I'll try to keep the background brief - I got a new filter for my aquarium at home for Christmas, and decided I'd use the old filter on a "new," small office aquarium. For the new aquarium, I purchased a used 18 gallon extra tall I found at a local fish store, and over the holidays, built a wood stand for it.
For various reasons, I was in no hurry to get the office aquarium stocked - spreading out the expenses, transitioning the bioload at home to the new filter (running new and old in parallel). I did bring everything into the office, set it up and filled it with water and gravel after new years - probably the 2nd or 2rd week in January.
Since I was in no hurry, I thought I'd try an experiment. Instead of tracking down pure ammonia, carefully measuring doses, testing the water frequently, etc to perform a fishless cycle, I decided that I would just feed flakes to the aquarium as though I were feeding the 6 Tiger Barbs that I intend to stock the tank with. I had the idea because I previously asked the question here, "What happens if I'm trying a fishless cycle, and I'm not here over the weekend to dose the tank." and one response was to put food in the aquarium, which would decay over time, producing the necessary ammonia.
So I fed the tank every day I was here. Perhaps my assumption is wrong, but I was assuming that the amount of food I would feed the fish would decay to approximately the same amount of ammonia as it would if it were actually digested and passed by the fish. In the end, the bacterial colony would be appropriately sized for the amount of fish I am to add.
I did nothing special for the weekends - it just went without getting food.
I wish now I had made a few notes on the dates, but the point of this was not to make a science project of it. After a week or so, I tested for ammonia, and lo and behold, I had 5 ppm or so. Shortly thereafter, I could see a bacterial bloom due to the haziness of the water. Another few days or a week, I notice the tank cleared, and I test for nitrites. It's off the chart. Check the ammonia. Gone. So I continue to feed the tank, and in another day or so, the haziness reappears, which I assume to be the nitrite-consuming bacteria. Naturally, this haze continues for several weeks until I came into work Monday morning last week, and the water is crystal clear again. I check the nitrites - gone. Today, I remembered to bring in a nitrate test kit - 20-40 ppm.
One thing that amazed me now that I've done this before, and have learned a lot more with time, is that I could observe the two separate bacterial blooms, and the testing confirmed what was going on. The other thing that surprised me is that the whole thing took about 5 or 6 weeks - no longer than had I done a fishy cycle, and probably not much longer than had I used the "proper" ammonia doping. And I didn't concern myself with having too much ammonia or nitrite during the process.
Naturally, I could have probably accelerated the cycling had I brought in the established filter from home. Oh yeah - I had a Penguin Mini with a new Bio-wheel that had been given to me by a coworker running on the office aquarium this whole time. (Don't let your beagle near your Bio-wheels - they think they're fun chew toys!) When I bring the filter from home (maybe tomorrow) and things have had time to stabilize, the Mini is going home to run in parallel with the new filter to be ready for use on a 10 gal hospital/quarantine tank.
This is just one data point, but it appears that one can successfully cycle the tank without test kits, without water changes, without ammonia, and without a lot of measuring and calculating just by dosing the tank as though you were feeding your intended fish load and watching for the two bacterial blooms.
I guess maybe in addition to calling it, "poor man's fishless cycling, I could also call it the "simpleton's fishless cycling." It does away with having to track down special, pure ammonia, and perhaps the need for ammonia and nitrite test kits (still need to monitor nitrates once the cycle is complete), but is also dirt easy to accomplish.
For various reasons, I was in no hurry to get the office aquarium stocked - spreading out the expenses, transitioning the bioload at home to the new filter (running new and old in parallel). I did bring everything into the office, set it up and filled it with water and gravel after new years - probably the 2nd or 2rd week in January.
Since I was in no hurry, I thought I'd try an experiment. Instead of tracking down pure ammonia, carefully measuring doses, testing the water frequently, etc to perform a fishless cycle, I decided that I would just feed flakes to the aquarium as though I were feeding the 6 Tiger Barbs that I intend to stock the tank with. I had the idea because I previously asked the question here, "What happens if I'm trying a fishless cycle, and I'm not here over the weekend to dose the tank." and one response was to put food in the aquarium, which would decay over time, producing the necessary ammonia.
So I fed the tank every day I was here. Perhaps my assumption is wrong, but I was assuming that the amount of food I would feed the fish would decay to approximately the same amount of ammonia as it would if it were actually digested and passed by the fish. In the end, the bacterial colony would be appropriately sized for the amount of fish I am to add.
I did nothing special for the weekends - it just went without getting food.
I wish now I had made a few notes on the dates, but the point of this was not to make a science project of it. After a week or so, I tested for ammonia, and lo and behold, I had 5 ppm or so. Shortly thereafter, I could see a bacterial bloom due to the haziness of the water. Another few days or a week, I notice the tank cleared, and I test for nitrites. It's off the chart. Check the ammonia. Gone. So I continue to feed the tank, and in another day or so, the haziness reappears, which I assume to be the nitrite-consuming bacteria. Naturally, this haze continues for several weeks until I came into work Monday morning last week, and the water is crystal clear again. I check the nitrites - gone. Today, I remembered to bring in a nitrate test kit - 20-40 ppm.
One thing that amazed me now that I've done this before, and have learned a lot more with time, is that I could observe the two separate bacterial blooms, and the testing confirmed what was going on. The other thing that surprised me is that the whole thing took about 5 or 6 weeks - no longer than had I done a fishy cycle, and probably not much longer than had I used the "proper" ammonia doping. And I didn't concern myself with having too much ammonia or nitrite during the process.
Naturally, I could have probably accelerated the cycling had I brought in the established filter from home. Oh yeah - I had a Penguin Mini with a new Bio-wheel that had been given to me by a coworker running on the office aquarium this whole time. (Don't let your beagle near your Bio-wheels - they think they're fun chew toys!) When I bring the filter from home (maybe tomorrow) and things have had time to stabilize, the Mini is going home to run in parallel with the new filter to be ready for use on a 10 gal hospital/quarantine tank.
This is just one data point, but it appears that one can successfully cycle the tank without test kits, without water changes, without ammonia, and without a lot of measuring and calculating just by dosing the tank as though you were feeding your intended fish load and watching for the two bacterial blooms.
I guess maybe in addition to calling it, "poor man's fishless cycling, I could also call it the "simpleton's fishless cycling." It does away with having to track down special, pure ammonia, and perhaps the need for ammonia and nitrite test kits (still need to monitor nitrates once the cycle is complete), but is also dirt easy to accomplish.
