How long for ANY NitrItes?

[SirWired]

*sigh* I have the beautiful 38g unplanted sitting in my dining room going through a fishless cycle... Brought it up to 5ppm NH3 a week ago and have been dosing about 1ppm a day since then to make up for evaporation (at least my AP kit keeps reading 4ppm every evening.) I don't yet have even the barest HINT of NitrItes. The tube stays a very clear blue... no purple at all. I suppose I am just being impatient, but most of the fishless cycle diaries online show SOME NitrItes almost immedately, even if the spike takes a while. I have the tank temp cranked up to about 84 or so...

SirWired

[DirkW]

Hi SirWired, been there and done that. The first time I started from scratch with a fishless cycle, it took a month to see the first hint of nitrites, and a total of seven weeks to cycle.

One way to speed up the process is to ask at the LFS when they clean their tanks. If you can, talk them into giving you a bag of old aquarium water that they used to rinse their sponge filters. Dump that in your tank, and it shouldn't take more than a week or two to fully cycle. Of course, you also run the risk of picking up diseases they have floating around their tanks.

[Astro]

I had 0 on day 1, 0.1 on day 2, 0.3 on day 4 and 1.6 by day 7 (45 gallon). Themp was about 80F, and the tank was seeded with a couple of cups of water, some unglazed ceramic pots and filter squeezings from and established tank.

[Star_Rider]

if you add squeezins you should start to see nitrites in a few days..

but if you have access to squeezins you don't need to do a fishless cycle.

it is normal to not see any nitrites the first week..it takes time for the bacteria that consume ammonia to get established..once they start showing up..you should start tp see a hint of nitrites. every cycle is slightly different from another. much of it depends on tank size,temp, ammonia etc. a lot of factors that are variables in the equation.

hang in there and keep it up.

[guppygal]

Hey guys

Not sure if I should do my own post but I have used seeded material and I am still at 0 nitrite and nitrates and it has been 10 days.

The filter media and gravel I am using was from June! Why am I not seeing anything? (Due to illness, I did sterilize the decor and plants and rinsed the gravel in declor. water, is why I am re-cycling)

Thanks!

[Star_Rider]

guppygal

describe the situation..don't leave out the details.

you used seeded material..how did you use it..this in a new tank..what is your source of ammonia?
what is the time table from set up to seeded material and adding ammonia?

details..details..details :joke:

[Yoemen]

In my 55 I added bio-spira about 7-10 days into the cycle and my nitrites shot through the roof overnight and my nitrates shot up to about 60 ppm. However, it took a few days for the nitrites to come all the way down. I was about at the point of using another bag when they started dropping.

[guppygal]

guppygal

describe the situation..don't leave out the details.

you used seeded material..how did you use it..this in a new tank..what is your source of ammonia?
what is the time table from set up to seeded material and adding ammonia?

details..details..details :joke:
;) OK OK!!

Trying not to make it too long:
Cycled the 10g starting in June with 3 guppies ... 12 weeks in I introduced a dwarf gourami without qt I had sickness in my tank. So ... I took everything out (decor and fake plants and washed it in 1:20 bleach) and took out the gravel and just rinsed it in treated water and returned to the tank. I took out 50% of the water and let the tank run 24 hrs before returning the fish. That was the 10 days ago. I didn't touch the filter or the sides of the tank. I would think I would be reading Nitrates already!! I didn't get the test until recently so I don't have old test results.

I do weekly water changes -- if I ever get ammonia reading I do changes but I can't think of the last time I got an ammonia reading.

[SirWired]

;) OK OK!!

Trying not to make it too long:
Cycled the 10g starting in June with 3 guppies ... 12 weeks in I introduced a dwarf gourami without qt I had sickness in my tank. So ... I took everything out (decor and fake plants and washed it in 1:20 bleach) and took out the gravel and just rinsed it in treated water and returned to the tank. I took out 50% of the water and let the tank run 24 hrs before returning the fish. That was the 10 days ago. I didn't touch the filter or the sides of the tank. I would think I would be reading Nitrates already!! I didn't get the test until recently so I don't have old test results.

I do weekly water changes -- if I ever get ammonia reading I do changes but I can't think of the last time I got an ammonia reading.

If you are using the AP Nitrate kit, you really need to shake the heck out of regent 2 and the sample for quite a while for the test to be accurate.

SirWired

[guppygal]

I am using AP and I even timed myself - the 30 sec and the 1 min!! I am shaking it like a crazy woman!!

[glasstapper]

I was actually wondering the same thing as you, SirWired. I've been cycling for 15 days now with a school of tetras, and no nitrites for me, either.

Hopefully soon.


Details:

45 gallon, top fin 60 power filter, all fake plants. I do a 10% to 20% water change when I see my ammonia getting to about 1.0 to reduce stress. I keep the pH at 7.2, temp. at 80 F, hardness is at 120 ppm. Fish are 10 Bleeding Heart Tetras. I imagine by not allowing my ammonia to spike too high is causing the cycle to slow down, but just over two weeks and not one sign of nitrite?!

[Astro]

glasstapper - its a bit different in a fishy cycle where you have to keep the ammonia low for the fishes, thn in a fishless cycle - where you have dangerously high levels of ammonia (but no fish!) to promote fast growth of the bacterias. (you can also raise the temperature too)

As far as I understand it, normal fishy cycling and establishment of a tank usually takes a lot longer than the fishless cycle.

[glasstapper]

Thanks, astro. I was going off of charts and graphs found on the internet, and most of those were showing nitrite increasing around day 10 for normal cycling. They did mention that individual results may vary, but I didn't know how much.

Good to know that it will just take a little longer. I can do that. ;)