I'm testing ammonia every 2 days. It's dropping back to the 1ppm range. No nitrites are showing up yet. Do I keep adding ammonia to keep it in the 3-4 range?
Fishless cycle question
- Thread starter Tinajo
- Start date
You didn't give enough information on the tank and set up to know for sure. We would need to know how long the tank has been set up, if any of the substrate, filter media or objects can from an established tank and any other chemicals or additives used. Also, knowing the tap water chemistry is sometimes helpful. If you use old filter media in the filter that will quicken the cycle. I always add some water from an established tank making sure to get as much fecal matter as possible to speed up the cycling process. I have a lot of cray fish, so I have a lot of 4"-6" sections of PVC pipe in established tanks. I usually toss in two pieces per 15gal. This seeds the substrate if new and locating some in the filter stream regardless of filter type spreads the bacteria around. I actually have a 10gal that is used for nothing else but to grow bacteria on PVC.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Tank has been set up for a long time (years), but the filter is new. I didn't save any media from the old filter. No other additives or chemicals have been used, and I do not know the tap water chemistry. I'm trying to make sure I'm following the directions correctly on fish less cycling. Not sure I'm doing the right thing.
I agree.
I made the mistake of continually dosing ammonia to keep it at 2-4ppm and nitrites got so high, the API master test kit wouldn't read it. Nitrites indicated a false 0ppm per my test kit. By the time I somewhat figured out what happened, it took ~3 large water changes to bring nitrites down to a level it would read. The cycle picked up right away at that point and began doing the nitrite to nitrate.
I made the mistake of continually dosing ammonia to keep it at 2-4ppm and nitrites got so high, the API master test kit wouldn't read it. Nitrites indicated a false 0ppm per my test kit. By the time I somewhat figured out what happened, it took ~3 large water changes to bring nitrites down to a level it would read. The cycle picked up right away at that point and began doing the nitrite to nitrate.
Since this is not a new tank just a new filter your not going through a normal fishless cycle. You could have a healthy colony in the substrate that is eating up all of the nitrites.
What is the nitrates doing? Are they increasing?
It's doesn't really take that long to get a filter up on an established tank.
What is the nitrates doing? Are they increasing?
It's doesn't really take that long to get a filter up on an established tank.
Thanks for the replies. In less than 48 hours I'm back to almost zero on ammonia. But no nitrites are showing. I have test strips as well as a liquid test that I'm running. Both are showing zero nitrites. Is it now a wait and see? How could I find out if I'm getting a false negative nitrite result???
What is your nitrAte reading? I bet it's already cycled. My tanks never show any nitrIte because they convert so fast.
Sent from my SGS4 Active
Sent from my SGS4 Active
