Freshwater cycling

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fineexampl

noob
Feb 21, 2009
257
0
0
49
Mount Laurel, NJ
Question about cycling:

My levels on everything were fine aside from nitrites which were very high. than there was a PH spike, followed by a rapid drop overnight. today, my nitrites have lowered, but so has the PH to very low.

does this basically mean my cycle is moving along properly? i'm hanging in there, but this is getting kind of confusing.
 

altabc

newbie
Feb 8, 2009
148
0
0
Victoria, B.C. Canada
new tank, 13 fish, 6 weeks, no cycle

Hi, I am a newbie here at AC. I have been reading, and learning a lot. I set up a 46 gallon bow front tank in the middle of January. I placed decorations, and a mix of plastic and live plants at the start. I knew nothing about fishless cycling. Over the past 6 (?) weeks I have gradually added 5 rasbora het., 5 lemon tetras and 3 serpae tetras. I do a 50% to 55% water change weekly. I check my ammonia levels daily using an API master test kit. So..here it is. All my parametrs sit at 0. I am very curious as to why my tank has not begun to cycle?
 

feederfish

AC Members
Feb 7, 2009
72
0
0
Mobile, AL
What is the recommended stocking after fishless cycling is complete? Qty and sensitivity, etc.? Can you go to max adult capacity with non-adults? Should you to ensure the established media doesn't hibernate go dorminant?
 

Smitty114

AC Members
Mar 30, 2009
57
1
6
ATL, Georgia
Couple of questions. If I'm borrowing gravel from an established tank to shorten the cycling process, but DON'T plan on using gravel in my tank (I will use sand), how should I go about this? Just put the gravel in and pour the sand on top of it?

Also, I'd like to hear thoughts on Bio-Spira or any other similar product. Does it usually work well? I know it has to be kept in a refrigerator.
 

bmacd

AC Members
Feb 26, 2009
86
0
6
[Also, I'd like to hear thoughts on Bio-Spira or any other similar product. Does it usually work well? I know it has to be kept in a refrigerator.[/quote]

I used Tetra Safe-Start(which I believe used to be Bio-Spira). I put it in my 29 and after doing so, began to see nitrites and nitrates(which I had not been seeing previously). This gave me hope that my cycle was starting and the LFS said would only take a week to completely cycle. Unfortunately, my ammonia never went down and neither did my nitrites(ammo was .50 and nitrites were 1.0). Even after water changes, the levels were up the next day. 2 weeks ago I put in Biozyme(yellow film canister looking product). I put in 1/8 of a teaspoon everynight. After 4 days, my ammonia and nitrites were completely gone and nitrates were reading 10+. I continued this for a full week(per the instructions). I then let the tank sit for a week without adding any and I am still got 0 ammo and 0 nitrites. Alot here have said they think it is a waste of money. Did my tank just happen to naturally cycle at the same time I added the biozyme? Possible but I think unlikely. I will definitely give the stuff a thumbs up and will use it once a week as maintenance. 1 small bottle ($3.99) will last me over 5 months using it weekly. Some advice too...the first time I put the stuff in was in the middle of the day and my fish began eating it all up thinking it was food. After that I would only put it in at night after the lights had been out for 2 to 3 hours and the room was pitch dark. Hope this helps!
 

bmacd

AC Members
Feb 26, 2009
86
0
6
Hi, I am a newbie here at AC. I have been reading, and learning a lot. I set up a 46 gallon bow front tank in the middle of January. I placed decorations, and a mix of plastic and live plants at the start. I knew nothing about fishless cycling. Over the past 6 (?) weeks I have gradually added 5 rasbora het., 5 lemon tetras and 3 serpae tetras. I do a 50% to 55% water change weekly. I check my ammonia levels daily using an API master test kit. So..here it is. All my parametrs sit at 0. I am very curious as to why my tank has not begun to cycle?
I would think that you should be reading some ammonia with all those fish in there. I firmly believe adding Biozyme to mine got my tank to cycle. Some here think that it is a waste of money, but I believe it worked for me.
 

BoCoMo

In need of grace
Mar 2, 2009
1,904
1
36
43
Missouri
Hi, I am a newbie here at AC. I have been reading, and learning a lot. I set up a 46 gallon bow front tank in the middle of January. I placed decorations, and a mix of plastic and live plants at the start. I knew nothing about fishless cycling. Over the past 6 (?) weeks I have gradually added 5 rasbora het., 5 lemon tetras and 3 serpae tetras. I do a 50% to 55% water change weekly. I check my ammonia levels daily using an API master test kit. So..here it is. All my parametrs sit at 0. I am very curious as to why my tank has not begun to cycle?
I wish you would have cycled it before adding fish... JMO
 

SMinNC

What you give
Feb 23, 2009
1,153
0
0
NC
Couple of questions. If I'm borrowing gravel from an established tank to shorten the cycling process, but DON'T plan on using gravel in my tank (I will use sand), how should I go about this? Just put the gravel in and pour the sand on top of it?

Also, I'd like to hear thoughts on Bio-Spira or any other similar product. Does it usually work well? I know it has to be kept in a refrigerator.
You could put it in a media bag and set it on the tank.

Depends on how much gravel your "borrowing", you could put it in the filter. If your planning on giving it back. The bag thing would be alot easier.

Can't help with the Bio-Spira.
 
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