Fishless cycle with Ammonium Carbonate

Does the ammonia level drop at all? Or has it always been 5 ppm. If it dropped at all (short of a water change) I woudl expect some nitrite to show up.

When you added water with out declorinating it....how much was it....if it was almost 100% new water i wouldnt doubt against it killing the good bacteria....if it was like 20% of the total water then i would think it would dilute it enough to not cause as much harm....i did the same thing on my feeder tank and it was about 1/4 of the water that wasnt dechlorinated and about 20 min. later all the feeders were gasping for air at the top of the tank....so if they survived it, i would think the bacteria could......

I"m no chemist, and don't know if the Ammonium Carbonate becomes bio-available ammonia or not, but it would seem to be OK.
Without a bacteria seed the start can be very slow, sometimes as much as 3 weeks before you se anything happen. one theory is that the bacteria land in the tank, more likely they live through the water treatment, and come in through the tap water. either way they will eventually show up. My suggestion, assuming all other better ideas (like borrowing gravel or filter , or filter media) are not feasable is this: Go buy a couple of dirt cheap potted plants, chuck the plants or give them to a friend, and take the wool that they are potted in and put it in your tank, preferably in the filter. the wool is a good place for bacteria to colonise, and it should give you a decent seed. don't plant the plants, live plants, light and 5 ppm ammonia= huge algea bed. If you can't get potted plants patience is effective, but you will have some extra wait time before things get started. It is possible that the chlorine retarded or stopped things and you have started over, it's eally hard to say. In all honesty I'd give it 3-4 weeks after the water change with no dechlorinator before I would worry about something else being wrong. I know waiting stinks, but it will pay off eventually.
Dave

Another way that might get it jump started is a plant from a LFS or Petsmart or something. Buy something that comes with peat that the roots are in... like watersprite.... and plant it. You're likely taking a colony of bacteria from what SHOULD be an established tank at the fish store. So long as you don't rinse the plant in chlorinated water before you plant it, it should introduce it to your aquarium and start spreading.

<standing around, tapping foot on ground, waiting for happychem or RTR or one of the other chemistry experts to show up....>

Jim

Trust me on this one, don't plant the plant in a tank with 5 ppm ammonia, unless you want to grow algea. I did this! The peat or the wool provides a good bacteria starter colony, but if you plant the plant and light the tank, you are asking for trouble. If you are like me and don't mind the algea battle go ahead and plant it. Algea isn't the end of the world.
Dave

The use of rock-wool (not peat or other) planted commercial materials is not for the plant - the plant is baggage, you can cut it off and discard it if you wish. The commercially propagated plants in open-mesh plastic pots are grown as cuttings or divisions in hydroponic solutions up to the top of the rockwool, with the plant is exposed, emerse, but under mist so it is effectively saturated air and does not dry out. The roots are in ammonia/ammonium-containing solutions, the rock wool is support only for the roots - but during the plant's development time the rock wool develops a substantial colony of nitrification bacteria. Putting the pot and rock wool in the tank introduces large numbers of the correct FW bacteria. Pulling the rock-wool apart and layering it under your biomedium would be even better, but there is risk, as rock wool fibers can be a major irritant to gills if dispersed in the tank. Just adding the intact pot with rock wool is safer and does the job. The shorter the time the potted plant has been in the LFS, the more bacteria will be present. If you get it/them the day the shipment is received, you can run a short-time fishless cycle - but dosage is tank-size related, so in a larger tank, use several pots. You can keep the plants, just don't do high light. If they survive, it is a bonus, if they die, it is food for the heterotrophic bacteria, so you are cycling those at the same time.

HTH

Edit:

daveedka - don't plant the plant, drop in plant and pot intact, on top of the gravel, preferably in current. The rock wool is the key, not the plant.

Denz - what is the carbonate addition doing to your KH?

daveedka - don't plant the plant, drop in plant and pot intact, on top of the gravel, preferably in current. The rock wool is the key, not the plant.

Click to expand...

Err Umm, I think that was what I tried to say. Worked for me, I Put the rock wool in a nylon bag and hung it beside the filter intake when I did mine.