don't know how to ship properly. You can see in my profile where I am so will know if I am close enough to help.

[erinw621]

Yeah, I add fish food to the tanks. And you're a little to far to pick up some fish! haha

Thanks for all the help!

[lateinningmagic]

Any update on those readings?

I'm doing my first fishless cycle too. After three days Ammonia was down, and I had Nitrate and Nitrates, but now its seem to have stalled. I added pure ammonia and the ammonia has gone down slightly the last few days, but it appears the nitrate is at zero while nitrates stay constant on 40.

Has your tank been progressing?

[erinw621]

Ammonia hovers around .25-.5
Nitrite is through the roof, whatever the highest reading is (i don't remember, 5 i think)
And I lost a bit of nitrates because I did a huge water change (driftwood stained my water) so that's reading about 5

Just waiting out the nitrite spike. Sure is quite the waiting game.

[lateinningmagic]

Ammonia hovers around .25-.5
Nitrite is through the roof, whatever the highest reading is (i don't remember, 5 i think)
And I lost a bit of nitrates because I did a huge water change (driftwood stained my water) so that's reading about 5

Just waiting out the nitrite spike. Sure is quite the waiting game.

I tested this morning and my ammonia was .5, nitrite 0, and nitrate 40. I don't like this :mad2:

[erinw621]

Sounds like you're just about done??? Lucky

[duyisalilaznboi]

lol cycling takes quite a long time, all that waiting, waiting and waiting, nearly drove me crazy staring at an empty tank for almost a month :perv:

[lateinningmagic]

Sounds like you're just about done??? Lucky

I was told that a cycled tank should be able to handle a dosing of ammonia that brings it to 3 and 24 hours later it should be 0. I dosed my tank to bring it up to 3 three days ago. It still hasn't hit 0. I don't think I'm done.

I hate staring at empty tank too. Luckily I have an established 10 gallon with neon tetras to watch in the mean time. But the gravel is blue and so are the tetras so its a little hard to see em! :evil_lol:

[erinw621]

But at least you are over the nitrite spike! It's taking foreverrrrr

[lateinningmagic]

Just checked my ammonia levels. It's at that point where the green and yellow are clashing and the water almost looks clear. When its up against the card it looks slightly green, but oh so close to yellow. Yay?

BTW, I see from your marketplace history that you've bought a starter pack for plants. Know of any good articles for a complete newbie?

[erinw621]

Well, I didn't know anything about plants... but when I saw the package I typed in the names and checked out plantgeek.com, all the plants were fine in low light and no CO2. I'm really just hoping for the best with them. I put them in the tank, if they grow, they grow. So far everything is doing well! Moss is really easy from everything I have read. I definitely like having the plants, it's something else to take care of and watch grow. The classifieds here usually have great buys on plants, keep your eyes peeled.

[lateinningmagic]

Will definitely check out plantgeek thanks for the heads up.

I'm buying some plecos from the classifieds and if everything goes well with that purchase (don't see any reason why it shouldn't) I'll into some plants too. I know you get a very good deal, hopefully I can get something close. :silly:

Thanks for the friend request btw. :thm:

[Cluunox]

Just a note you should dose ammonia every day to keep it at 3 ppm. If you let it go down over time the bacteria will not grow as fast. Need to keep it at 3ppm until it drops from there to 0 in 24 hrs. Good luck keep up the patience. : )