First fishless cycle over a week in, what to do now?

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bozco

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Dec 4, 2003
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Its a 10gal tank that I planted before starting the cycle. All the filter media was taken from other cycled tanks and I left the foam from the store's planted tanks in the tank as well.

Ammonia has now been at 0 for the last three days, but the nitrites are nearly off the chart.

Should I do water changes while I am fishless cycling or will the nitrites just drop. They never got this high while I was using fish to cycle tanks. But that was because of water changes.

So do I continue to leave it alone, and still add a little ammonia everyday?

Or do I change the water?

Should I still be adding ammonia or should I stop?

I read the fishless cycling article a few times already. So answers to these questions would be great. Thanks.
 

anonapersona

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Mar 7, 2003
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plants and ammonia

If the tank is well planted, and well seeded with bacteria, you probably could have just added fish.

To keep the fishless cycle going, the nitrite phase is about twice as long and twice the level of the ammonia phase, you can continue to add very small (half as much as initial) doses of ammonia. Now, with live plants you risk starting a big case of greenwater, so I'd back off on the ammonia a lot, maybe to 25% of the initital dose. The plants are consuming most of that if they are growing and well lit.

Personally, I'd just do a huge water change and add the fish. Change enough water, back to back if necessary, to get the nitrites to zero, then add the fish. The plants will consume most of the ammonia they create, the filter will take care of the rest. You'll have a small nitrite spike, but you'll take care of that with water changes if you even notice it. If the fish are small and the tank is large, you probably won't notice it. But be certain the plant are growing and are well lit. Take care of the plants and the plants will take care of the fish.
 

bozco

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Well I got busy with things, and forgot about the tank and the fish and monitoring my cycle until yesterday. And it was nearly finshed. Nitrites down to 0.01 and today, 0. I added 4 dwarf puffers and 2 kuli loaches. Everyone seems happy. I chose the kuli's because they hide in the gavel where the puffers can't get them.

I guess I just needed to sit tight and stop fussing with it.
 
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